I am about to begin my second year of Ph.D. in life science. I am also under a scholarship in Japan which requires me to finish within 3 years.

Currently, I am getting nervous about the prospect of actually completing my PhD as I am still not able to manage my time effectively between research, reading, and writing. I also feel like I am not working enough compared to others in my lab who always work until late at night. Unless I have an experiment going, I usually go back by 6-7pm (not necessarily being productive though).

I am also slowly losing my confidence over my research topic. I am not sure if this is the topic that is really worth it as a PhD or if there is something wrong about the flow of the experiment that I am not aware of. I am also starting to worry about future job prospect. This is also part of the reason why I am losing my focus during working hour and it's making me procrastinate a lot.

1. Any tips you'd like to share on how to work effectively if I want to finish my PhD in 3 years successfully with plenty of publication?
2. How do you know if your research topic is the right one for your PhD?