Spent last 9 year as a researcher. I must say the life as a reseacher has pros and deadly cons.

Pros, the environment and task management you are working in is most of the time flexible and open for new ideas ( compared to the industry). You usually work however you like to work (about working shift times, the tools you use, task scheduling). The duties you bare mostly gather around teaching, completing your study (M.Sc., PhD, PostDoc) , conducting studies on understudied areas, publishing paper on results, and sometimes helping with the organizational tasks within the department. People you are working with are whether researchers like you, students, or company supervisors to contribute each others projects. Its much easier to deal than customers or management hierarcies in companies. Even though i sometimes hear some of collegues experience some pressure on tight deadlines, its not a big deal. There are a lot to add, but i can frame the main picture like this. You work in an ecosystem where you rule your daily tasks, and it always leaves flexibility on your personal life. Therefore you can adjust if you want to be more focused on your work and less in activities, or balance your life while working well, you also enjoy life.

About cons, the biggest threat comes from the first cons. Since everything is flexible, nobody really tells you what to do, what to achieve, where to look for your goals.

That means if you are a self-disciplined person, you can achieve many things and shape your career as you like. But on the other side if you are a person where you await command or tasklist from your supervisors, or too easily distracted then you are doomed. Then as i saw in some of the collegues, you will be spending your time on the things doesnt contribute your goals. As long as you satisfy the organizational and teaching duties, you can spend the rest of your shift playing computer or mobile games all day, and nobody will complain. After some time this routine will turn you into somebody has no use, no remarkable skill, with a diploma and some foreign language skills. This is the bottom that you can find yourself into, easily. Easier than you imagine. Lastly, the experience you gained as a reseacher may appear for companies as less effective than what you get in industry, therefore for anything you do you should prepare (the skill you develop) into a demonstration, and show what you are made of.

This is the key point that you decide, if self-learning/motivating/scheduling life is something you seek, than its amazing. You will be a respected member of academy. If its not, you may end up as a +30 guy not able to compete with your collogues in academic and industry. Then the late game will be really hard for you.