Scholarly investigations continue to explore academics' behaviours towards writing in an effort to optimise research writing productivity. One such suite of behaviours which has received limited focus from previous investigations is known as 'enabling behaviours' - behaviours used to intentionally create environments that enable and optimise writing productivity. This qualitative study reveals and explores the enabling behaviours of 16 successful professors from a research-intensive university in New Zealand. These behaviours that emerged from the analysis centre on creating writing rhythms and relationships with technologies and locales. This study provides insights into the relationship formation processes with time, technology, and space as the enabling behaviours of successful professors. These insights are useful for research writers to optimise their own research writing practices.