How Creative Are You?
I ran across some interesting articles on the common traits of a creative personalities. How many of these traits do you have? Are you a creative person?
1) Energetic - Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they're also often quiet and at rest. They work long hours, with great concentration, while projecting an aura of freshness and enthusiasm. . It seems that their energy is internally generated, due more to their focused minds than to the superiority of their genes. This does not mean that creative people are hyperactive, always "on." In fact, they rest often and sleep a lot. The important thing is that they control their energy; it's not ruled by the calendar, the dock, an external schedule. When necessary, they can focus it like a laser beam; when not, creative types immediately recharge their batteries. They consider the rhythm of activity followed by idleness or reflection very important for the success of their work. This is not a bio-rhythm inherited with their genes; it was learned by trial and error as a strategy for achieving their goals.
2) Wisdom & Childishness - Contrasting poles of wisdom and childishness. As Howard Gardner remarked in his study of the major creative geniuses of this century, a certain immaturity, both emotional and mental, can go hand in hand with deepest insights. Mozart comes immediately to mind.
People who bring about an acceptable novelty in a domain seem able to use well two opposite ways of thinking: the convergent and the divergent. Convergent thinking is measured by IQ tests, and it involves solving well-defined, rational problems that have one correct answer. Divergent thinking leads to no agreed-upon solution. It involves fluency, or the ability to generate a great quantity of ideas; flexibility, or the ability to switch from one perspective to another; and originality in picking unusual associations of ideas. These are the dimensions of thinking that most creativity tests measure and that most workshops try to enhance.
3)Extroverted and Inverted - Creative people tend to be both. We're usually one or the other, either preferring to be in the thick of crowds or sitting on the sidelines and observing the passing show. In fact, in psychological research, extroversion and introversion are considered the most stable personality traits that differentiate people from each other and that can be reliably measured. Creative individuals, on the other hand, seem to exhibit both traits simultaneously.
4) Humble and Proud - It is remarkable to meet a famous person who you expect to be arrogant or supercilious, only to encounter self-deprecation and shyness instead. Yet there are good reasons why this should be so. These individuals are well aware that they stand, in Newton's words, "on the shoulders of giants." Their respect for the area in which they work makes them aware of the long line of previous contributions to it, putting their own in perspective. They're also aware of the role that luck played in their own achievements. And they're usually so focused on future projects and current challenges that past accomplishments, no matter how outstanding, are no longer very interesting to them. At the same time, they know that in comparison with others, they have accomplished a great deal. And this knowledge provides a sense of security, even pride.
5) Not of a gender stereotype - When tests of masculinity/femininity are given to young people, over and over one finds that creative and talented girls are more dominant and tough than other girls, and creative boys are more sensitive and less aggressive than their male peers.This tendency toward androgyny is sometimes understood in purely sexual terms, and therefore it gets confused with homosexuality. But psychological androgyny is a much wider concept referring to a person's ability to be at the same time aggressive and nurturant, sensitive and rigid, dominant and submissive, regardless of gender. A psychologically androgynous person in effect doubles his or her repertoire of responses. Creative individuals are more likely to have not only the strengths of their own gender but those of the other one, too.
6) Open-ended - In order to explore many possibilities creative people tend to stay open-ended about answers or solutions until many have been produced.
7) Independent - Creative people crave and require a high degree of independence, resist dependence but often can thrive on beneficial inter-dependence.
8) Sensitive - Being sensitive helps creativeness in many ways:it helps with awareness of problems, it helps people sense things easier, it helps to cause people to care and commit themselves to challenges or causes.
9) Not motivated by money - As important as money is in most societies or economies it is not a driving force for a creative person. Generally they have an intuitive sense of the amount of money they basically need and once that need is fulfilled then money stops affecting or driving them.
10) Adaptable - Without the ability to adapt, people could not become creative. Creativity thrives on fresh ideas and sights. Often creative people travel or have a desire to travel.
11) Observant - Creative people constantly are using their senses: consciously, sub-consciously and unconsciously, evennon-consciously.
12) See possibilities - Average people, people who don't believe they are creative, people who are fearful or resistant to creativeness or creative thinking prefer to work within limits with limited possibilities. Creative people love to see many, even infinite possibilities in most situations or challenges.
13) Can synthesize correctly often intuitively - This is the ability to see the whole picture, see patterns, grasp solutions with only a few pieces, even with major pieces missing. Creative people trust their intuition, even if it isn't right 100% of the time.
14) Flexible - Creative People are very flexible when they are playing with ideas. They love to look at things from multiple points of view and to produce piles of answers, maybes, almosts, when other people are content with theanswer or solution.
15) Sense of humor - Laughter and creativity truly go together. Many experts believe that creativity can't occur without a touch of humor believing that seriousness tends to squelch creativeness or creative thinking.
16) Self-disciplined -This is one trait that appears to be ambiguous in highly creative people. They can appear disorganized, chaotic at times while at the same time they are highly self-disciplined. At the same time they greatly resist the discipline of other people who are not of like creative mind. Can be seen as careless and disorganized, especially with matters they consider trivial. Absentmindedness and forgetfulness are common. Can FIND ORDER in confusion and discover hidden meaning in information. Research and critical thinking are key tools for the creative person. Information is to the brain what food is to the stomach. So-called “writer’s block” or creative burnout almost always results from a lack of fresh information and having nothing meaningful to say.
17) Self-knowledgeable - During my life I have read biographies and biographic sketches or over 4,000 people, mostly considered to be the highest of the highly creatives in their respective fields. One of the few things they had in common is that they all kept some form of journal and were constantly striving to better understand themselves.
18) Specific interests - This is still another ambiguous trait of creative people. They appear on the surface to be interested in everything, while at the same time they have very specific interests that they commit their true energies and efforts to. By being willing to be exposed to seemingly unlimited interests they discover more about their particular specific interests.
19) Open-up easily - They often share much more personal information about themselves quicker than the average person. This enables them to easily connect with people on deeper level which often inspires their creativity.
20) Perfectionist - Not usually in life, but a perfectionist when they are creating something. Often this causes them to restart a project because it wasn't perfectly how they invisioned it, this can be very self-detrimental because it can cause them to get burnt out and procrastinate on their next project.
1) Energetic - Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they're also often quiet and at rest. They work long hours, with great concentration, while projecting an aura of freshness and enthusiasm. . It seems that their energy is internally generated, due more to their focused minds than to the superiority of their genes. This does not mean that creative people are hyperactive, always "on." In fact, they rest often and sleep a lot. The important thing is that they control their energy; it's not ruled by the calendar, the dock, an external schedule. When necessary, they can focus it like a laser beam; when not, creative types immediately recharge their batteries. They consider the rhythm of activity followed by idleness or reflection very important for the success of their work. This is not a bio-rhythm inherited with their genes; it was learned by trial and error as a strategy for achieving their goals.
2) Wisdom & Childishness - Contrasting poles of wisdom and childishness. As Howard Gardner remarked in his study of the major creative geniuses of this century, a certain immaturity, both emotional and mental, can go hand in hand with deepest insights. Mozart comes immediately to mind.
People who bring about an acceptable novelty in a domain seem able to use well two opposite ways of thinking: the convergent and the divergent. Convergent thinking is measured by IQ tests, and it involves solving well-defined, rational problems that have one correct answer. Divergent thinking leads to no agreed-upon solution. It involves fluency, or the ability to generate a great quantity of ideas; flexibility, or the ability to switch from one perspective to another; and originality in picking unusual associations of ideas. These are the dimensions of thinking that most creativity tests measure and that most workshops try to enhance.
3)Extroverted and Inverted - Creative people tend to be both. We're usually one or the other, either preferring to be in the thick of crowds or sitting on the sidelines and observing the passing show. In fact, in psychological research, extroversion and introversion are considered the most stable personality traits that differentiate people from each other and that can be reliably measured. Creative individuals, on the other hand, seem to exhibit both traits simultaneously.
4) Humble and Proud - It is remarkable to meet a famous person who you expect to be arrogant or supercilious, only to encounter self-deprecation and shyness instead. Yet there are good reasons why this should be so. These individuals are well aware that they stand, in Newton's words, "on the shoulders of giants." Their respect for the area in which they work makes them aware of the long line of previous contributions to it, putting their own in perspective. They're also aware of the role that luck played in their own achievements. And they're usually so focused on future projects and current challenges that past accomplishments, no matter how outstanding, are no longer very interesting to them. At the same time, they know that in comparison with others, they have accomplished a great deal. And this knowledge provides a sense of security, even pride.
5) Not of a gender stereotype - When tests of masculinity/femininity are given to young people, over and over one finds that creative and talented girls are more dominant and tough than other girls, and creative boys are more sensitive and less aggressive than their male peers.This tendency toward androgyny is sometimes understood in purely sexual terms, and therefore it gets confused with homosexuality. But psychological androgyny is a much wider concept referring to a person's ability to be at the same time aggressive and nurturant, sensitive and rigid, dominant and submissive, regardless of gender. A psychologically androgynous person in effect doubles his or her repertoire of responses. Creative individuals are more likely to have not only the strengths of their own gender but those of the other one, too.
6) Open-ended - In order to explore many possibilities creative people tend to stay open-ended about answers or solutions until many have been produced.
7) Independent - Creative people crave and require a high degree of independence, resist dependence but often can thrive on beneficial inter-dependence.
8) Sensitive - Being sensitive helps creativeness in many ways:it helps with awareness of problems, it helps people sense things easier, it helps to cause people to care and commit themselves to challenges or causes.
9) Not motivated by money - As important as money is in most societies or economies it is not a driving force for a creative person. Generally they have an intuitive sense of the amount of money they basically need and once that need is fulfilled then money stops affecting or driving them.
10) Adaptable - Without the ability to adapt, people could not become creative. Creativity thrives on fresh ideas and sights. Often creative people travel or have a desire to travel.
11) Observant - Creative people constantly are using their senses: consciously, sub-consciously and unconsciously, evennon-consciously.
12) See possibilities - Average people, people who don't believe they are creative, people who are fearful or resistant to creativeness or creative thinking prefer to work within limits with limited possibilities. Creative people love to see many, even infinite possibilities in most situations or challenges.
13) Can synthesize correctly often intuitively - This is the ability to see the whole picture, see patterns, grasp solutions with only a few pieces, even with major pieces missing. Creative people trust their intuition, even if it isn't right 100% of the time.
14) Flexible - Creative People are very flexible when they are playing with ideas. They love to look at things from multiple points of view and to produce piles of answers, maybes, almosts, when other people are content with theanswer or solution.
15) Sense of humor - Laughter and creativity truly go together. Many experts believe that creativity can't occur without a touch of humor believing that seriousness tends to squelch creativeness or creative thinking.
16) Self-disciplined -This is one trait that appears to be ambiguous in highly creative people. They can appear disorganized, chaotic at times while at the same time they are highly self-disciplined. At the same time they greatly resist the discipline of other people who are not of like creative mind. Can be seen as careless and disorganized, especially with matters they consider trivial. Absentmindedness and forgetfulness are common. Can FIND ORDER in confusion and discover hidden meaning in information. Research and critical thinking are key tools for the creative person. Information is to the brain what food is to the stomach. So-called “writer’s block” or creative burnout almost always results from a lack of fresh information and having nothing meaningful to say.
18) Specific interests - This is still another ambiguous trait of creative people. They appear on the surface to be interested in everything, while at the same time they have very specific interests that they commit their true energies and efforts to. By being willing to be exposed to seemingly unlimited interests they discover more about their particular specific interests.
19) Open-up easily - They often share much more personal information about themselves quicker than the average person. This enables them to easily connect with people on deeper level which often inspires their creativity.
20) Perfectionist - Not usually in life, but a perfectionist when they are creating something. Often this causes them to restart a project because it wasn't perfectly how they invisioned it, this can be very self-detrimental because it can cause them to get burnt out and procrastinate on their next project.
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