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The Creative Personality: 4 Key Traits & How To Develop Them
Research shows the world’s most successful creative people possess certain traits of personality. Here’s how to develop them in yourself and what may stand in your way.
The Common Belief About Creativity And What Happens When Were Unable To Access It
Many of us in western industrialised society do not believe ourselves to be creative. We assign creativity to the exalted few we see as having god-gifted natural talent. We assume that the expression of creative or artistic ability is inherent in only some of us, but not in all.
We believe that we were not bestowed the gift and therefore shouldn’t waste our time in idle pursuits. Besides, in the practical world of things, to pursue the creative life is risky and can never pay the bills.
That’s the thin script many of us have running in our minds.
So hemmed in are we by the widespread belief in our creative inadequacies, that we often lack the broadness and depth of thought required to uncover creative solutions to challenging conditions. When professional challenges arise such as job loss or financial difficulty, we feel unable to cope.
Our teachers, politicians, peers and societal conditions have so successfully conditioned us towards dependence that we fail to see the creative possibilities available in every moment. It was the aftermath of the 2008 economic collapse that I came to this understanding in no uncertain terms.
My first business, which I had worked hard for 15 years to create, had failed. The climb down from the heights of my self-assigned pedestal felt impossible. I pursued material gain first and foremost and had invested my sense of self so entirely in the business that I could not separate them.
Stress and anxiety were high, and although the warning signs were there, I couldn’t see them. My rational forebrain switched off, and my emotional brain switched on, there was no access to creative solutions.
No matter how much effort I applied, no matter how much I tried to think my way out of my…
