Creativity summary

What makes a person more likely to be creative? There’s no simple answer to this question, yet some personality traits do facilitate creativity more than others do.

Some people may be genetically predisposed or even physically gifted in a way that encourages interest in a certain domain early on in life; and early interest in a domain is crucial for creativity. A person particularly sensitive to color and light, for example, may be more inclined to paint.

Creativity is a complicated process. A scientist, for example, doesn’t come up with a brilliant discovery in the same fashion as an artist who creates a memorable piece of art.

While there isn’t a single formula that applies to the creative process across all domains, some common threads do exist. In general, the creative process can be described in five steps.

What motivates creative people to keep working? From interviews with creatives such as writers, musicians and scientists, the author found that most creative people do creative work because they enjoy it.

The joy a creative person feels when he works is called flow. The author says there are nine elements within the flow experience; let’s examine three of them in depth.

Being in the right place at the right time makes a difference in the creative process. Choosing the right creative place is however challenging.

A person’s social, cultural and institutional context all play a role in the creativity he can generate. So it makes sense for creative people to move to the centers of information and action within their individual domain.

People tend to assume that creative individuals are born with their talent. The story that Italian Renaissance painter Giotto at an early age could draw a perfect freehand circle is just one example of how society expects a genius to be born, not made.

Granted, many creative people show talent early on in life, like composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who did display exceptional musical skills as a child. Yet not all adult creative geniuses were once child prodigies.

A person’s experiences in early adulthood usually have a big impact on who he or she becomes later in life. The same holds true for creative people.

This is why college or graduate school are commonly high points in a creative person’s life. Creative people often move out of provincial areas where they might have felt out of place. For some, college might be the first time when they have mentors and peers who appreciate them.

What’s the relationship between age and creativity? Studies have suggested that a person’s creativity peaks in his 30s, and that people over 60 rarely produce great creative works.

More recent studies suggest otherwise, however. They indicate that a person’s creative output isn’t curtailed by advanced age.

The world’s problems are many: overpopulation, dwindling energy sources and global warming, are just a few examples. Our future depends on the development of innovative new solutions.

More directly, this means our survival as a species depends on creativity.

So what lessons can we learn from the lives of creative people? Let’s identify some practical advice from the information we’ve covered so far.

The first step toward becoming more creative is to cultivate a passion for curiosity. Often we lose our sense of wonder as we get older, as life becomes routine. Creative people, on the other hand, stay curious late into their old age, even into their 90s!