Wired To Create summary

The brilliant mathematician, wildly solving some unsolvable equation; the genius novelist, typing away till dawn; the madcap painter, feverishly splashing color upon the canvas. These artistic stereotypes, familiar from film and literature, might seem a little silly and clichéd. But the quality they all share – artistic passion – is quite real.

So where does this passion come from?

Picture a rock star playing for a packed stadium, or an actor strutting the stage on opening night, or even a poet reading for a crowd at the neighborhood bookstore; artists are unafraid of performance and are self-assured in front of others – or, at least, that’s what most of us think.

But, in reality, artists’ dynamic public personas are usually counterbalanced by a personality that’s certainly sensitive, and sometimes shy.

Have you ever taken a trip to a foreign country, or even a new city, and found yourself full of new thoughts and ideas? It’s strange but true – a change of scenery really can recharge your mind and offer new perspectives.

Research by Scott Barry Kaufman, one of the authors, shows that a drive to learn, explore and engage with the unfamiliar determines creative success more than IQ, “divergent thinking” or any other psychological trait.

Teachers often scold inattentive schoolchildren: how will they ever learn if they don’t concentrate? Well, conscious, concerted effort isn’t the only way to learn something; letting the mind wander can be just as important, especially if you’re doing creative work.

By providing access to the unconscious mind, daydreaming can help you discover hidden thoughts and feelings. It can even help you work through emotional or psychological difficulties you might be having.

After a long day at work, there’s sometimes nothing nicer than taking a long, lonely stroll – a few hours during which you can forget the day’s cares and think of nothing at all.

But there’s more to solitary walking than this. In fact, some of history’s greatest thinkers were also committed perambulators, people who used walking as a way both to generate thought and to achieve solitude.

Artists are often expected to suffer, fulfilling the image of brooding, depressive individuals, weighed down by some ineffable existential burden. And though the “suffering artist” is a bit of a shopworn cliché, there is some truth to the idea that suffering can lead to personal growth.

The researchers Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun even gave it a name: posttraumatic growth. Over 300 studies give evidence of this phenomenon, and about 70 percent of people studied experienced some sort of positive psychological growth in the wake of trauma.  

You’ve doubtless been on the bus or the subway and noticed that everyone is using some sort of device. We live in a distracted world. Average smartphone users look at their device almost ten times per hour, and your average American spends eleven hours out of every day with a digital device.

It may be impossible to disconnect entirely, but you can free yourself from at least some distraction by meditating, which will make you more aware of the present moment – a state known as mindfulness.

Whether it’s a mug of coffee in the morning or a Netflix series after work, we can be very attached to our habits. But it’s healthy to let go of these from time to time, since varying one’s habits has been shown to boost creativity.

Routines can lead to “functional fixedness,” a term psychologists apply to people whose minds have begun to perceive objects in a single, set way. But simple deviations from routine – substituting tea for coffee or shutting your laptop and picking up a book – can break this fixedness.

In general, people tend to resist creativity in others. Humans are wired to avoid risk and establish routines, and true creativity almost always represents a challenge to the status quo.

Establishing new modes of thought inevitably involves risking failure and being unconventional.