Creativity Book Summary - Creativity Book explained in key points

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Creativity summary

Name: Creativity
Rating: 4.1 (150 reviews)
Author: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The Psychology of Discovery and Invention

4.1 (150 ratings)

22 mins

Topics

Creative Flow Mindful Work Inspiration

Table of Contents

Creativity
Summary of 10 key ideas

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What’s in it for me? Get insight into how to increase your own flow of creativity.

Have you ever had an experience in which ideas and solutions seemed to flow effortlessly from your mind, where every action you took seemed natural and perfect? That’s creative flow, a state that most creative people feel when doing their very best work.

While you might know what it feels like to be creative, it’s a whole different challenge to actually explain creativity and where it actually comes from, however.

These blinks will show you just what sort of environment is needed to stimulate the creation of new ideas and concepts, through exploring the lives and work of contemporary creatives. You’ll learn why humanity is dependent on creativity for its survival, and what you can do daily to improve your own creative flow.

In these blinks, you’ll also learn

why the Italian city of Florence was a hotbed of creativity in 1400;
why most adult creative talents weren’t child prodigies; and
why your kitchen table is a great place to inspire creativity.

Creativity happens within a system, which is made up of a domain, a field and a person.

We call the process by which a person comes up with a new or innovative idea creativity. Yet what exactly is the source of creativity?

Some people believe that creativity springs somewhat magically from within each person, but it’s certainly more complicated than this. We derive creativity largely from our surroundings.

Think about it. If creativity appears simply out of the blue, why exactly was the Italian city of Florence such a hotbed of creativity around 1400?

It wasn’t just a coincidence that between 1400 and 1425, Florence was the epicenter of the Italian Renaissance. The city was flourishing financially; patrons of the arts encouraged artisans to explore and create ever greater works of art.

Some of Western civilization’s great art works were created at this time, such as Lorenzo Ghiberti’s bronze doors of the Florence Baptistry and the massive dome of the Florence Cathedral, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi.

The Renaissance era illustrates the true nature of creativity, in that creativity essentially occurs within a system comprised of a domain, a field and a person.

The domain is a broad category in which creativity occurs, such as in mathematics or music.

Within the domain is the field, which includes individuals who are experts in the particular domain. These individuals serve as the domain’s gatekeepers, determining which new ideas should or should not be included in the domain.

In the domain of visual arts, for example, the field consists of art teachers, museum curators and government-run cultural agencies.

The individual person is the last component of the system. Thus creativity occurs when an individual uses a domain’s methods (like a mathematical formula or a minor key) to produce something new (like a new hypothesis or piece of music), and the new product is accepted by the field’s gatekeepers.

Certain personality traits facilitate creativity; creative people tend to have complex personalities.

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 has a few common threads that help explain how to get from creative problem to solution.

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.

Creative people experience flow while working, which makes goals more clear and time seem to stop.

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.

A creative person’s surroundings can have a positive or negative impact on his creative output.

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.

The myth of the child prodigy is just that; not every creative genius is made at birth.

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.

Creative people don’t have traditional careers after college; often, they make their own career path.

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.

Creativity doesn’t decline with advanced age; in fact, elderly creatives are often more energized.

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.

Our survival as a species depends on creativity, and we need to take steps to foster it.

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.

Harness your own creativity daily, by taking time to stop and observe the world around you.

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!

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What is Creativity about?

Creativity (1996) is an exploration of how creative people produce groundbreaking ideas. It unpacks the commonalities between creatives and their backgrounds, and explains exactly what it is that makes a creative person able to give birth to unique concepts.

Best quote from Creativity

Perhaps being creative is more like being involved in an automobile accident.

—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Who should read Creativity?

Artists, writers and scientists exploring human creativity
Creative types who dance to the beat of their own drum
Anyone looking for creative inspiration

About the Author

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a professor of Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University’s Drucker School of Management in Claremont, California. Author of Beyond Boredom and Anxiety, The Evolving Self and Flow, Csikszentmihalyi has also written articles for Psychology Today, the New York Times and the Washington Post.

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