Review Posted on Amazon.com: This excellent book by Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire summarized ten habits research has revealed are typical of the creative mind, habits we can cultivate in ourselves to improve our own creativity.
Imaginative Play
Creative minds often ask themselves, “What if?” Like children at play, they put themselves into unusual, fictional situations. The Wired to Create authors quote George Bernard Shaw, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
Passion
A passionate interest fuels creativity, and the results reinforce the passion. We see that passion in child prodigies, like cellist YoYo Ma, but also in mature artists, like Grandma Moses.
Daydreaming
Daydreaming is a characteristic of many creative people. Associations are made that would not develop without our letting our minds wander. Creative solutions are often the joining of seemingly contradictory elements. Sweet and sour pork, anyone?
Solitude
Creative people often prefer to be alone, and they don’t feel lonely. The “noise” of the world is reduced, so they can think more clearly, make more creative connections.
Intuition
Reason carries us only so far, and then we tend to rely on our intuition, which is somewhat a product of our experience, and as we mature, we have more of it. “I just know….” Steve Jobs is quoted in Wired to Create as calling intuition “more powerful than intellect.”
Openness to Experience
We can seek out new situations, new people, new endeavors, and we can also just decide to view our current circumstances in new ways. “What if…?”
Mindfulness
“Mindfulness” is awareness coupled with curiosity, attentiveness. Look outside of ourselves, but looking within has merit, too. Note: mindfulness seems to be opposite of “daydreaming.” Each in its proper time?
Sensitivity
Heightened awareness can lead to creative responses. However any virtue can be overdone. Others may not appreciate your sensitivity. Having a thin skin leads to unnecessary inter-personal friction. Beware.
Turning Adversity into Advantage
“Every knock is a boost,” we mutter, as we pick ourselves up and learn from what just happened, from a newly altered perspective.
Thinking Differently
Original thinking is characteristic of creative people, and your willingness to non-conform, coupled to the lessons you’ve learned produce viewpoints that can be unusual. “Where you stand depends on where your sit.” The accumulation of our unique experiences can put us in positions from which we get unconventional, creative viewpoints.
Go Ahead, Be Creative The message of this valuable, encouraging, well-written book? Harness your inner creative talents, whatever they are.