“The Creative Personality: Ten paradoxical traits of the creative personality”

Somehow this 1996 Psychology Today article excerpted from the book “Creativity: The Work and Lives of 91 Eminent People” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ended up in front of me. Check out these 10 traits of the “creative personality”:

1. Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they’re also often quiet and at rest.

2. Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time. How smart they actually are is open to question.

3. Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.

4. Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.

5. Creative people tend to be both extroverted and introverted.

6. Creative people are humble and proud at the same time.

7. Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping.

8. Creative people are both rebellious and conservative.

9. Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.

10. Creative people’s openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment.

Do any of these describe you? Do you think these aptly describe a “creative personality”? Is there an identifiable “creative personality”? Are we born creative or can we develop our creativity?

For more of the article, go here.

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