The 6 Characteristics of Highly Creative People
The 6 Characteristics of Highly Creative People
By Michelle L. Casto
Thomas Moore said, ?We are all poets and artists as we
live our daily lives, whether or not we recognize our
role and whether or not we believe it.? Human beings
have an innate need to create. Even you! There is a
continuum of creativity, ranging from being slightly
creative to highly creative.
The good news is that you can learn to be more creative by observing creative
people and modeling yourself after them.
Artists, writers, and creative types seem to have
similar characteristics.
Some of the personalitytraits listed below may seem eccentric, odd, even ?
outthere?—but that is where creativity lies— in the
outreaches of our consciousness, in the depths of our
souls.
If you had the opportunity to speak to
Picasso, Walt Disney, or Jane Austen, you would
probably find out that they are ordinary people, much
like you and I. The difference is that they have
allowed more of their soul to come out and play and
have freed themselves of convention and restriction.
Creativity is essentially the art of discovery and an
act of faith. When you create something— a work of
art, book, software program, dance routine, or role
for a play, you discover parts of yourself that you
never knew existed.
Creative people have a strong need to express more of who you really are and
often have to fight for that right. The character Isabelle in the movie,
Fire and Ice, has a great outlook on
what it means to be creative, she says, ?To create, sometimes you must
rebel.?
1. Unconventional
Creative people do not feel the need to conform to
society?s standards. They often swim against the
current and flow with their own way of thinking and
living. They have original ideas that literally turn
the world upside down and right-side out.
Take for example, the 16th century Italian astronomer,
Galileo, who proved that the earth revolved around the
sun (instead of the other way around), which was
revolutionary in his time.
2. Individualistic
Creative people want to find out what the truth is,
and they have a strong need to decide for themselves
what works and what does not. Often they are ahead of
their time, and much of their work is
appreciated/acknowledged after they are dead and gone.
Many writers are famous for marching to the tune of
their own drum, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote
the book, Self-Reliance, and Robert Frost who penned,
?two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one
less-traveled.?
3. Inventive
Creative people live in the world of ideas, and don?t
always have the best interpersonal skills. Because
they are so highly intelligent, and live in the realm
of possibility, they are constantly coming up with
bright ideas. They also take notice of what is
missing in the world and/or what could be improved.
Take for instance, Thomas Edison, who invented
hundreds of things in his time, his most famous
invention being the light bulb. He saw that there was
darkness and then created light.
4. Driven
Creative people cannot ?not do something??they are
almost compulsive until they can bring their internal
vision into fruition. They have that ?fire in their
belly?—a passion to contribute to the beauty and
betterment of the world. Because of their high drive,
they can produce a lot in a relative short amount of
time.
Talk about drive—the material girl herself, Madonna,
has not let public praise or criticism stop her from
being a super star. She is a modern day Diva,
multi-talented as a singer, dancer, and actress who
has released hundreds of songs, albums, videos,
movies, books— all the while reinventing herself as
someone new.
5.Visionary
Creative people have a guiding vision in their head,
heart, and soul that they are often called to bring to
life. Who else but Michelangelo could look at a large
piece of marble and ?chip away at everything that
wasn?t David?? According to him, ?I saw an angel in
the marble and carved until I set him free.?
One of his best-known works is the immense ceiling of
the Sistine Chapel, which took him three years to
complete, where he often had to work upside down for
hours at a time. If you ever have seen any of his
work, you can easily see that it is a vision to
behold.
6. Intuitive
Creative people are very in touch with their inner
selves. They pay attention to the signs,
synchronicities, symbols around them, and make use of
that information in their work. They often act as a
channel, where ideas and inspiration come from a
higher plane. They allow the work to guide them to
where it needs to go. The work clearly originates in
their soul, not from their ego.
Talk about ideas coming from out of the blue, remember
how the scientist, Isaac Newton ?discovered? gravity?
He was sitting under a tree and an apple fell on his
head! Had he not made a connection with his intuitive
nature, he would have missed a major theory about the
world we live in!
As you read this, do you find yourself relating to
some of these traits? If so, it is time to start
creating. Getting started can often be the hardest
part, because we often limit our creativity by
listening too closely to our negative inner voice.
But so did all of these examples of creators. Even
the famous painter Vincent Van Gogh struggled with
that, but he created a remedy for that, he said, ?If
you hear a voice within you saying, you are not a
painter, then by all means, paint, and that voice will
be silenced.?
Robert Henri says, „When the artist is alive in any
person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes
an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressing
creature.‰
Once you have created, you now have to put
yourself out there for all to see. This is where your
faith comes in to support you. Remember that if you
are creating from your soul, it will not matter
whether other people accept your work or not. You are
simply doing what you are called to do as a human
being, create.