TRAITS OF THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY: Self-Trust

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A young composer, who was also a violin virtuoso, had an idea for a violin concerto. The themes flowed out of him and struck him as beautiful. He recognized that it would be a devilishly difficult piece to play but its difficulty was not gratuitous: you had to play fast and dexterously, to be sure, but if you did you produced something gorgeous.

He played the concerto for his mentor. His mentor hated it, exclaiming that it sounded as if the violin was being tortured. He played it in concert. The audience booed it and reviewers called it “music foul to ear” and “music for masochists.” No other violinists would touch. Every so often he would play his violin concerto in concert, always with the same disastrous results.

He never stopped believing in its beauty. He died young; and ten years after his death a great violinist ventured a performance, which was hailed as brilliant. Suddenly everyone called the concerto a masterpiece. It became an integral part of the violin literature; and now every up-and-coming violinist must master it.

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TRAITS OF THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY: Tolerance for Ambiguity

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A screenwriter with good credentials was able to show his new script to several Hollywood studio heads. Each said, “We don’t understand the ending. It is too ambiguous. Will she have the affair or won’t she? The ending is terrible!” The screenwriter took his script to Europe, where he convinced a consortium of three film companies to make it. It did beautifully in Europe, winning several awards, and then arrived in the United States.

Audiences hated it, complaining that the ending was horribly ambiguous. Did she have the affair or didn’t she? The movie won several more awards. Reviewers loved it. Audiences hated it. It made very little money; and found itself on all of the “best of the new century” film lists. The screenwriter could only smile; and in his acceptance speech for the biggest prize of all he devoted all of his time to praising ambiguity.

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TRAITS OF THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY: Divergent Thinking Abilities

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An audience of scientists and lay people came to hear a cutting edge lecture on fractal geometry. The lecture was eye-opening and intriguing and the slide show included fantastic images of Mandelbrot sets, the British coastline, fractal EKGs, and other evidence for the idea that nature made great use of the “roughness” created by self-repeating formulae. More than that: the design of nature might be rooted in these formulae and fractal geometry might explain life. Many in the audience went away amazed; but one man did not move when the lecture ended. He was more than amazed: he sat there thinking. His field was the mind, that trickiest of all entities. How, he wondered, did fractal geometry relate to the workings of the mind? Suddenly a phase popped into his head: “the fractal geometry of consciousness.” Just like that, and with absolute certainty, he knew where he would be spending his remaining time and energy while residing on this earth.

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TRAITS OF THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY: Love of Challenge

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Several assistants to the executive director of a nonprofit organization listened to the executive director’s plea. “We need to create a beautiful presentation,” she said, “that underscores the importance of the work we do and that makes use of all the latest multi-media technology. But we can’t afford to hire outside consultants. What can we do?” The assistants scratched their heads and, at a complete loss, fell silent. Just then a woman arrived, the youngest of the assistants, who had felt her current work too important to interrupt for yet another staff meeting. She apologized for arriving late and asked why the group looked so glum and perplexed. They explained the situation. The young woman thought for a moment, considered the tasks for which she was already responsible, and said, “I’d love to do it.” “But do you know how to use multi-media technology?" the executive director asked. “Heavens no!” the young woman exclaimed. “But I relish the challenge!” Everyone stared at her. “So, I’m off!” she cried. She hurried off; and the group, much calmer now, spent the next hour finding many pleasant things to chat about until lunchtime rolled around.

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TRAITS OF THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY: Openness to Experience

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An artist was sitting in his usual spot in the café, at a certain window table with a view of the street and, today, some wild autumn weather. A gaggle of wet scholars arrived and sat down at the table next to him. The philosopher among them intoned about the platonic form of rain and how the music of the spheres must sometimes sound like thunder. The anthropologist among them told several stories about the weather mythology of primitive peoples. The astronomer among them, who was also an amateur meteorologist, explained the niceties of barometric pressure and the logic of weather prediction. The art historian among them remarked on the uses of wild weather in the paintings of the Turner and how Van Gogh employed the Japanese device of slanted lines to depict rain. So bored and restless did this discussion make the artist that he packed up his things, strode out of the café, and embraced the wind-blown rain that struck and greeted him.

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TRAITS OF THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY: Organization

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A young man who was having great trouble finishing tasks and meeting any of his creative goals lamented, “I am so disorganized! I have papers everywhere. I can’t keep anything straight. I write a sentence and then it vanishes among all the other fragments and litter that surround me. What can I do to get better organized!” A very successful writer overheard the young man and said, “Come with me.” He took him to his place and showed him his study. It was an astoundingly disorganized- looking space, with piles of books on the floor, stacks of paper everywhere, and a desk so littered that it was hard to spot the phone, the computer, and even the lamp.

The successful writer said, “See?” “What am I seeing?” the young man groaned. “I only see a mess worse than my own mess! What is the lesson?” “The lesson is that organization has nothing to do with externals,” the writer replied. “Your room can look exactly like this and still you be perfectly organized. What can’t look like this is your mind! If you want organization, get a grip on your mind and not on the externals of organization. Many tidy spaces mask chaotic minds!—and many disorderly spaces like this one reflect a man busily creating.” The young man hung his head. After a long moment he said, “But I still think that organizing my space is essential.” “And you will be saying that until the end of time, and never getting any results,” the successful writer replied. “Tidy your mind first!—and then see whether your desk really needs organizing.”

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TRAITS OF THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY: Patience

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Just about every day for a year after coming home from her teaching job at the local elementary school, Mary worked on her screenplay. Her story concerned itself with a handful of cold characters, made colder by their wintry Iowa landscape, characters that couldn’t tell the truth about anything. Having written it, she then spent a year trying to sell it. Every door seemed closed to her. Not knowing what to do next, she began a second screenplay, this time about a conflict between neighbors deep in the Brazilian jungle. For eighteen months she wrote it; for another eighteen months she tried to sell it. She went to Los Angeles and took “sell your script!” classes; she networked as best she could; she tried to follow the rules. She knew that her screenplays were not commercial but, not wanting to write cartoons for teenage boys, she continued on her path—her third screenplay took as its setting Paris and a series of strange conversations among lovers. That screenplay also did not sell. She taught, she married, she had children, she continued to write, and she watched twenty years pass and nine screenplays accumulate. Her tenth screenplay was purchased and became the movie you all know about. When asked by interviewers how she could continue writing for so long with so little success, she replied, “I must have great patience.” What she really meant was, “What choice did I have?” But she left that thought unsaid.

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TRAITS OF THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY: Social Unconcern

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A man known for his creativity came upon a group of people who appeared to be dancing. As he got closer, he saw that they were swatting at a swarm of gnats tormenting them. “Help us!” they cried. The man approached but kept sufficient distance that the gnats ignored him. “We’ve tried everything!” they cried. “But we can’t keep these gnats off us!” The man studied their situation and noticed that in the midst of the suffering assembly was a pile of dried cow dung, dried out from the recent hot weather. The man knew that in other cultures people used the smoke from smoldering dung to keep away flies, mosquitoes, and gnats. “Light that dried cow dung!” the man shouted. “Its smoke will repel the gnats!” “Ugh” the crowd cried as one. “We would never touch dried dung! Ugh! What would people think of us if they saw us picking up poop!” The man repeated his message. Again the crowd refused, citing how others would view them. Finally the man shook his head. “Then the gnats win,” he said, turning away and wandering off to attend to his creative work.

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TRAITS OF THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY: Depth of Knowledge

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A writer came to Ari, a creativity coach. The writer said, “I want to write a novel about two chess players who live out an intense rivalry over a game of chess. Every move is a twist and turn in their rivalry.” “What will black play if white opens pawn to queen four?” Ari replied. “Excuse me?” the writer said. “What will black play if white opens pawn to queen four?” Ari repeated. “I don’t understand you,” the writer said. “I am asking about your knowledge of chess and whether you understand the language of chess,” Ari continued. “Do you?” “No,” the writer replied, “I’m not really interested in chess, I’m only interested in the rivalry between these two chess players.” Ari nodded. “I understand. You don’t think your odds would be longer if you actually understood chess, and in a deep way?” “No,” the writer said, shaking his head. “I think that is totally irrelevant.” “Fine,” Ari agreed. “Then we will work to get your novel written exactly as you envision it.” “Thank you!” the writer cried. “Now I can really begin!” So they began; and it was about two weeks later that the writer found himself losing all enthusiasm for his project.



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TRAITS OF THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY: Confidence

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A painter opened his email and was thrilled to find a note from a gallery owner who appeared to own a nice gallery in a faraway city. The note explained that the gallery owner had visited the painter’s website, loved the painter’s work, but noticed that there were no prices posted. What, the gallery owner wondered, were the artist’s prices? This question sent the artist into a tizzy, as he had no idea if his prices were perhaps ridiculously high or, just as possibly, perhaps ridiculously low. He stewed about the matter for several days, feeling his usual lack of confidence grow exponentially. Finally he visited his friend, a successful artist with a great deal of confidence. “What should I do?” the painter cried. “I know I’m blowing this opportunity by not replying, but I don’t know what to say!”

His friend shook his head and laughed. “Get me the gallery’s phone number,” he said. The painter did that. His friend picked up the phone, dialed, and said, “I represent Jack Sprat. You emailed him about his prices. We are setting new prices this year and would love your input. His recent works, the ones you saw on his site, are each two feet by three feet. How would you like to price them?” The painter watched his friend listen, occasionally nod, and finally say, “Thanks! We’ll follow up on that in a day or two.” When his friend hung up, the painter almost leaped on him. “What did he say?” he cried. “That he would charge $2400 retail,” his friend replied, “and that he would like to try out two of your paintings, the blue one and the red one.” The painter was beside himself with joy. Then, suddenly, he said, “How did you DO that? You just picked up the phone and called!” At this, his friend shook his head. “Jack,” he said, “how could you NOT do that? The things that we need to do are actually incredibly simple … until our anxiety turns them into monsters!” Read more!