Why are creative people so touchy? Why creative people are not like everyone else

According to Michael Gelb, everyone can be creative and, without reinventing the wheel, create something new and interesting.

Today we will talk about the character of creative people. This question is being studied by psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. This is one of the most authoritative experts in the field of business psychology, known primarily for the theory of flow. Csikszentmihalyi is the author of several best-selling books, including Creativity: The Work and Lives of 91 Eminent People (1996). In it, he describes 10 paradoxical traits inherent in creative individuals, which he was able to identify over 30 years of his work.

Do you want to know what distinguishes a creator from an ordinary person? Then welcome to cat.

1. Strong, but not trained

A creative person has quite a lot of physical energy, but, unfortunately, it is not spent much. After all, the work of a creator is, first of all, the work of his brain. Concentrating exclusively on intellectual work makes a healthy body look weak. This is why it is important to maintain a balance between mind and body.

2. Smart but naive

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi recognizes that creative people are smart, they are distinguished by flexibility and originality of thinking, and the ability to hear different points of view. But almost everyone naively believes that creativity can be measured through creative tests and developed through specialized seminars.

3. Playful but selfless

Creative people love to relax. As they say, nothing hedonistic is alien to them. But when it comes to the “birth” of a new project, they are able to work like obsessed people. For example, the Italian artist Paolo Uccello, when developing his famous “theory of perspective,” did not sleep the whole night and walked from corner to corner.

Csikszentmihalyi notes that most creators work late into the night and nothing can stop them.

4. Dreamers, but realists

This is the mystery of creative people. They are great inventors, they can come up with anything, but most of them look at life quite realistically. Apparently, William Ward was right when he said that a pessimist complains about the wind, an optimist hopes for a change in the weather, and a realist sets sail.

5. Extroverted but reserved

We are used to dividing people into extroverts and introverts. It is believed that the former are sociable, easily get along with people, have charisma, etc. And the latter, on the contrary, live in their inner world, where only the “chosen ones” are allowed.

But, according to Csikszentmihalyi's observations, truly creative people combine both of these traits. In public they are the life of the party, but among loved ones they are quiet and taciturn.

6. Modest but proud

Creative people are usually very modest. They do not expect praise - the process of creating something new is important to them. However, at the same time, they will not let anyone down and will not allow their own dignity to be humiliated.

7. Masculine but feminine

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi argues that creative people often do not conform to their gender roles. Thus, female creators are often distinguished by their tough character, while men, on the contrary, are sensuality and sentimentality.

8. Rebels but conservatives

What is creativity? That's right - creating something new. In this regard, creative people are often known as rebels, since their ideas go beyond the norm. But at the same time, many of them find it difficult to part with their ossified habits, change roles, etc.

9. Passionate but objective

All creative people are passionate about their work. It would seem that passion should blind, but truly creative people always look at what they do objectively.

Csikszentmihalyi emphasizes that a creative person must adequately perceive criticism, and also separate his “I” from his work.

10. Open but happy

One of Leonardo da Vinci's creative secrets was “sensual acuity.” Creators are always open to new experiences, even if they cause them pain. At the same time, internally these are harmonious, happy people, since they know how to enjoy the creative process itself.

As you can see, creative people are truly full of contradictions. But as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says, it is these paradoxes that help them adapt to almost any situation, adapting everything around them to achieve their goals.

What paradoxical traits of creative people do you know?

According to Michael Gelb, everyone can be creative and, without reinventing the wheel, create something new and interesting.

Today we will talk about the character of creative people. This question is being studied by psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. This is one of the most authoritative experts in the field of business psychology, known primarily for the theory of flow. Csikszentmihalyi is the author of several best-selling books, including Creativity: The Work and Lives of 91 Eminent People (1996). In it, he describes 10 paradoxical traits inherent in creative individuals, which he was able to identify over 30 years of his work.

Do you want to know what distinguishes a creator from an ordinary person? Then welcome to cat.

1. Strong, but not trained

A creative person has quite a lot of physical energy, but, unfortunately, it is not spent much. After all, the work of a creator is, first of all, the work of his brain. Concentrating exclusively on intellectual work makes a healthy body look weak. This is why it is important to maintain a balance between mind and body.

2. Smart but naive

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi recognizes that creative people are smart, they are distinguished by flexibility and originality of thinking, and the ability to hear different points of view. But almost everyone naively believes that creativity can be measured through creative tests and developed through specialized seminars.

3. Playful but selfless

Creative people love to relax. As they say, nothing hedonistic is alien to them. But when it comes to the “birth” of a new project, they are able to work like obsessed people. For example, the Italian artist Paolo Uccello, when developing his famous “theory of perspective,” did not sleep the whole night and walked from corner to corner.

Csikszentmihalyi notes that most creators work late into the night and nothing can stop them.

4. Dreamers, but realists

This is the mystery of creative people. They are great inventors, they can come up with anything, but most of them look at life quite realistically. Apparently, William Ward was right when he said that a pessimist complains about the wind, an optimist hopes for a change in the weather, and a realist sets sail.

5. Extroverted but reserved

We are used to dividing people into extroverts and introverts. It is believed that the former are sociable, easily get along with people, have charisma, etc. And the latter, on the contrary, live in their inner world, where only the “chosen ones” are allowed.

But, according to Csikszentmihalyi's observations, truly creative people combine both of these traits. In public they are the life of the party, but among loved ones they are quiet and taciturn.

6. Modest but proud

Creative people are usually very modest. They do not expect praise - the process of creating something new is important to them. However, at the same time, they will not let anyone down and will not allow their own dignity to be humiliated.

7. Masculine but feminine

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi argues that creative people often do not conform to their gender roles. Thus, female creators are often distinguished by their tough character, while men, on the contrary, are sensuality and sentimentality.

8. Rebels but conservatives

What is creativity? That's right - creating something new. In this regard, creative people are often known as rebels, since their ideas go beyond the norm. But at the same time, many of them find it difficult to part with their ossified habits, change roles, etc.

9. Passionate but objective

All creative people are passionate about their work. It would seem that passion should blind, but truly creative people always look at what they do objectively.

Csikszentmihalyi emphasizes that a creative person must adequately perceive criticism, and also separate his “I” from his work.

10. Open but happy

One of Leonardo da Vinci's creative secrets was “sensual acuity.” Creators are always open to new experiences, even if they cause them pain. At the same time, internally these are harmonious, happy people, since they know how to enjoy the creative process itself.

As you can see, creative people are truly full of contradictions. But as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says, it is these paradoxes that help them adapt to almost any situation, adapting everything around them to achieve their goals.

What paradoxical traits of creative people do you know?

Interesting... Creative people are talented individuals who love to be useful and do good to others. They like freedom, so any restrictions will be perceived by them as an infringement of rights. Many people believe that creative people are lonely, unhappy and do not live long. Fortunately, this is not always the case. Talent is given to a person by God, you just need to seize the moment and start developing your abilities in time.

It is worth noting that among child prodigies there are indeed many unhappy people, since their creativity is not always understandable to others. As a rule, the average person's brain activity occurs within certain limits, and everything that goes beyond these limits is perceived as something unnatural and abnormal. For this reason, it is very difficult for creative people to survive in this cruel world, in which there are so many persistent stereotypes and unwillingness to evolve. Neuroscience confirms that talented individuals think and act differently.Creative people's minds are literally designed to think uniquely, differently than the majority. However, such a gift from nature can significantly complicate life and strain relationships with others. If you know a creative person, you have probably had the idea more than once that he lives in some completely different world. In most cases, trying to understand such a personality is as futile as trying to change it. In order to be able to adapt to such a person, you need to learn to look at the world through his eyes.

Overcoming life's obstacles

Many cult works were released as a result of their creator experiencing heartbreaking pain and strong emotions. Often, various problems become a catalyst that helps create unique and outstanding masterpieces. Psychology has given this phenomenon a scientific name - post-traumatic growth. Researchers have found that often a strong shock helps a person succeed in a particular activity, as well as discover new opportunities in himself.

Search for new experiences

Many creative people are constantly in search of new emotions and impressions. Unfortunately, some of them resort to alcohol and drugs to achieve this effect. It should be noted that a talented person is always open to new knowledge, she is quite intelligent and inquisitive. The transition from one emotional state to another is a kind of engine for exploring and understanding two worlds, internal and external.

Beauty will save the world!

Creative people, as a rule, have excellent taste, so they constantly try to surround themselves with beautiful things. These can be not only clothing items, but also interior elements, paintings, books, and jewelry. Some studies have found that singers and musicians demonstrate increased receptivity and sensitivity to artistic beauty.

Connecting the dots

Creative individuals are able to find opportunity where others simply do not notice it. Many famous writers and artists believe that creativity is the ability to connect dots that an ordinary person would not think of connecting in such a sequence. If you ask a genius how he put these things together, he will feel awkward because he will not have an answer to this question. What is difficult for others is not difficult for a creative person.

Since childhood, we have been told that we need to behave well, obey our parents, respect our elders, follow advice, and everything will be as good as we could ever imagine. Then we go to school, and society makes adjustments to our ideas, giving us a choice: to fight for individuality or not to stand out from the crowd in order to become less noticeable.

Individuality takes over and often makes the child an object of ridicule. And so, already as a student, a person either begins to be afraid of his potential and hides it away from himself, or hides his creativity from others in fear that everyone who happens to get acquainted with it will disdain it. Do you recognize yourself? Then here are nine reasons why it is not easy for you to live in harmony with the world around you.

• The right to cut the rope always belongs to the one who hung it

In other words, you challenge everything you see around you, and for you this is a natural reaction to conformity and utilitarianism. Thus, according to the theory of the highly respected Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, you hang a rope, and the right to cut it, that is, to show others how ordinary their ideas are, how simple their souls are and how unpretentious their thoughts are, remains with you. You are bored with the world, the world is uncomfortable with you.

However, the desire to be comfortable is often the last thing on a creative person's list.

• Non-stop mode

Living according to normal human laws, namely going to bed in the evening, getting up early in the morning, going to work/study/internship, turns out to be something as difficult for you as the laws of physics or research in robotics. You like to create until late at night, then sleep until noon, drink a lot of coffee, meet new people, constantly share thoughts that are never “overdue,” have intellectual conversations, constantly spin like a squirrel in a wheel. The world responds to this way of life with misunderstanding and, even less pleasant, with irritation. It’s unpleasant, but the book won’t write itself, right?

• “You are under our care, which means you must do what we tell you.”

Yes, parents really play a huge role in everyone’s life. They raise you and me, invest money and time in ensuring that their child finds a place for himself in some field, and are very worried when everything does not go according to plan. As soon as you say that you are free to live the way you want, reproaches begin and an attempt to increase control over your life begins. At a minimum, such strengthening is accompanied by insinuating questions, an attempt to get a detailed report from you about your day, and more frequent calls. This behavior of parents often causes a backlash: their precious child becomes more closed to them, they lose trust in their parents and become resentful towards them, accompanied by the thought: “Well, since you don’t believe in me, I won’t say anything at all.”

• Too distracted to take seriously

Your attention can never be focused on one thing. If circumstances require such a situation, maintaining attention requires incredible efforts from you. It’s simple: there are so many thoughts that their one-sided direction is impossible in principle, because there is so much more to think about. Unfortunately, no one except you knows that at the moment you have not responded to the teacher’s voice for three minutes because you are thinking about the next chapter from “The Missing Structure” by Umberto Eco. Hence all these strange looks and whispers. Only those who communicate closely with him are able to take a creative person seriously. Others consider him not of this world because of his constantly absent gaze.

But what can you do if the reality around you is so boring that you consider it a pride to move your thoughts away from it?

• Popularity - I want it, but it hurts

You will not exchange your originality for it, even if you really want to. A creative person feels so acutely his inadequacy to his surroundings that he is actually disgusted by the idea of ​​becoming a part of it. Why? Because for him it is nothing more than a gray mass. You don't even remember their names, and the explanation for this is the sameness of these people. Therefore, you are more of a loner than the life of the party, because with yourself it is much more difficult than with any of them, but this makes it a hundred times more interesting.

• An idea generator is like a constantly boiling machine

You are used to thinking. Constantly. Twenty-four hours a day. Even in sleep, your brain does not rest, and you wake up from another dream, which was even brighter than you could imagine. Everything you see is subject to careful thought, then analysis, and then conclusions. It bothers those around you. Very often, creative people can hear exclamations from friends and acquaintances such as “Stop thinking already! You think too much! It is impossible for them to understand how you don’t get tired of the incessant thoughts in your head, but you do get tired of them. And you regard misunderstanding on their part as a personal insult.

• Why not keep it simple?

Because the “bookish” mind constructs sentences in the way that is most beneficial to it - colorful, juicy, with pictures and examples. You constantly fantasize and lie, invent fables, and you do not do this to amuse people. You need this to test what else your imagination is capable of. You tell stories and accompany them with pictures. Often you are so verbose that to an unprepared person such behavior seems savage.

You consider monotonous thinking to be savage, and that is entirely your right.

• “I am a complete nonentity, and don’t you dare convince me otherwise.”

Creative people most often have problems accepting themselves. Believe in yourself - how is it? Something from the realm of fantasy, because there are so many talented people around, how can you compete with them? This is a standard set of thoughts for any creative person. He looks down on those who try to convince him otherwise. Of course, they don’t understand how much more complicated everything is than they think.

• Bipolar disorder? No, normal condition

Your constant jumping from sadness to joy and then back again is confused by many with bipolar disorder. That's why they fear you and avoid you. You see it differently. A creative person is determined by a special depth of perception of himself, those around him, and existing problems. This is where these sudden mood swings come from, which for many people look scary.

“It's interesting to be original. Unoriginality is boring” - these words can be heard from every third person. Hear and decide that he is just wondering. And he will remain deceived by himself. But in this particular case, the well-known saying “The well-fed does not understand the hungry” comes into play. Therefore, a creative person has to live with himself and constantly defend himself. People who are not of a creative mind cannot understand “creators” any further.

Russian student spring 2017

Direction: journalism

Nomination: Best Editorial Material

Why are creative people a little strange?

“There is hardly the highest of pleasures than the pleasure of creating.”

N.V. Gogol

You've probably heard the phrase “creative person” at least once in your life, and usually it has a slightly ironic connotation with the meaning “unusual, wonderful.” Creative individuals think, act, and sometimes even speak differently than ordinary people. They have strange, incomprehensible habits and daily routines. They can dress ridiculously and be overly emotional, childish and eccentric. But the most amazing thing is that they don’t consider themselves strange at all. They simply have no time to pay attention to such trifles, because they are completely absorbed in their creativity, and even if in the eyes of the public an individual is generally devoid of talent, then he himself really loves his work no matter what.

Why are creative people weird? They are often said to be “flying in the clouds” or “not of this world.” And this is absolutely true. Creativity in a person manifests itself, first of all, through his imagination. Imagination lay at the heart of Bach's music, Pushkin's poems and Picasso's paintings. Thanks to increased sensitivity, the creator in his daily life constantly encounters the imperfections of the world, disharmony, chaos and contradictions, therefore, with the help of his imagination, he moves into a wonderful imaginary world in which there is no place for everyday problems and adversities. It’s very nice there, and that’s where the creator goes every time he picks up a brush/puts on pointe shoes/sits down at the piano (underline as appropriate). The creative process itself brings him great pleasure, so he works day and night, forgetting about sleep and food. And he strives to show the results of his creative impulses to others in order to give them a part of his ideal world, in order to make their lives more harmonious, more perfect and more beautiful. There is a romantic inside every creator who dreams of changing reality for the better.

Another quality of creative individuals is the ability to see the unusual in the ordinary. Creators, like children, are ready to be surprised by everything! They are very observant, inquisitive and love to learn. The constant desire to try new things distinguishes a creative person from an ordinary person. A creative person must constantly develop and grow, improving his skills.

Sometimes creative individuals are perceived inadequately in society due to their independence of judgment and creative courage. The creator always has his own opinion, and the opinions of others influence him much less than the typical average person. The creator doesn’t care what others think about him, and not caring about public opinion often causes negative judgments from the outside. Creativity in itself is going beyond stereotypes and templates, and such behavior, as you know, is not welcomed by the crowd. The crowd has its own rules, and creatives definitely don’t fit into them.

Psychologists call another characteristic of creative people a positive attitude towards complex tasks. Difficulties only motivate them to work even harder and harder. By the way, it is worth mentioning the efficiency of the creators. They certainly won’t run headlong from work as soon as six o’clock in the evening hits. In terms of their personal lives, they may seem like careless lazy people, but in their work they are very disciplined, committed and hardworking.

And lastly, probably the most important quality of a creator is talent. Talent is inherent in a person by nature in his mental abilities and anatomical properties. “Talent is like a wart - either it is there or it is not,” said Faina Ranevskaya. Already in childhood, parents notice that their child does something better than other children. Probably, now I will tell the truism, but talent can fade away forever if it is not picked up in time and developed through hard work. In addition to talent, creatives usually have an increased desire for beauty, so to speak, a developed aesthetic sense.

To summarize, I would like to say that, after all, creative individuals are not born, but become. There are a huge number of examples where self-discipline and hard work created real geniuses, no worse than those who were initially talented. Now there are a lot of trainings on the development of creativity and tests to recognize your creative inclinations. But in general, all this does not matter if the work you do brings you pleasure. And, even if you don’t know how to dance, but you absolutely love it, no one dares to stop you!

Photo source: http://dance-theatre.ru/centr-sovremennoi-horeorgafii/