This article was reprinted more than any of my articles and was used for training for such diverse groups as NBC directors in Chicago & Sun Bank managers in Florida. The high point though came when I was working as a reporter and was assigned an intern who, when we met, said in awe,“Oh, you’re that Colleen Rae!” The article had even been used in her J school program. "The Creative Personality" grew out of a lecture I gave at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago and first appeared in Piedmont Airlines Pace Magazine in 1985.
CREATIVITY is the ability to originate, which is to bring things into being. An example of creativity is shown in the story of the German chemist Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz, who is commonly referred to as, simply, Kekule. He had been working for some time on determining the structure of the benzene molecule. He was having little success until he dreamed one night of six snakes forming a circle by each biting the tail of the snake in front of it. Upon awakening, Kekule remembered his dream image, and he recognized that this image might be symbolizing the structure of the benzene molecule. As it turns out, benzene is a hexagonal ring structure with six carbon atoms arranged at the vertexes. It was Kekule’s dream that led him to his discovery .
Kekule’s idea was original, and it was of benefit to society .One day I was giving a talk in a room without a podium and needed something to hold my notes. I noticed, however, a large serving tray and an overly tall wastebasket I was able to put the two together to create a make-shift podium. Obviously, this did not improve society in any way, but it did improve my life -and the ease with which I .gave my talk.
The answer to my problem came just as the dream came for Kekule. I was not thinking, “How can I solve this problem?” The answer just came out of somewhere or nowhere.
Creativity works that way. It is not something we do; it is something we allow. Creativity is a normal human capacity, and everybody possesses the potential for being even more creative than he or she already is. There are many blocks to using our creative potential, though. Seriousness, the need to be perfect, fears of one kind or another and self-doubt can all prevent us from being as creative as we are. By removing these blocks and by emphasizing our own personality traits that are similar to those of highly creative people, we can enhance our creative functioning.
One of the biggest blocks to creativity is that we can be so horribly serious and take ourselves so seriously. Too many of us suffer from a problem which can be termed, ‘seriosity.’ Though it is possible to be serious and creative, humor helps unleash creativity .We have to be able to laugh at life and at ourselves. This ability is essential – especially to function as a creative person.
Anybody who is afraid of making mistakes is blocking his or her creativity .Nobody likes to make mistakes. Everybody wants to be perfect, and this need for perfection is one of the biggest blocks to creativity that there is. The only way around this block is to recognize that, for a creative person, mistakes are steps in the direction of solving problems.
Another big block is fear. We are afraid of the unknown; we are afraid to venture out; we are afraid to do things differently than we have ever done them before. We tend to do things in the way we have done them. The only way around this habit is to embrace fear. It sounds crazy, although one of the sad facts of life as a human being is that fear is not something that ever goes away. If we are going to live openly, with awareness, taking risks, fear is always there.
Another block to creativity is doubt. We doubt ourselves if we are normal human beings. We say, “Should I really be doing this?” or “Can I really do this, or am I just kidding myself?” Turning doubt into do is an adage which should be remembered when you start doubting. When you go through the rational arguments with yourself, you can come up with a million reasons not to start on a project Once you take the first step, however, it is fine. If you are writing, for instance, you can put a piece of paper in the typewriter and just start typing and let your mind flow. Part of the purpose is to get into the right state of mind -the “right brain” mode -and to allow the ideas to present themselves: This is the funny thing about creativity. We are trained in using this other aspect of the mind, the part that structures things and says, “O.K., I am going to solve this problem.” Much of the creative process, however, has to do with allowing, letting go and being receptive. Creating is really a state of being, and all we can do is remove the blocks.
Another way we can allow out creativity is by enhancing in our own personalities some of the traits which are associated with the personalities of creative people. Women who are creative tended to be tomboys as children. Men who are creative get high positive correlations on the femininity scales of various personality tests (e.g., the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory). One student had been given one of these tests and had scored high on the femininity scale. A psychiatrist then worked with him, he said, to help him solve his “problems.” The feminine traits as defined by the makers of these tests are self-awareness, openness, wide-ranging interests, a sensitive intellect and emotionalism .
When this student scored high in these traits, he was viewed as “not normal” by those who thought of these traits as feminine. This student, when describing this experience, said, “For 15 years this has been eating at me. I went out and got married and had children – all to prove I was a man.” He concluded by saying, “Now I know what’s wrong with me. I’m creative!” And he had a point; that is what is “wrong” with him. The five traits listed above are traits common to creative people. We can enhance these traits in ourselves: we can all become more self-aware; we can all become more open. By enhancing these traits in ourselves (whether we are female or male), we open ourselves to our creative potential. It is a confusing situation: you cannot make yourself be creative; you can only allow yourself to be.
Read the following list: |
|
|
absentminded |
disorderly |
inventive |
active |
dissatisfied |
logical |
adaptable |
distractable |
moody |
adventurous |
egotistical |
original |
alert |
energetic |
outspoken |
aloof |
enthusiastic |
quick |
ambitious |
humorous |
rational |
argumentative |
hurried |
rebellious |
artistic |
idealistic |
reflective |
assertive |
imaginative |
reserved |
autocratic |
impulsive |
resourceful |
capable |
independent |
restless |
careless |
individualistic |
sarcastic |
clear-thinking |
industrious |
self-centered |
clever |
ingenious |
sensitive |
complicated |
insightful |
serious |
confident |
intelligent |
sharp-witted |
curious |
interests wide |
spontaneous |
cynical |
intolerant |
tactless |
demanding |
|
unconventional |
This is called an “Adjective Check List;’ and it was designed by George Domino as a capsule description of the creative personality. If a person can be described with a large number of the 59 adjectives on the list, he or she can be thought of as a creative person. The odd thing about this list is that many of the traits seem contradictory to us. Yet, the above composite is a description of a functioning human entity that does exist.We are in a culture where we say, “This is black, and this is white. This is wrong, and this is right’ This “either/or” thinking is called “dualism;’ and we, in our culture, tend to see everything in this way. There is no opposite, but our culture has so trained us with this idea that we think that if we are pleasant characters, we are never rude. In reality, these characteristics are on a continuum, which is changing.The varied expression of those qualities has to do with the day-to-day circumstances of one’s inner and outer world. A person functioning with an array or continuum of traits which are responsive to the changes around him will seem unpredictable to those who see things in black and white, a situation which can be very uncomfortable for people who have a need for predictability.If you want to allow your creativity to emerge, however, you should not try to make yourself predictable for another human being. You both may be uncomfortable at times, but creative people are comfortable with ambiguity. They do not have to have things nailed down all the time. They are more comfortable with change than people who are not using their creative potential. They can allow things to be unstable.In fact, one of the ways you can pick creative people out of a group is by showing them pictures with synunetrica1 and asymmetrical designs. The creative people prefer the asymmetrical designs, which are not fixed, but moving and in a state of flux. There is some tension in the design because it is not perfectly balanced.Another aspect of the creative personality is humor. Creative people can be very, very funny. This humor includes the ability to laugh at life and at our- selves, as discussed earlier. Creative people also have a high degree of what is called “ego strength.” “Ego” is a funny word because it has good and bad connotations. It is good to have an identity, but it is not so good to have an overblown identity. What is meant by the term “ego strength” is a “sense of oneself.” It is a belief in the worth of the work you are doing, no matter the response from the world around you.Creative people are, also, more child-like in their curiosity. When we were children, we were supposedly always asking “why” questions, and this type of curiosity is a central feature of creativity. Creative people are known not only by the answers they get, but also by the number and type of questions they ask. A heightened playfulness is another childlike aspect of the creative personality.If you want to enhance your own creativity, you should not go to a class in “how to paint” because that will teach you only how to make a product. You should instead enhance the creative personality traits you possess and get rid of the attitudes that block creativity. Once done, the product created – which comes out of that personality – will be creative.
© 1985 by Colleen Rae
