The Tribune

Every day is an opportunity to be creative. The canvas is your mind, the brushes and colours are your thoughts and feelings, the panorama is your story and the complete picture is your work of art.

Nevertheless, I still maintain that most of the things that are interesting and important to us are the result of our creativity, which makes us all unique. No doubt, when we are creative we feel free like the excitement of an artist at the easel or the scientist in the laboratory, which comes close to the ideal serenity we desire but so rarely receive.

Nonetheless, by using research to understand how creative people find new ideas and concepts, I have discovered that they have a remarkable ability to adapt, which makes their personalities different from others. They show tendencies of thought and action which in most people are segregated.

Nevertheless, here are a few antithetical traits often present in creative people:

• Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but are also quiet and at rest.

They work long hours, with great concentration, while projecting an aura of freshness and enthusiasm. They control their energy; which isn’t ruled by the calendar or external schedule.

• Creative people are hyperactive, always “on.”

Always thinking, always filtering and quietly analysing. Being referred to as inquisitive thinkers, they are not easily influenced or persuaded. They learn by trial and error as a strategy for achieving their goals. The waste basket is a writer’s best friend.

• Some creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time.

How smart they actually are is open to question. Yet, it is probably true what psychologists call the “g factor”, meaning a core of general intelligence is high among people who make important creative contributions.

The study of superior mental abilities, initiated at Stanford University by the psychologist Lewis Terman in 1921, shows rather conclusively that children with very high IQs do well in life, but after a certain point IQ does not seem to be correlated any longer with superior performance in real life as these tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity or perseverance.

Moreover, people who produce an acceptable novelty in a domain seem able to use well two opposite ways of thinking: the Convergent and the Divergent.

Convergent thinking is measured by IQ tests, and it involves solving well-defined, rational problems that have one correct answer, while Divergent thinking leads to no agreed-upon solution.

It involves fluency, or the ability to generate a great quantity of ideas; or the ability to switch from one perspective to another. (I can’t believe I actually still remember this concept).

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

There is no question that a playfully, light attitude is typical of creative individuals. Despite the carefree air that many creative people enjoy, artisans still work late into the night when less driven individuals would not.

Jacob Rainbow, an electrical engineer who uses an interesting mental technique to slow himself down when his invention requires more endurance than intuition, says “When I have a job that takes a lot of effort, slowly I pretend I’m in jail. In other words, if it takes a week to cut this, I’ll take a week. Besides where do I have to go?”

Most of us assume that artists, musicians, writers, poets, dancers and painters are strong on the fantasy side and scientists, politicians, and business people are realists. This may be true in terms of day-to-day routine activities, but when a person begins to work creatively, all bets are off.

• Creative people tend to be both extroverted and introverted.

We are usually one or the other; either we are in the thick of crowds or simply just sitting on the sidelines observing the show. In fact psychological research note that extroversion and introversion are considered the most stable personality traits that differentiate people from each other which can be reliably measured.

• Creative people can be humble and proud simultaneously.

It is remarkable to meet a famous person who you expect to be arrogant or haughty, only to encounter self-deprecation and shyness instead. But there are good reasons why. These individuals are well aware that they stand “on the shoulders of giants”, which evokes a level of respect of previous contributions and blessing in their individual achievements.

• Creative people can be both rebellious and conservative.

I am of the view that it is impossible to be creative without having first internalised an area of culture or value. Consider this: great art and great science involve a leap of imagination into a world that is different from the present. Evidently, God is the greatest artist as he invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He had his style which was to keep on creating.

Subsequently this means that if you’re passionate about something you would have to stay at it, your style will come. Sometimes it means taking risk and losing the fear of being wrong or leaving your comfort zone to develop the wilderness of your creative intuition. Think about it.

Until we meet again, fill your life with good memories rather than regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game!

• Deidre Bastian is a professionally trained Graphic Designer/ Marketing Co-ordinator with qualifications of MSc, BSc, ASc. She has trained at institutions such as Miami Lakes Technical Centre, Success Training College, College of The Bahamas, Nova Southeastern University, Learning Tree International, Langevine International and Synergy Bahamas. She welcomes feedback at deedee21bastian@gmail.com