You are currently browsing the Analogy and Creativity Blog weblog archives for the day August 14, 2007.
August 14, 2007 by Cynthia Sifonis.
I read a piece in Psychology Today about the relationship between Genius and Madness. Because the magazine’s articles tend to be on the “fluffy” side of science, I expected the usual “suffering, struggle, and madness accompany the creative muse……” from them. I was pleasantly surprised to see the writer of this article did not take this approach.
The focus of the article turned out being that it takes more than talent and inspiration to create - it also takes a LOT of hard work. Specifically,
“As with mental disorders, there is something mysterious and unexplainable about the creative process. But all significant creative leaps have two very important components—talent and technique. By far the most universal and necessary aspect of technique is dogged persistence, which is anything but romantic.”
The author also pointed out what many psychologists studying the personality traits of eminently creative individuals have noted - that most eminently creative individuals are persistent, hard working, and do not let setbacks or failures deter them from their goals.
“Even acknowledged creative geniuses find that endurance must follow intuition. Einstein’s ideas were not worked out in a day. It takes a great deal of discipline, and often many bouts of trial and error, to work out an idea. Follow-through is critical to the realization of an idea. Discipline is not a hallmark of minds in the throes of emotional distress. “Despite the carefree air that many creative people effect,” says Csikszentmihalyi, “most of them work late into the night and persist when less driven individuals would not.”
In essence, the article points out that it takes more than “out-of-the-box” thinking to create. Once the idea has been generated, it takes a great deal of effort and persistence to turn that idea into a reality whether the end product is a work of art, a new product, or a revolutionary new way of doing business.
Click here to read the full Psychology Today articleÂ
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