Velvet Chandelier: 2010

"Creativity" is not just a collection of intellectual abilities. It is also a personality type, a way of thinking and living. Although creative people tend to be unconventional, they share common traits. For example, creative thinkers are confident, independent, and risk-taking. They are perceptive and have good intuition. They display flexible, original thinking. They dare to differ, make waves, challenge traditions, and bend a few rules.

Like all of us, creative people make mistakes, and they subject themselves to embarrassment and humiliation. They must be willing to fail. Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, even recommended that one route to success was to "double your failure rate."

One particularly common trait of creative people is enthusiasm. The phrases "driving absorption," "high commitment," "passionate interest," and "unwilling to give up" describe most creative people. The high energy also appears in adventurous and thrill-seeking activities. Don't some of your most creative colleagues ride motorcycles, fly airplanes, sky dive, climb cliffs, or downhill ski?

Curiosity and wide interests are related traits, whether the creative person is a research scientist, entrepreneur, artist, or professional entertainer. A good sense of humor is common. Creative people tend to have a childlike sense of wonder and intrigue, and an experimental nature. They may take things apart to see how they work, explore old attics or odd museums, or explore unusual hobbies and collections. In other words, "the creative adult is essentially a perpetual child—the tragedy is that most of us grow up."