7 Traits Of Creative People

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Creativity works in mysterious ways. Creative thinking is a defining characteristic in some personalities, but it may also change based on the situation.

Inspiration and ideas often come to a creative person out of nowhere and then fail to show up when they’re most needed. We’ve all heard of “writer’s block.”

Creative thinking requires complex cognition yet is completely distinct from the thinking process. Science paints a complex picture regarding creativity.

As scientists now understand it, creativity is far more complex than the right-left brain distinction would have us think: the theory being that left brain = rational and analytical, right brain = creative and emotional.

In fact, creativity is thought to involve a number of cognitive processes, neural pathways and emotions, and we still don’t have the full picture of how the imaginative mind works.

While there is no “typical” creative type, they all share some distinct behaviors and characteristics. Here are 7 of them:

1. They work when the creative spirit moves them

A woman painting on a canvas.
Unsplash / Tetiana SHYSHKINA
Unsplash / Tetiana SHYSHKINA

Just because a creative person doesn’t work 9 to 5 doesn’t mean they aren’t hard workers.

Many artists say that they do their best work either very early in the morning or late at night.

Frank Lloyd Wright made a practice of waking up at 3 or 4 AM and writing several hours before going back to bed.

An artist friend of mine sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night to paint something that he was dreaming about.