PDF Summary:Wired to Create, by Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire

Defining creativity has historically been challenging because creatives are often walking contradictions—they’re introverted yet outgoing, focused yet easily distracted, and sensitive yet resilient. According to Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire, this is because creativity isn’t a characteristic itself, but rather the effect of a collection of different characteristics.

The authors’ research shows that creative people are ultimately defined by their introspection, desire for learning and experiences, unconventional and fantastical thinking, and search for meaning. In Wired to Create, the authors say that creatives possess 10 characteristics that encompass these traits and result in their heightened creativity—by embracing these characteristics, you too can maximize your creative potential.

In this guide, we’ll explore Kaufman and Gregoire’s 10 creativity characteristics, explaining how they manifest and why they enhance creativity. In our commentary, we’ll supplement the authors’ discussion with information from other experts and books on creativity and well-being like The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and That Little Voice In Your Head by Mo Gawdat.

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The Neuroscience Behind Creativity

In A Mind for Numbers, Barbara Oakley explains why switching between daydreaming and mindfulness is key to problem-solving and creativity.

When we’re being mindful—what Oakely refers to as using the focused mode of thinking—our thoughts travel more quickly along shorter neural pathways that link familiar and related concepts, allowing us to retrieve information about related concepts easily. This is effective for making detailed observations, solving simple problems, or doing work you’re familiar with; however, it prevents you from coming up with unique insights or solutions that exist outside of that cluster of related concepts.

On the other hand, when we’re daydreaming—or in Oakley’s terms, using the diffuse mode of thinking—our thoughts traverse longer neural pathways between more diverse, unrelated concepts. This allows us to subconsciously process information gathered during sessions of focused mode thinking and make connections between previously unrelated concept clusters.

So to maximize your creativity and problem-solving ability, Oakley recommends actively switching between focused and diffuse modes of thinking—the more you do so, the more unique insights and connections you’ll make.

Further, the authors explain that practicing mindfulness trains us to control and direct our attention—focusing on specific elements teaches us to quiet our inner monologue and control thoughts that might disrupt our focus. This facilitates creativity because it allows us to more easily enter and maintain a state of flow.

(Shortform note: In That Little Voice In Your Head, Gawdat refers to mindfulness as “deliberate attention” and reiterates that practicing it allows you to have more control of your thoughts and more easily enter flow. However, to achieve these effects, you must intentionally practice it every day. To do so, Gawdat recommends going about your day actively observing the world around you and choosing to look for positivity and beauty. Not only will this help you direct your attention, but you’ll notice beautiful things in your everyday life that you may have overlooked otherwise. This will make you a happier person and may even inspire creative insights.)

Characteristic 5: Solitude

The fifth characteristic that the authors say artists share is the desire for solitude. The lonely artist trope has existed for centuries, and the authors explain that there’s a good reason for this: Creativity stems from an intimate understanding of one’s self and humanity, and these discoveries are the product of deep reflection, which requires solitude.

In solitude, people are granted the time and peace needed to fully explore their thoughts, emotions, and experiences, and to contemplate things they wouldn’t normally think about. This deep contemplation is the catalyst for meaningful epiphanies about yourself and the world—the tissue of creative work. Distractions in the outside world often prevent this intense inner focus, which is why solitude is crucial for creativity.

(Shortform note: Researchers reiterate the necessity of solitude for creativity, as it allows you to more deeply process and reflect on things. However, they note that the desire for solitude is not universally linked to creativity—it’s why you seek solitude that’s linked to creativity. They found that those who crave solitude due to shyness or avoidance of others scored low in creativity and high in aggression. People who craved solitude simply for the pleasure of being alone ranked high in creativity and low in aggression. So before embracing solitude, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.)

The authors say that this phenomenon can be explained by the networks of our brain that are active during solitude versus when we’re in the outside world. In the outside world, the high-focus network of our brain suppresses our imagination, directing our attention to our environment rather than our creative thoughts. On the other hand, in solitude, our high-focus network works with our imagination, which heightens our ability to develop creative thoughts and insights.

(Shortform note: It’s true that solitude allows our brain to activate networks that increase creativity; however, scientists explain that long-term solitude, or social isolation, can actually change our brain for the worse. When we spend too much time alone without having discussions with others, we underuse the parts of our brain needed for memory and attention. As a result, those areas begin to shrink. One study found that people who were socially isolated had a 26% increased risk of dementia, potentially as a result of this shrinking.)

Characteristic 6: Intuition

According to the authors, the sixth characteristic creatives share is strong intuition. Intuition is an inner feeling you have that urges you to do something or change your frame of mind. For example, intuition can be an intense emotion, the urge to explore something, a sense of knowing something you can’t prove, and so on. The authors explain that intuition, or gut instinct, is often a catalyst for creative insights. Many creative people believe that their intuition, and consequently their creative insights, come from some higher power.

(Shortform note: In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert argues that intuition is a method that a higher creative power uses to communicate ideas with us—she refers to this higher creative power as “Big Magic.” Further, Gilbert explains that the ideas we receive from Big Magic through our intuition are independent entities with their own will. Consequently, when one “visits” you, it’s your job to honor it by exploring it rather than writing it off as unrealistic, for example. Gilbert explains that this way of thinking will help you follow your intuition and boost your creativity.)

While the authors acknowledge the possibility of intuition coming from a higher power, they also explore the more scientific perspective that intuition is a product of the automatic processing system of our mind. This perspective also explains why creativity is linked to intuition.

Whereas the deliberate processing system of our mind is more controlled and analytical when generating ideas, the authors explain that the automatic processing system is spontaneous and often relies on information that we’ve implicitly and subconsciously learned through experiences. When using the automatic system of idea generation, our mind makes unique connections between past experiences and current stimuli that come to us in a sudden burst of “inspiration.” The more unique and unconventional these connections are, the more creative our ideas are. This is why following your intuition—or using your automatic processing system to generate ideas—often produces creative insights.

For example, imagine you’re an avid fiction reader—you’ve read a variety of genres with different themes and plots. Your subconscious mind has absorbed all the different story lines, plot developments, and literary strategies you’ve read. When writing your own book, you may experience intuition telling you to make certain unique decisions pertaining to your plot or characters. This internal guidance may seem mysterious, but it’s likely a result of your automatic processing system drawing connections between all the different books you’ve read and combining different writing strategies to help you come up with something new.

Use a Second Brain to Boost Your Automatic Processing System

In Building a Second Brain, Tiago Forte reiterates that creative insights are spawned by our brains' ability to make unique connections between information we’ve acquired throughout our lives—the process of automatic thinking that the authors say fuels intuition. However, in the modern age, our brains struggle to reach peak creative potential—despite being constantly inundated with valuable information and potential creative tinder, our brains haven’t developed enough to retain all this information. This means that we’re likely to forget a piece of information that would otherwise have sparked a creative insight at some point in the future.

Forte explains that we can overcome this limitation of our brain and maximize our ability to make unique connections by using what he calls a “Second Brain”—a highly organized digital storage system where we can file every piece of important information we encounter so nothing slips between the cracks. Forte explains that part of using a Second Brain is regularly revisiting the ideas and information you’ve recorded. This will equip your automatic processing system to make unique connections between current experiences and past ideas and information you would otherwise have forgotten.

Characteristic 7: Experiential Curiosity

The seventh characteristic that the authors say creatives share is experiential curiosity—the desire to learn about yourself and the world through new experiences. Experiential curiosity is one of the biggest driving factors of creativity because new experiences are often the foundations of creative work—creativity arises when we break our typical patterns. Further, people who seek new experiences and knowledge tend to be more driven to find and make meaning out of the world around them, and this meaning is the material of creative expression.

According to the authors, research has uncovered three common forms of experiential curiosity. The first form is the drive to find truth, solve problems, and explore ideas. The second form is the drive to understand human emotion, which is accompanied by the tendency to rely on intuition and emotion in decision-making. The third form is the drive to explore art and elements of unreality, and to have emotional experiences in doing so.

The Five Forms of Curiosity

Some researchers argue that there are five forms of curiosity as opposed to the authors’ three, and they explain that some forms are more closely linked to outcomes like creativity than others.

The first form of curiosity that researchers list is deprivation sensitivity—the desire to fill a knowledge gap. This aligns with the authors’ first form of experiential curiosity.

Second is joyous exploration—a sense of wonder and fascination about the world. Third is social curiosity—the desire to learn about others. The second and third forms of curiosity align with the authors’ second form of experiential curiosity.

Fourth is stress tolerance—the desire for new experiences and the acceptance of the anxiety that may accompany them. Fifth is thrill seeking—the willingness to take risks to acquire intense and complex experiences. While more nuanced, the fourth and fifth forms of curiosity are similar to the authors’ third form of experiential curiosity in that they encompass the desire to seek new, emotion-inducing experiences in the real world.

Further, researchers explain that while people who are curious tend to be more creative, assign meaning to the world around them, and reach higher forms of achievement, certain forms of curiosity are more strongly linked to certain traits. For example, people who rank high in both stress tolerance and social curiosity tend to be the most creative and innovative, people who exhibit joyous curiosity tend to be happier, and people with social curiosity tend to be more modest, kind, and generous.

The authors add that creative people are curious because they have high levels of dopamine. Aside from being the neurotransmitter that gives you feelings of pleasure and motivation, dopamine also encourages plasticity, which controls our desire to explore and try new things, whether it be experiences or ways of thinking.

(Shortform note: In The Willpower Instinct, Kelly McGonigal explains that we produce dopamine because it gave ancient humans an evolutionary advantage—the motivation and curiosity it sparks helped us survive by pushing us to do things like hunt, gather, and find a mate. However, she notes that dopamine can also have a negative effect on us—it causes us to chase things we think will bring us happiness, like new experiences, without actually guaranteeing that happiness. This can cause us to endlessly chase things we think will make us happy without ever feeling satisfied.)

Characteristic 8: Sensitivity

The eighth characteristic that the authors say creatives share is sensitivity. Sensitive people experience intense emotions and often are more in tune with and impacted by their surroundings. For example, a sensitive person may be more likely to notice the subtle nuanced brush strokes in a painting, or they may be better equipped to pick up on others’ emotions. They’re also more likely to be strongly emotionally impacted by their experiences—both positively and negatively.

The authors explain that sensitivity is linked to creativity for a few reasons. First, sensitive people have more intense emotional experiences, and emotions are often the inspiration for creative expression. Further, sensitive people tend to pick up on things that most people don’t. This provides them with a deeper understanding of the world, which sparks creative insights.

Experiences of Highly Sensitive People

In The Highly Sensitive Person, Elaine Aron provides a more comprehensive definition of what it means to be highly sensitive. According to Aron, highly sensitive people, or HSPs, have four major characteristics that set them apart from the typical person: 1) the ability to process information deeply, 2) the heightened ability to discern subtleties, 3) heightened empathy and emotional experiences, and 4) the tendency to become overstimulated.

While Aron agrees that HSPs can often be more creative than non HSPs due to their heightened understanding of themselves and the world, they also experience symptoms that can be inhibiting. For example, the tendency to become overstimulated can lead to a state called transmarginal inhibition in which they shut down because they’re unable to handle the stimulation they’re experiencing.

Characteristic 9: Creative Resilience

The ninth characteristic that the authors say creative people share is creative resilience—feeling their emotions intensely, using them to develop a deeper understanding of themselves and the world, and then sharing the insights they’ve gained through creative expression.

The authors explain that many artists use creative expression as a way of releasing pain and suffering. Turning pain into art, for example, helps creatives cope because it makes their suffering meaningful. Sharing their experiences is also cathartic because it allows creatives to connect with others—it makes them feel less alone in their experiences and produces the same effect for those viewing their art.

This characteristic is closely linked to characteristic 8: sensitivity. Because creatives are so sensitive, they’re more likely to be heavily impacted by traumatic experiences and carry suffering in the form of mental and emotional disorders. However, being creatively resilient allows creatives, distinctly, to flourish in the face of this adversity.

Does Creative Expression Actually Relieve Suffering for the “Tortured Artist”?

The link between heightened sensitivity, suffering, and creativity that the authors discuss is also the foundation of the tortured artist trope. While many artists do cite their art as a way of expressing their pain, it’s important to note that in many cases, heightened sensitivity and suffering do not lead to increased creativity. For example, depression, a common result of heightened sensitivity and cause of suffering, actually shrinks parts of the brain linked to learning, memory, processing, and consequently, creativity.

Further, not all “tortured artists” are able to turn their pain into art and healing. For example, a Swedish study found in 2012 that writers were 121% more likely to be bipolar and 50% more likely to commit suicide—despite engaging in creative expression (writing), they still experienced mental illness that led some to self-harm. Further, a 2018 study on creatives found that 60% had suicidal thoughts.

The authors add that this phenomenon—turning suffering into meaning and growth—has been scientifically observed and labeled “post-traumatic growth.” One study found that more than half of the people who experienced trauma in their sample group reported significant mental or emotional growth.

However, researchers say that for growth to occur after trauma, the traumatic experience must 1) deeply challenge the person’s previously held beliefs about the world and themselves, and 2) cause them to rewrite their perspectives and develop new insights. As we’ve discussed, these insights are often the fodder for creative expression.

(Shortform note: The phenomenon of post-traumatic growth (PTG) is becoming a more common topic of psychological research. Studies agree on the conditions necessary for PTG to take place, and add that PTG is measured by a positive response in five areas: 1) appreciation of life, 2) relationships with others, 3) new possibilities in life, 4) personal strength, and 5) spiritual change. Further, researchers say there are two traits that are more heavily linked to PTG: openness to experience (characteristic 7) and extroversion.)

Characteristic 10: Unconventional Thinking

The final characteristic that the authors say creative people share is unconventional thinking. Creatives tend to think beyond standard rules and expectations that traditionally limit people. They break barriers and set new trends by refusing to conform.

The disruption that creative people cause often paves the way for massive change—for example, an inventor often needs to challenge what we know about science to create new commodities that make our lives easier or more efficient. However, the authors note that because creative work breaks norms and traditions, it often goes unrecognized initially.

This is because people typically praise conformity and resist things that are different. It’s our evolutionary drive to be risk averse—risks present danger, and newness is a risk. As a result, people need time to get used to a new concept before they can consider its merit.

For example, most people rejected the idea of automobiles when they were first invented—using a machine rather than a horse to get around seemed dangerous and scary. However, it’s hard to imagine how our current society would function without automobiles. Similarly, people may resist a new form of art if it goes against what’s traditionally considered “beautiful.” However, concepts of beauty change over time—the more we’re exposed to something, the more we’ll begin to accept and even prefer it.

Practice Nonconformity

Other creativity experts reiterate the nonconformist nature of creatives, explaining that these people often spark impactful changes despite being looked down on or ignored initially. They also recognize that being a nonconformist can be very challenging, especially because it goes against our nature to fit in. Luckily, you can take four steps to foster your unconventionality and boost your creativity despite the pressure to conform.

First, understand yourself and your talents, and accept the fact that you may not fit in with the majority. You can practice this by taking accountability for your life and acting based on your own values rather than letting society and other people dictate what you should do.

Second, get comfortable expressing your unconventionality—thoughts, ideas, desires—even if others won’t understand. You can practice this in small ways like saying “no” to something you don’t want to do rather than saying “yes” just to be polite. On a larger scale, you can question conventions by doing your own research to determine what you think is right and wrong, and you can express those opinions.

Third, focus on building your true talents rather than trying to become proficient in conventional areas. You can practice this by dedicating time to your talents and the things you’re passionate about.

Fourth, make your talents unique. Rather than imitating other people who share that talent, spend time figuring out how you can break boundaries—identify which constraints may be holding you back and what other people are doing so you can do something different.