The creative personality

Via a Twitter update by Marci Segal, I came across an interesting article by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi about the creative personality. Reading the article, I learned, for example, the following 10 things:

Learning point # 1
The energy of creative people is internally generated, due not least to their focused minds.

Learning point # 2
People who bring about an acceptable novelty in a domain seem able to use well two opposite ways of thinking: the convergent and the divergent. Divergent thinking is often perceived as deviant by the majority, and so the creative person may feel isolated and misunderstood.

Learning point # 3
Creative people combine playfulness and discipline.

Learning point # 4
Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.

Learning point # 5
Creative people tend to be both extroverted and introverted.

Learning point # 6
Creative people are humble and proud at the same time. They're usually so focused on future projects and current challenges that past accomplishments, no matter how outstanding, are no longer very interesting to them.

Learning point # 7
Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping.

Learning point # 8
Creative people are both rebellious and conservative.

Learning point # 9
Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.

Learning point # 10
Creative people's openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment.

How creative are you?