15 CHARACTERISTICS OF CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE PEOPLE - PSYCHOLOGY - 2024

The characteristics of creative and innovative people are observed in the ability to invent tangible or intangible things and to generate innovative solutions to problems. A creative person usually has few mental barriers, does not accept the status quo and is open-minded.

You will surely meet someone who loves to draw, play an instrument or even write and is quite good at it. So much so, that he even does things that you would never have crossed your mind.

But, what is your secret? What makes that person have a creative thought? Here we explain what the personality traits of creative people are and what you can do to "copy" their attributes.

Creativity is what helps us to have new ideas, a kind of gift that not everyone has and that could be thought of as part of a person's personality. However, it can also be improved and developed if you work from an early age or even in adults.

Therefore, creative people would be those who have this "gift", the ability or ability to create completely original new ideas for a specific purpose. Also those people, who despite not having been born with this ability, have developed them.

What characteristics do creative people have?

We all would like to be creative or even improve our creativity, but first we have to know exactly how creative people differ from those who are not and for that, we have to develop their main characteristics.

1- They break the status quo

Creative people are not afraid of breaking with the status quo, with the established and that everyone takes for granted.

If everyone carries their travel bags with their hands they wonder. Why don't we put wheels on the suitcases?

2- They defy the rules and are rebellious

Most creative people defy the establishment, almost having an aversion to the rules. They wonder why something has to be like this, why a rule has to be fulfilled.

They may also challenge the authority of the field in which they work and may have an aversion to laws or state authorities such as the police, military or politicians.

3- They are original

Being original implies having innovative ideas that can develop interest for society. People with creativity are able to relate two elements that have nothing to do with each other a priori and this they can do because they have a great imagination.

Creative people are very original because they even challenge the norms that are stipulated socially if they see it necessary to carry out their idea.

4- They have initiative

Their mind works very fast and actively continuously, so whenever a project is put ahead of them, they automatically take the initiative, contributing ideas that they later want to carry out and that adjust to what is asked.

That is, they have fluidity of thought as Alder (2003) calls it in his book.

These ideas become even more innovative than other people's because they are very observant and have a highly developed imagination.

5- Ability to identify problems

They are capable of quickly detecting if mistakes are being made in the project that is being carried out since they are very observant and therefore, they realize what is not going well.

Furthermore, they can also judge whether the goals they wanted to achieve in the initial situation have been achieved.

Not only do they have the ability to identify problems but also to approach them in a creative way, since they have the ability to draw different paths to reach the same goal if they see it necessary.

6- They are divergent

That is, they have the ability to analyze the different positions that exist and even if necessary, find different ways to achieve a common goal. Therefore, their thinking is critical and they use alternative methodologies.

This is one of the best characteristics of creative people since in what we can see only one option of confrontation they see more than one, something very useful for the business field.

7- They are flexible

Another of the traits by which a creative person is characterized is their flexibility. They have a very high ability to adapt to situations and extract what suits them best from them in order to carry out their projects successfully or achieve their goals.

If we extrapolate creativity in this case to painting or art in general, we see that each person has expressed themselves with what they had at that time and that if they did not have a specific paint color they adapted and did it themselves or even they invented ways to make paint convey that color.

8- Sensitivity

As we have said on other occasions, they are very sensitive and observant people, which allows them to see the world in a broader way to develop their projects in an easier and more successful way.

On the other hand, we also refer by this term to the sensitivity in themselves that these people have both for work and for personal relationships.

This way of feeling the world allows them to develop their creativity in the case of music or painting, for example.

9- They are curious

They are curious people who like to know how everything around them works and who answer your doubts and questions.

Surely you remember someone in your class who was continually asking and thinking about how things could be done differently, surely that partner could be a creative person.

That is to say, if you tell them that a specific object is used only for one thing, in addition to getting another use for it, they will even ask you what material it is made of and if it cannot be made of that other.

10- They have high motivation

The main basis for being creative could not be other than motivation. If you are not interested in what you do, no matter how creative you are, you will not awaken the spirit of creativity that is in you that we talked about in the definition of creativity.

For this reason, these people are not only motivated but they are also curious and have a great imagination, they are perfect combinations to develop ideas and magnificent projects.

Surely on many occasions when you have been doing something that you liked, time has flown by and ideas have not stopped popping up in your head. That's because you've really been motivated.

Well, creative people also have that same feeling when they immerse themselves in their projects.

11- They are independent

They are characterized by being independent and this is a reality, we have met throughout history many creative people who have been considered geniuses and if we pay attention they were independent and work alone.

This does not mean that they do not know how to work in a group but normally they prefer to think without company as it improves their concentration.

Thanks to this independence, other characteristics such as originality and personal initiative are fostered.

12- They interpret the world differently

All the above characteristics lead them to be able to interpret the world around them in a different way and use the tools that are normally only directed to a specific purpose for another that we could never have imagined. So they have the ability to redefine the world in which they live.

13- They are ambitious

They are also very ambitious people who, always thinking about what they could do and how it could be done, need to be listened to, usually being the center of attention among their co-workers, something that they usually like.

Also, they like to influence others and get recognition for their merits and ideas. It could be said that it is a way to motivate yourself and gain confidence in yourself that you need to continue working with effort.

14- They are committed

Another of their traits is the great commitment they usually have when working on a project.

On many occasions, they spend more time than others on the projects for which they are motivated, understanding that these people therefore have a great commitment to what they do.

15- They have a sense of humor

Creative people have a great sense of humor, they take life in a calmer and more leisurely way that allows them to live happily enjoying each moment and making the most of their qualities.

Have you noticed that people with a better sense of humor are more creative than those who are not? (Waisburd, 1996).

8 Examples of Famous Creative People

Pablo Picasso: created cubism with Georges Braque and thousands of works that made him famous in life and even more after his death.

Albert Einstein: as a young man he was a rebel who defied authority and did not accept what was established in physics, which, along with other circumstances, led him to develop the theory of relativity.

Elon Musk: You have created the electric car industry and the reusable rocket industry. In both, for years it was considered very difficult to innovate and the established was accepted: that rockets are used only once and that electric cars are ugly and slow.

Nikola Tesla - great inventor, engineer and futurist, helped develop the alternating current electrical supply system. Tesla's creative work was far ahead of its time despite his great contributions to humanity.

Benjamin Franklin - One of the founding fathers of the United States, Franklin was a brilliant polymath, inventor, political theorist, scientist, statesman, and writer. He had a prodigious scientific mind, and his interests varied widely, but in addition to politics, he is perhaps best known for his experiments with electricity.

Leonardo Da Vinci: Da Vinci is best known for his paintings (The Last Supper, The Mona Lisa), but he was also a philosopher, engineer, and inventor.

The Wright Brothers: Orville and Wilbur Wright invented and flew the world's first successful airplane in 1903. Their persistence, experimentation, and work on the principles of flight made them legendary inventors and innovators.

Galileo Galilei: his revolutionary ideas helped him to inaugurate the scientific revolution in the 17th century. He is often called the father of modern science. Forced to defend his ideas of heliocentricism against the Roman inquisition, and spending most of his life under house arrest for heresy, Galileo has become an icon of scientific integrity in the face of religious dogmatism.

How are uncreative people?

The following sentences were said by people who could be considered uncreative. This is the best way to get an idea of ​​their way of thinking:

Conclusions

Creative people have excellent characteristics that make them successful in everything they set out to do. It is true that there are people who are born with them and therefore are original by nature.

However, people who were not born with such brilliant qualities can also develop them if we put our mind to it.

Perhaps we do not have the same creativity as a person who was born with it or perhaps we do, the only thing that we have to care about is improving our creativity and for this there are already a multitude of exercises and dynamics that can help us to do so.

References

1. Cáceres, O. (2006). Profile of the creative person. Journal of Education Sciences, Vol.1, Nº 27; pp. 237-261.
2. Esquivias Serrano, MT (2004). Creativity: definitions, antecedents and contributions. University Digital Magazine. Vol 5, No. 1.
3. Alder, Harry (2003). Creative intelligence, Mexico City, Mexico: Santillana.
4. Albuja Bayas M. (S / F). The characteristics of creative thinking. Improvement of the Quality of Popular Private Education and Community Social Communication. Sunrise plan.
5. Waisburd, G. (1996) Creativity and transformations. Trillas, Mexico