Improve Your Creative Process by Figuring Out Your Weaknesses
We all work a little differently depending on our personality, and this also applies to creative work. Knowing your habits, behaviors, and weaknesses can help you optimize your creativity.
A study by the Journal of Creative Behavior found that there are three main personality factors that determine the way we work:
Plasticity : high openness, extraversion, energy and inspiration.
Divergence : low complaisance and conscientiousness, high inadequacy and impulsivity.
Convergence : high ambition, precision, persistence and critical flair.
It helps you understand which one best describes you as you dive into the next part of your exploration: finding your creative process. Writer Adrienne Branson explains on Canva Blog:
… according to these two types of processes identified in the study:
Generation , assuming the emergence of new ideas (quantity – the one who has a lot of ideas); and,
Selection , which involves narrowing your ideas down to their best version (quality is someone with a few good ideas).
So, are you a generator or a selector?
The study showed that people with high levels of plasticity and divergence, with their desire for new experiences, prefer the generation process. They are very good at coming up with many, many new ideas, but not all of them can be the best.
Conversely, research has shown that those with a high level of convergence have a preference for the selection process. They may not be the best at coming up with a lot of new ideas, but they do do well at taking the time to perfect the few that come.
It’s hard to put everyone in one of the two boxes, but chances are you can relate to one more than the other, and that’s the important part. Once you identify the creative process that best describes you, you know which one is not right for you, so you can focus on fixing that “weakness” to optimize your workflow.
For example, if you’re a generator who needs to be better at making choices, you can focus on counting the hours and stick to your idea using something like the Pomodoro method . Project 365 can help you accomplish your task.
On the other hand, if you need to improve your generation, you better focus on inspiration . Keep a couple of notebooks handy. Come up with your own creative play .
You may already have an idea of what your weaknesses are, but identifying them can help you better understand and deal with them. Branson offers a number of additional tips at the link below.
Develop Your Creative Achievements By Playing With Your Personality | Canva via Design Taxi