digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover and share the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

7 Habits of Highly Innovative People

thinksimplenow.com — Have you ever looked at super creative or innovative people, and felt they are special beings blessed with gifts? Creativity is actually more psychology than intellect.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • mojaam, on 11/17/2007, -5/+4This reminds me of IBM's innovation man for some reason.
    • AgentKPB, on 11/18/2007, -3/+1It reminds me of how gay your face is for some reason.
  • panteradactyl, on 11/17/2007, -15/+9they left out an important way to help spark creativity and productivity.

    Meth. you sure get alot done on it
    • funkyjunk3, on 11/17/2007, -1/+5and burn out at the end. It becomes a master then. I want control over my own creative process without a crutch that costs money and physical damage.
    • alwilson, on 11/18/2007, -2/+1I tried doing meth and crack... but then I wasted a lot of time picking the sores on my face and running from the bad people.
      • archer104, on 11/18/2007, -1/+2Running from bad people is never a waste of time.
  • Uranium118, on 11/17/2007, -5/+21The "gift" is drugs.
  • RobotBuddha, on 11/17/2007, -4/+64Well if some guy on the internet claims to have cracked the secret to an extraordinarily complex aspect of higher thought, with irrefutable evidence like handpicked quotes from people in no way involved in cognitive science, who am I to argue?
    • Rocketbird, on 11/17/2007, -1/+7If you had read the article more closely you would've seen that this is all a summarization of a book by Scott Berkun. From Berkun's website: Who is Scott Berkun? An author, consultant and software industry veteran. He writes books, consults with managers, and teaches creative thinking at the University of Washington.
      • lhbaker, on 11/17/2007, -0/+12Scott? Is that you?
      • RobotBuddha, on 11/17/2007, -0/+5And that still might as well be "some guy on the internet". There's a reason anything dealing with consciousness has to be so rigorously quantified, and without citations of experimental evidence the argument should be assumed to be at a low level no matter if it's a guy paraphrasing a secondary source or the actual author of a secondary source targeted at a popular audience.

        I'm not trying to be all elitist, or throw out arguments of "No comments on science from non-researchers!". But if you're not an actual researcher with the cred that goes along with it, you should expect to get a higher amount of skepticism than they would. In the end the merit of the text has to stand on its own, apart from arguments from authority, or it's essentially worthless. And a pop-science text does not count as a real citation.
        • Rocketbird, on 11/17/2007, -0/+2Whether or not it's pop-psychology is up for debate, but as a university professor, at an excellent University no less, he is required to do research. I suppose finding his actual credentials (doctorate, etc) would be necessary to validate the quality of his research.
          My point overall is that maybe the blogger guy isn't the best person to have presented us with this information, but obviously this Berkun guy has had a moderate amount of success in his life.
    • imikedaman, on 11/17/2007, -3/+13There are very different and very REAL physical differences between people that lead me to believe that this is as much crap as the people on late-night TV suggesting that you too can be a very-fit muscle man like them. I can follow their regiment and I might gain some muscle mass, but I'm not going to suddenly "achieve" broad shoulders or a chiseled jaw.

      The same is true for the brain. Even though the brain is malleable to a certain extent thanks to the magic of learning, there are real physical differences in the brain that lead to mostly unchangeable differences in creativity, artistic abilities, intelligence, and certain mental disorders. That's why you can't just "break out" of depression or why you can't paint perfect representations of anything directly from memory unless you have the "gift". You either have the ability, or you don't.

      If you ask me, people in general should stop trying to be something they're not and start discovering what they are.
      • funkyjunk3, on 11/17/2007, -0/+2I totally agree that marketing has skewed people's view of abilities. I'm almost sure that if you dedicated the rest of your life to bodybuilding you would get broad shoulders. However, these "quick and easy" programs that sell DVDs/books are not going to instantly get you perfect results.

        I disagree however that you must have a "gift" in order to do things extraordinary. EVERYTHING in life is at varying degrees, including talents. It is true that people aren't going to instantly become 1000% more efficient or creative at what they do, there's variability. Some people will progress farther than others, and at different rates by the virtue of how variable humans are. People who are gifted are helped along because of their extreme inherent abilities, this is true. This isn't to say that in order to master something you have to be gifted at picking it up quickly. It simply means that for the rest of us who aren't we have to utilize MUCH more time and energy to focus on getting there. There are master linguists who can absorb languages like no tomorrow. There are also linguists who are fluent in 5 languages but aren't can't absorb as fast. They took more effort to get there, sure. But they are still as equally capable at speaking the language. This is a spectrum of absorbtion, not ability.
        • imikedaman, on 11/17/2007, -0/+2I never said you must have a gift to do things that are extraordinary; I said that there are some things which can be learned (like the learning of 5 languages from your example), while some things are determined by physical differences in your body or mind. Considering people don't "learn" how to be creative, odds are it's due to people just being born with the gift.

          To nitpick the article from another angle: it's nice and all that creative people are willing to take risks, but don't think for a second that taking risks will suddenly make you more creative. That's just plain faulty logic.
    • raindogmx, on 11/17/2007, -0/+2Do this highly creative people become so by following a list of habits they got from a book? No, that wouldn't be very creative.
  • SuperJimmyJimbo, on 11/17/2007, -1/+9#8: Coffee Addiction
  • TravelTom, on 11/17/2007, -0/+1Great tips!
  • newprohibition, on 11/17/2007, -7/+1awesome, I am ALL of what this list is. 1 through 7. I recommend picking up John Maedas Book "The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)". He is an MIT media professor and this is the very last place you would expect to find a productive Manifesto on Simplicity.
    • narcissystem, on 11/18/2007, -0/+1all of that, and modest to boot.
      go you, you blow that horn.
  • hellokittyownsu, on 11/17/2007, -3/+6#8 Don't make lists.
  • Pake, on 11/17/2007, -6/+13Good god, stop with the stupid "7 Habits of" topics. Stephen Covey should be slapped every day for such a ridiculous book and anyone who references it in any form should be as well.
    • AlexWSC, on 11/17/2007, -0/+2Stephen Covey's book is a classic. One of my top 5 for sure. I agree, some people play off the title a little too much. It's all worth it when you get a good article like this though.
      • Pake, on 11/17/2007, -1/+1It's basically regurgitated crap other self-help authors and others have been saying for year. One of the things I remember most about how bad his book is, is when he tries to talk about plants working together to survive, when plants are well known to be a prime example of survival of the fittest, where they fight over sunlight and resources.
  • lhbaker, on 11/17/2007, -2/+3I thought rule number 2 was you don't talk about Fight Club.
  • lilhurt38, on 11/17/2007, -1/+3They forgot one, they don't spend hours of their day on digg or on other sites. Damn, I guess I'm not as innovative as I thought.
  • Mothrog, on 11/17/2007, -4/+88) Not listening to self help dildos.
    • funkyjunk3, on 11/17/2007, -1/+2Simple formula for success: If you're looking for advice, actively pursue and research concrete steps on how to do it. Then, DO IT!

      If you need to read my formula to help you, you should be asking yourself how you can help you.
  • gmalonzo, on 11/17/2007, -1/+3Great article that re-iterates tried and true techniques for IT professionals and other geniuses on how to be more productive, less sarcastic, and kind not only to everyone but to yourself as well.
  • GMorgan, on 11/17/2007, -0/+8#4 is annoying. I'm at my most creative just as I'm about to go to bed. More often than not some idea (probably idiotic, sometime useful) pops in just as I'm about to sleep and then that means it'll be another 24 hours before I sleep (I've given up fighting it, I will lose. Better to scratch the itch).

    You never get ideas when you want them though. I always get them as I'm about to give up and do something else (or sleep).
  • badugi, on 11/17/2007, -1/+3I dont know why you guys are flaming this article but this is a good read and it is very inspiring.
  • TheMachine1, on 11/17/2007, -0/+1The first one is the most important. I think good ideas are common. Making those ideas into reality is the hard part. Might be an inverse relationship between creativity and ability to sustain work on a project.

  • salomejones, on 11/17/2007, -2/+5Actually, if you're not already incredibly creative, these seven habits will do you no good at all, since they're (mostly, sort of) *properties* of someone who is incredibly creative, and not elements which CAUSE creativity in a person. It'd be like painting my cat candy apple red and duct taping a whale-tail to her ass and expecting her to do favorably in a street race with a Porsche.
    • funkyjunk3, on 11/17/2007, -0/+3Society's views creativity in a horribly narrow view. What most people don't get is that creativity doesn't have to be artistic. It can be writing code, installing lightbulbs, etc. If you ever talk with a person who's worked in a specialty field for 20 years (yes, even lighting technicians!), there is a DAMN amount of creativity needed to solve complex problems.

      Creativity in its rawest form is solving problems. The computer programmer writing code is using his creative ability to solve problems. A farmer would be creative when he figures out a new planting strategy which yields more crops. An artist painting a landscape is being creative in transcribing the scene in front of them into a layout on a canvas.

      its all creativity, its just that people have different ways of expressing it. if EVERYONE in the entire world studied from birth to paint, i'm sure there would be a hell of a lot more Michaelangelos, Da Vincis, etc., etc. etc. And of course there would still be people who could only draw stick figures. It would fit like any other bell curve.
    • sahala, on 11/17/2007, -0/+3Racing a cat against a Porche might be a creative solution to a problem, just not for the purposes of street racing. On top of that, it wouldn't be particularly polite to do that to your cat.

      I agree that these are observations of the behavior of creative people. However, I think there are more creative people out there than you think. A lot of creative people don't recognize situations or behaviors that maximize the output of their creativity. For instance, you might be super-creative and have great ideas, but you're lazy (not picking on you...we're all lazy) and don't always persist in the execution details of what you're working on. Or maybe you're scared of failing, and don't take enough risks bringing ideas to fruition.

      My point is, there are many human behaviors that detract from creativity surfacing. Call them bad habits. Sometimes people need help getting past these limitations, and this list alludes to that.
  • andrewsas, on 11/17/2007, -0/+3#9: Bipolar disorder. Rarely discussed, but it's there!
    • andycr512, on 11/18/2007, -0/+1Apparently Digg has bipostal disorder.
  • andrewsas, on 11/17/2007, -4/+1#9: Bipolar disorder. Rarely discussed, but it's there!
  • Coffeedemon, on 11/17/2007, -1/+2If they were that innovative they wouldn't fall into habits...
    • funkyjunk3, on 11/17/2007, -0/+4hmm, maybe innovation IS a habit.
  • xandifenn, on 11/17/2007, -5/+1exposing oneself to good music should be included:
    http://digg.com/music/Top_5_REAL_Music_search_Engi ...
  • Sheliacandance, on 11/17/2007, -0/+1I think I've found my new desktop wallpaper here. Amazing ideas here!
    • artsyave, on 11/17/2007, -0/+1Thank you!! :) I appreciate the encouraging words.
  • HalfGiraffe, on 11/17/2007, -0/+2I remember reading about one study of creative people where they tried to find out what made them different from ordinary people. Was it their background, education, diet, upbringing etc etc. They only thing that they could find different in the creative people was that they thought of themselves as being creative.
    • funkyjunk3, on 11/17/2007, -0/+3Do most people actively, wholeheartedly believe in what they are trying to achieve most of the time? Or are they doing something because they believe in other's opinions over their own?
  • leftist, on 11/17/2007, -0/+3Tina is a tremendously insightful individual, and a powerhouse creative.
  • merkal2005, on 11/17/2007, -1/+3For those of you who think that you were not born as creative; we were all genius during our childhood, but then due to wrong education system and social pressures most of us became ordinary or average person. Thanks to Tina, Stephen Covey and Scott Berkun that they remind me if i can follow some guidelines, i can discover the child within. I don't see any reason to be offensive without trying these habits at first.
    • Gambit89, on 11/17/2007, -0/+1"we were all genius during our childhood, but then due to wrong education system and social pressures most of us became ordinary or average person."

      I highly recommend anyone to watch Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk linked at the end of the article.
    • Gambit89, on 11/17/2007, -0/+1"we were all genius during our childhood, but then due to wrong education system and social pressures most of us became ordinary or average person."

      If anyone finds this statement interesting, I highly recommend them to watch Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk linked at the end of the article. The name of the talk is, "Do Schools Kill Creativity?"
      • adamtait, on 11/17/2007, -0/+0Agreed! That was a fantastic TED talk.
  • raindogmx, on 11/17/2007, -2/+14Highly creative people don't become so by following lists of 'habits'.
    • funkyjunk3, on 11/17/2007, -1/+2No, but this list might spark something in them to do something new in their lives. These "habits" don't work best if they're followed to the letter. Rather, if people ask themselves how one or two of them apply in their life, and if they see inspiration from that, then the list has helped them.

      Ask if anything in the list helps you. If it does, awesome! if it doesn't, move on! It helped me, your milage may vary.
      • raindogmx, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1I agree with you but I dislike the 'packaging' of this sort of articles and books, more specifically the title, for many reasons, the first being that it immediately forces the reader to believe he is not a 'highly inovative' person, see, there's no logical way of wanting to read such an article and consider yourself so. Another reason would be that it is misleading, far from really being habits of such people its just a way for the author to give a sense of legitimacy to his views but it is not really backed up by any scientific observation. It's all perception. And I do think reading this can be helpful. I insist: It's the packaging what I don't like.
    • panteradactyl, on 11/17/2007, -1/+0no hes right, they dont follow the lists, they make em
  • artsyave, on 11/17/2007, -3/+4Hi Guys! Thank you for all the discussion and encouraging words. I appreciate opinions from both sides.

    Yes, creative people do not follow lists.. the point of this list is to highlight common characteristics and habits found in highly innovative people... so that we can perhaps be inspired and bring some of that boost of creative energy into our lives. Here's to your well-being!

    I highly recommend the TED talk for Sir Ken Robinson on the topic. It's linked at the end of the article.
  • antitab, on 11/17/2007, -2/+3The fact of the matter is that creativity, be it inspired by intelligence or psychological makeup, is not static. For as far back as I can remember I have been an extremely technically-minded person. I started editing videos at age 14 and became so distracted by the technical end of digital video production and encoding that I totally lost sight of the creative aspect and really only made a handful of videos, compared to hundreds of encodings and codec comparisons. Recently, almost out of nowhere, after going through some significant personal changes, I've become explosively creative, popping up new ideas faster than I have time to write them down, much less produce them. The queue keeps growing, but hopefully some of this will be showing up soon (and you'll notice it when it does, trust me on that).
    The point is, even I, who try my damndest to understand the inner goings-on of my mind, was shocked at how creative I could be. There's nothing stopping any of you from doing the same.

    That said, the advice in this list does mirror much of what I've found in the past few months – namely, finding places to "break" (I can't tell you how many ideas have come to me while smoking outside... now that my living arrangement permits smoking in the house, my "eureka" moments have dropped considerably), jotting things down in a notepad or a text editor, building on existing ideas, and being damned persistent. Focus and drive are key. One of the most depressing things that can happen to a creator is to have an apathy streak where "todos" pile up but are put aside for nonproductive activities (I've been fighting this lately).
  • charlies3rdeye, on 11/18/2007, -2/+1or you could just eat an eighth of dried Cubinsis
  • semcents, on 11/18/2007, -0/+3Very well done. I will use this as a motivational tool for the future.
  • andreahess, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1Excellent article by Tina!
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.