The Creative Personality: Could This Be You?

As I was sitting here attempting to write a 20 page paper, due tomorrow, assigned in September, that I just started today... I came across a handout in my notebook that my Advertising Professor* gave our class on the first day of the semester. It's a short article written by Doreen Dvorin of Kamikaze Creative called "The Creative Personality: Could This Be You?" If there's anything I have ever been serious about, it's this: the handout changed my life. 

Maybe that's exaggerating a bit. But after I finished it, I had a major epiphany about my life and antics. I finally felt like I belonged in the world.

Maybe that's exaggerating a bit too. However, this article scared the shit out of me simply because I really couldn't have written a better autobiography. With every point I read, I freaked out even more.

So now you want to read it. Here's the whole thing, verbatim, from the paper.


THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY: COULD THIS BE YOU?



Although we creative types like to think we’re one of a kind, unique, unlike any other, truth be told—we’re more alike than we admit. Our hair, our dress, our language, the cars we drive, the food we eat, the jokes we laugh at, shows we watch. Look around—kindred spirits abound.


What, you might ask, should I expect from the creative personality? What traits point to a great creative thinker? Here are ten easy ones. And one to survive in the ad world on. Before you dismiss the thought you are more like your peers than not, think about these. Before you say “That’s Not Me,” ask someone you love.


1. A sense of people, events, and problems. In the ad world, an innate ability to read people, to know what makes them tick, is essential. In my experience you must also love and respect them. At best, we are instinctive motivators. At worst, natural born manipulators.


2. A good vocabulary and the ability to use it. Not just writers—all good creatives can usually talk circles around most people. The ability to argue both sides of any issue is also key. My ex-partner used to say if I hadn’t been a copywriter, I would have made a great lawyer. I’m still trying to figure out if she was mad at me that day.


3. Strong sense of humor. Creative people think we are really funny. We might be, but our sense of humor can be so offbeat and bizarre—most people don’t get it. That’s fine with jokes between us. Just remember we ad folks must make the rest of the world laugh, too.


4. High level of energy. We are frequently “socialized hyperactives” (I believe today’s term is “ADD”). Always doing something, delving into unknowns, exploring a variety of interests. Can’t sit still. Or sitting still, get lost in our heads. Boredom can—and often does—get us into trouble.


5. Impatience. Creatives tend to have four projects working at once. Read three novels at a time. Complete other people’s sentences if they don’t get it out fast enough. Want that answer NOW. Not that we’re obnoxious—only eager to get on to What’s Next. (Most creatives I know leave good jobs not because of money—but because they’re tired of the same accounts, same city, same people, same whatever.)


6. Spontaneous Imagination. To say we tend toward exaggeration is not to say we are studied liars. We just find plain unvarnished truth boring. Hyperbole is, after all, more entertaining and thought provoking. (Don’t know what hyperbole means? See #2 above.)


7. Kept imaginary friends as children. Unlike accountants and engineers, we prefer the illusory—it’s so much easier to relate to. We tend to create—and connect—to others as we want them to be. Not necessarily as they really are.


8. Independent and nonconforming. The fact we are many aside, each of us take great pride in Being Different. We work very hard to stay that way.


9. Uninhibited in thoughts, feelings, and fantasies. We might be easily hurt and insulted—but never easily embarrassed.


10. Enjoy disorder, contradiction, and imbalance. In fact, we thrive on chaos and love creating it. We live for a constant state of upheaval and disarray.


11. For the Advertising Creatives, add strong ego and a survival instinct to match.



So basically: I just took 35 minutes away from writing my paper-- worth 30% of my final grade-- just to re-type this entire article off of the handout because it's no where to be found online (another wasted 10 minutes) and then to write this blog that is irrelevant to my productivity but I had to do it because I already had my mind set on it after finding the handout and I wouldn't be able to think about anything else until I wrote it...


My point exactly.

HQ



*Ken Yednock, a spectacular man and advertising mastermind.