Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.
-Anton Ego, in Pixar's Ratatouille
What unique traits reside in highly successful creative people? There must be something special that Picasso, Madonna, Yo-Yo Ma, Arthur Miller and others all possess that the rest of us do not...
Scientists have studied this for decades but they've largely been unable to come up with something concrete. There's no specific Myers-Briggs personality type, family background or different brain chemistry that separates highly successful creative people from everyone else. Yes, they tend to be a little more open to trying new things than the average person but that doesn't over-index to any significant degree.
So what is it? There must be something.
Turns out there is one thing: Grit. And if you're as curious about that as I am, or believe in that as strongly as I do, then you can read all about it in Jonah Lehrer's new book, Imagine. Successful creative people possess the powerful combination of having more grit and persistence than their competitors.
Jonah articulates this well:
"The reality of the creative process is that it often requires persistence, the ability to stare at a problem until it makes sense. It's forcing oneself to pay attention, to write all night and then fix those words in the morning. It's sticking with a poem until it's perfect; refusing to quit on a math question; working until the cut of a dress is just right. The answer won't arrive suddenly, in a flash of light. Instead it will be revealed slowly, gradually emerging after great effort."
Answers that arrive suddenly when the mind is relaxed (such as in the shower or on a road trip) is what gives someone insight and clarity. But what really matters is the hard work after that. Yes, one has to have the skill but it's talent plus grit that equals creative success. And if you believe Jonah, as I do, the higher the level of one's grit, the greater the likelihood of success.
This goes for creativity as well as for most professional endeavours. Sports fans know this from following the NFL Combine, an annual event where potential college recruits show up to partake in all sorts of physical activity in front of NFL scouts--from the high jump to the forty yard dash and beyond.
What's been observed throughout the years is that there's very little correlation between success at the NFL Combine to success in the NFL. Physical outperformance alone doesn't cut it. Take Tom Brady. There are definitely more athletic quarterbacks than Tom, but he's a champion because of talent + grit. And it's always worth remembering that Tom Brady was drafted in the 6th round of the 2000 NFL draft as the 199th pick.