Wired to Create: Discover the 10 Things Great Artists, Writers, and Innovators Do Differently

As this book describes, creative thinking is a naturally messy process. It's not a skill you can conveniently switch on and off like a light. It's mysterious, paradoxical, often perplexing, and hard to understand.

And that's where "Wired to Create" comes in.

This book encourages you to embrace the complexities of creativity. It unravels the way it works, and sheds light on the characteristics that creative people have in common, with the aim of helping you become more creative. For these reasons alone, we recommend reading "Wired to Create." It can open your eyes to the opportunities we all have to exercise our creativity – by forming opinions or taking risks; expressing ourselves through words or personal style; playing chess or running a business.

However we show our creativity, though, it'll be based on the same thought processes, skills and ways of living, and "Wired to Create" takes us through them. It offers a fascinating look at the current research on creativity along the way, and walks us through some entertaining case studies that illustrate the power and potential of creative thinking.

No matter what your field of expertise, if you want to understand creativity better, or you need to stimulate your own or somebody else's creative juices, you'll benefit from reading "Wired to Create."

Scott Barry Kaufman is the scientific director of the Imagination Institute in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. He's written or edited six other books about intelligence and creativity. In 2015, Business Insider included him in its list of "50 ground-breaking scientists who are changing the way we see the world."

Carolyn Gregoire writes for the Huffington Post about mental health, psychology and neuroscience.

So, keep listening to find out why it's so important to think differently, how taking a shower really does boost creativity, and why daydreaming deserves a better reputation!

"Wired to Create" is divided into 10 chapters and one very extensive set of references. It comes in at just over 250 pages. Each chapter focuses on a different habit of mind – a way of thinking and behaving – that can encourage creativity.

The first chapter homes in on the lively subject of imaginative play. Here we learn about creative trailblazers like Shigeru Miyamoto – the legendary computer game designer – and the British business innovator Sir Richard Branson.

In their different ways, both men had fertile imaginations as children. Miyamoto used his childhood play as inspiration for the iconic Donkey Kong and Super Mario Brothers games. For his part, Branson had the idea of starting a Christmas tree business when he was just 12 years old – clearly a sign of things to come.

As we grow into adulthood, most of us play less and less, and we lose our sense of fun. Creative people tend to be different. Miyamoto and Branson held onto their childlike curiosity and love of exploration, and carried it with them into adulthood.

The raw materials of play are often different for adults. Instead of meeting your friends at the playground or having fun with toys, it's emotion, fantasy and memory that stimulate our imaginative play. For example, you could try picturing yourself as an excited seven-year-old or you might just shake loose and dance or paint – whatever it takes to break free of conventional thinking and get your creative juices flowing.

Play is so crucial because it encourages our natural curiosity. This, in turn, helps our brains become more flexible. And when our brains are more flexible, they're primed and ready to think creatively.

The authors convincingly argue that play has another benefit: it can transform the way you work. They suggest that adults will often perform at their best when they combine the traditional seriousness of work with fun and enjoyment. The "lightness" and flexibility that results from this can help you generate ideas and stay motivated, and can sustain you when times get tough. Play more, and you'll be less stressed, more satisfied, and more curious. And importantly, you'll be more inspired and creative, too.

Further on in the book, the authors talk about daydreaming.

Many people see daydreaming as a waste of time. As children, we're scolded for doing it. This view can sometimes be justified but, when our daydreaming is positive and constructive, it's not a bad thing.

There are lots of potential rewards for positive-constructive daydreaming. It allows us time for "creative incubation" – that's the chance to let ideas form and develop as our minds wander. Daydreaming also helps us become more self-aware, more reflective, and more understanding. And crucially, it allows us to dream of the future. The first step in creating any future scenario is to think of it, and daydreaming gives us that opportunity.

This turning inward, this switching off of the outside world to let our minds float free, allows us to access our deepest wellsprings of creativity. It lets us tap right into our emotions and desires, and how we make sense of the world. Connecting to our inner selves through daydreaming can improve our creative thinking.

The authors go on to suggest how we can build more daydreaming into our lives. One way is to shower more often!

This isn't as unlikely as it might sound. Think about it. How often have you struggled to find inspiration after sitting for hours at your desk, staring at your computer screen? Certainly, many creative types draw a blank in these situations, reporting that ideas come to them more often when they're in the bathroom. Taking a shower to refresh yourself and insulate yourself from the outside world for a while might be all you need to unblock your flow of ideas.

The shower cubicle doesn't have to be the place you retreat to, of course. Kaufmann and Gregoire also suggest going for walks, and they name a number of eminent creative people who did just that for the chance to think and daydream – philosopher Immanuel Kant, naturalist Charles Darwin, and composer Ludwig van Beethoven amongst them. The changes that took place in their brains as they walked likely reduced their stress, increased their engagement with their thoughts, and boosted their ability to meditate. It could do the same for you.

Another chapter looks at how the popular practice of mindfulness can contribute to creative thinking. To be mindful is to actively pay attention to the world around you, in the present moment, with acceptance, curiosity and compassion.

Many creative thinkers take their inspiration from things they've paid attention to or been mindful of. For example, the late Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, cited mindful meditation as the main source of his creativity. So it's not surprising that the authors included a chapter on mindfulness.

Think about it for a while, though, and you realize that mindfulness is not, perhaps, such an obvious creative tool. Mindfulness is all about paying attention to the present moment, of staying firmly rooted in the "here and now." Because of this focus on the present, some creative people feel that it can get in the way of being in a "flow" state of consciousness, of becoming absolutely absorbed in what you're doing. Having established how important it is to daydream, to let the mind wander, how can staying mindfully focused on the present moment also help creativity?

Well, paradoxically, the ability to observe and to focus is just as important for your creativity as daydreaming is. The trick is to find a balance between mindful practices – like meditation – and mind-wandering, imaginative processes like reflection, memory and future thinking. Once you've embraced these opposite approaches, and understand how both can boost your creativity, you can then develop your ability to switch between them, as and when you need to.

The final chapter – Chapter 10 – is perhaps the most important in the book. It looks at thinking differently, which the authors call "the one absolutely essential ingredient of any type of creative achievement."

Throughout history, the most creative people have always thought differently to most of their contemporaries. From Copernicus's theory that the Earth revolved around the sun to the emergence of jazz as a musical form in the early 20th century, creative thinkers have gone against the status quo. And by challenging established ways of thinking, they produce fresh, new ideas that ultimately change the way we look at the world.

Exciting as it might be, daring to think differently can be a daunting challenge, and one that's fraught with risk. There's the risk of repeated failure, as the thinker attempts to refine his ideas, and turn them into reality.

And there are the risks that come with breaking tradition. New ideas and innovations aren't always universally welcomed. When an idea is way ahead of its time, or controversial in some way, it may not be welcome. And its creator may find herself on the receiving end of ridicule and rejection. Unconventional thinking sometimes requires a great deal of courage, and it can come at a heavy price.

The authors suggest the best way to break free of traditional ways of thinking is to bombard your mind with new experiences. These can be as simple as taking a new route to work, as exotic as spending time in a part of the world you haven't been to before, or as everyday as switching radio stations to listen to a new kind of music. The key is to keep an open mind, and be receptive to the new and the unfamiliar. A willingness to think unconventionally, and to play with ideas that may be radical or unpopular, will pave the way for you to think more freely and creatively.

So, what's our last word on "Wired to Create?"

Well, although the authors do give us plenty of suggestions and pointers, this is not a "how-to" manual, and it's not the place to come for a catalog of creative-thinking tricks and techniques.

Instead, this book embraces the fact that there's no one correct way to go about being creative, and that creativity itself is inherently messy. It introduces us to a broad set of habits and practices that may help us come up with new ideas, and ultimately change our lives.

"Wired to Create" contains some great storytelling, and the variety of its case studies is another plus. We hear inspiring stories from a wide range of people, from Bill Gates and Pablo Picasso to Marcel Proust and Michael Jackson.

That's not to say it's lightweight. In fact, the content is rigorously scientific, and rooted in a huge amount of research. Some sections are a little jargon heavy, particularly where the authors dive into neuroscience. But in general the book is really well written, so even the heavier sections are accessible.

What we like best about the book is how it sets creative thinking within reach of everyone, as something we're all capable of, no matter who we are, what we do, or how we rate our creative abilities. This book will be as useful in business as it is in the arts, whether you're a college student or a mid-career professional searching for inspiration.

So, if you struggle to make sense of the complexities and contradictions of creative thinking, want to understand the scientific basis of creativity, or need prompting to rediscover your inventive spirit, this book can help. Revitalize your creativity, and reap the rewards.

"Wired to Create," by Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire, is published by Perigee.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.