Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of

Discovery and Invention

by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

A BOOK REVIEW
This book is a deep analysis of input from hundreds of experts (including Nobel prize
winners, CEOs, astronomers, writers, poets, etc. ) in various fields, and the author assesses
the commonalities and differences between them. The author has taken a completely
different approach while writing this book. Instead of the common approach of starting with
the interviewee and then concluding his research, he does the exact opposite. Instead of
starting with the introduction of his interviewees, he starts by concluding the findings of the
research before he actually talks about how he zeroed in on that conclusion.
The book talks about creativity, creative people and processes. The earlier part of the book
discusses what all the creative people tend to have in common which is complemented by
the later parts of the book which talk about ways to make ones life more creative. He talks
about the systems approach to creativity which can be summed up as shown:

In his systems approach to creativity, he defines a creative person whose thoughts or

actions change his existing domain or result in the establishment of an entirely new domain.
The author says that Creativity consists of three main
parts: a culture that contains symbolic values, a person
who brings individuality and novelty into that domain
and finally a field of experts who recognize and validate
the innovation. It is very important to learn the domain
well. The level of creativity does not just depend on the
individual, but how well suited are the domains and
fields to the recognition of new ideas.

The various aspects of creativity can be explained in the mind map below:

The part of the book which fascinated me the most is learning about the personality traits of
a creative individual. They have great physical energy but are quite often at rest. They to be
smart and naive at the same time. They bring both convergent and divergent ways of
thinking. While divergent ideas are necessary in generating ideas, convergent thinking is
necessary in using good judgment in seeing which ideas are worth pursuing. They show
playfulness and discipline together at work and alternate between them.
It was surprising to know that creative people, along with a high imagination power, also
have a deep-rooted sense of reality. The new ideas that they develop are rooted in reality
Creative people are both extroverted and introverted simultaneously. Extroversion is
needed for crosspollination of idea while introversion is needed to excel in the skills of a
specific domain. Also, such people have a deep passion in their work as it is necessary in the
creative process but at the same time, they show objective behaviour too because it is
necessary
to
separate
the
good
ideas
from
the
bad
ones.
They enjoy the creative process for its own sake without any external rewards. Conflicting
traits are important for creative types because one has to be both able to change a system
while being part of the system.

In order to further understand the personality traits of the creative mind, I have used the
Big 5 Personality Traits Model which integrates the learning of the other subjects learnt
during this course with Innovation Management and this book.

The next thing that drew my attention was in how much detail the steps involved in a
creative process were explained by the author. The creative process consists of 5 steps
which are:

However, there are a few conditions under the limits of which these 5 steps would be
effective.
1. The person must pay attention to the developing work
2. To keep a check on ones goals and to check whether the work is proceeding as per
the intended targets
3. Keep in touch with the domain by using most effective techniques and the best
theories
4. Listen to colleagues, make the most effective sales pitch and ask and accept
feedback.
Post this, the author talks about the flow of creativity. He specifically talks about how
feedback is important. As a part of the creative process, it is essential for every one of us to
internalize the feedback mechanism so that we know if the work is good or not. He talks
about how happiness is linked with the flow of creativity by stating that enjoyment consists
of the feeling when things are going in an automatic, effortless manner. There is a
correlation between happiness and the complexity of our work. I agree with the author
when he implies that there is a rush of well-being and satisfaction when the work is
completed with some distraction. It is only after we get out of the flow that we might
indulge in feeling happy.

Apart from these, the part where he talks about how the surrounding environment playing
an important role, the difference between creativity in the early years and later years also
played an important role in understanding the creative process for me.
The part where he talks about enhancing personal creativity is my favourite part. After
reading this part, I realized that there are many simple things that I could do in order to
awake the creative me. We pay a lot of attention when we are in the class, working on a
project or even while reading this book and writing its review. These are situation when
there are external forces in effect. But when there are no external forces to influence our
activities, we lose focus. Unpleasant thoughts flash into our minds, forgotten regrets surface
and we become depressed. In order to overcome these we should learn to enjoy using our
hidden creative energies. The author suggests the following steps which are also my key
takeaways from the book:

Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to

Anything you do becomes enjoyable when you do it well
Increase the complexity of the activity in order keep on enjoying it for a longer time

Summing it all up, the book is an excellent study of the habits of some of the worlds most
creative people from second half of the 20th century, this book strikes a remarkable balance
between reporting commonalities in the experience of others and offering possible
pathways for the reader to explore. While it focuses on the achievements of people whose
life work is at the forefront of their fields, the conclusions drawn are usually applicable to
everyday life.
I quote from the book: Creative persons differ from one another in a variety of ways, but in
one respect they are unanimous: The all love what they do
-Spandana G
Roll no.: G019
Spandana.g@nmims.edu.in