Has a book ever arrived in your life at exactly the right moment?

For me, that book was Creative You: Using Your Personality Type to Thrive by my friend, David B. Goldstein and his co-author Otto Kroeger.

A couple of years ago, David reached out to me to review the book when it first came out. I was excited for him but hesitant. I had stopped blogging, and so kindly promised I would do so when my blog was back up. And then after it was back up, I kept putting it off. About a month ago, I was at my local library browsing the shelves when I saw David’s book. I immediately pulled it off the shelf to check it out. I knew it was a serendipitous sign, since I had recently started to seriously explore my personality style and figure out, for once and for all, what my type was.

I went home that afternoon and dove right into the book and to my surprise discovered, not only am I an INTJ, but also that Creative You offered so much more than just a synopsis of my personality type. In fact, I see it now as one of the premier books on creativity and living a creative life.

The book is broken into three distinct parts. The first debunks twenty of the top myths that still persist about creativity. When I started this blog, almost 10 years ago, it was built on the premise of myth #1 that I didn’t have a creative bone in my body. Since then, creativity has hit the mainstream, yet for some reason that myth persists.

The remainder of Part 1 allows you to determine your personality type based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. I have taken this test so many times since college, but it wasn’t until now that I finally received an accurate report on my personality type.

Part 2 is where it gets interesting. This part explains in full detail the creative style of your personality type, including your strengths and weaknesses and how best to express yourself. You get to dive deep into yourself and discover how to best nurture your creativity.

My favorite was Part 3. This is where you learn how to apply your creativity to your daily activities. Far too many of us believe that creativity should only be assigned to our work lives or creative hobbies. Here we are presented ways in which to live our creativity, whether it is public speaking, collaborating with others or simply playing. It’s a nice conclusion to a thoroughly researched book and lets you take your creativity style and share it with the world.

I asked David the following questions and he responded with very thoughtful responses I hope will encourage you to explore your creative style.

Q: What was your inspiration for writing Creative You?

David B. Goldstein: Like all of us have from time-to-time, I had one of those ah-ha moments. While we can’t possibly develop all of our ideas, I knew this one was important enough to be brought to life and shared. In a workshop while noticing the artwork of my classmates, I made a connection between the personality types of my friends and their painting styles. By itself this idea was exciting and as I saw more connections that extended way beyond painting, quickly the concept took on a life of its own. It became clear that our personality is related to the very nature of how we are creative in all aspects of our life. Whether we are cooking or writing a business plan, we are all creative in our own ways!

But sadly, many people consider themselves as uncreative or not living up to their creative potential. And, through interviews, I often found they were discouraged away for the wrong reasons. Today we all need to be creative and along with my revelations, I became inspired to spend years researching, writing, and speaking to show people that we all are creative plus we can be helped by simply understanding our own personality type and finding our unique style.

Q: Why is learning your personality type important to creativity?

David B. Goldstein: You can never go wrong by learning more about yourself and knowing about your personality type gives you power for creativity. Doing anything new means standing up and being different. In our culture, we claim to love what is different but actually when many people come face-to-face with different items on the menu – they often go for the same old chicken club. Creativity takes courage and the best way to have the confidence to be creative is to know yourself and your creative style. Knowing your personality type will help you understand the environment where you come up with your best ideas, it will help you realize the unique way you see the world, it will give you insight into your decision making, and will help you understand your own creative process. Once you know who you are and what your strengths are, you know what you are bringing to the table – and you can gain the courage to stand on the table to share your ideas.

Q: Is there one takeaway you want our readers to know about personality type and their creative style? 

David B. Goldstein: The most important thing to know from my work is that there isn’t just one “creative type.” In our book Creative You, we don’t assume you have the same creative style as we have and show you what has worked for us. Instead we guide you to find your own creative process and your own unique style.

Learn more about David and connect with him!

David B. Goldstein is a management consultant, speaker and the originator of the “creative-type” concept. David speaks about how everyone can be creative in their own way using their natural strengths.

David is a researcher with a science background and an M.B.A. in Management of Science, Technology and Innovation, who uncharacteristically is also an internationally recognized artist. He was commission by the Pan American Health Organization/WHO to create their symbol to promote and protect human rights and David was invited to speak before a global televised audience for World Health Day.

David has been interviewed by the Huffington Post, Psychology Today, Women’s Fitness, and Innovative Excellence. He has spoken at the Creative Oklahoma Forum, the Association of Psychological International’s Conventions, written for The Bulletin of Psychological Type, The American Bar Association’s Law Practice Today, and posts the Courageously Creative blog. As an entrepreneur for nearly 25 years, David founded an early digital imaging company, pioneered one of the first Internet startups creating an award-winning web-directory company. David also founded a research firm specializing in intellectual property, providing clients with information on the novelty and infringement of patents. Over the years, he has served as a consultant to technology start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, universities, hospitals, and government agencies.

Blog: Courageously Creative

Twitter: DavidBGoldstein

When I first met Patrick Ross several years ago and learned about his creativity seeking cross country trip, I immediately asked when the book on it was coming out. At that time, there was no book, but I knew after listening to Patrick talk about the trip, that there should be.

So I asked again, every year or so. I believed this was a book that needed to be written and one that myself and my fellow creatives needed to read. Well, I got my wish and when I found out it was published this fall, I contacted Patrick for an advanced reading copy. And I am so glad I did.

Patrick’s path back to his creativity is no different from mine or a lot of other creatives I have talked to over the last 8 years I’ve been writing this blog and on my own quest to rediscover my creativity. And that’s what resonated with me most.

The book opens up with a particularly raw scene in which Patrick is fleeing his parents’ home with his children after a heated exchange. This exchange brings to light a dysfunctional family dynamic ignited by mental illness. It is from this understanding that we travel with Patrick along his cross country journey sponsored by the funders of the organization that he led for many years in Washington, DC.

While the intended purpose of the trip is to please his funders, it is through the conversations Patrick has with artists that spurns him to question why he has abandoned his own creative practice. These often emotional exchanges allow us not only to see into Patrick’s internal psyche but also his process of reawakening. It is this process that so captivated me and I knew I had to share with my readers. Below, I asked Patrick the following questions to illuminate this and inspire us all:

Q: What was the one piece of advice you heard from the artist’s that you interviewed that resonated the most? And why?

Patrick Ross: The one piece of advice that most resonated with me at the time was Idaho’s Rochelle Smith (and others, like New Hampshire’s Ernest Whaley) saying you have to tell your story. But the one I find myself hearing most often now is from Vermont’s Sabra Field, which is funny because she explicitly was resisting giving advice: she said the art-committed life is not an easy one, and many would be happier not attempting it. It is not an easy path, but it has been worth it so far.

Q: How did you implement what you learned on the trip into your own creative life?

Patrick Ross: The first thing I did was recognize that while I had a lot of experience as a writer of nonfiction, I had little experience as a writer of creative nonfiction. So In January 2011 I began a memoir-writing class at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland, my first-ever creative writing course. I then went to AWP (the annual Association of Writer’s and Writing Programs conference) and walked up to every single MFA program table on the trade-show floor and quizzed them on their creative non-fiction offerings. I ended up choosing the Vermont College of Fine Arts low-residency program, and in late June of 2011 I found myself in Montpelier having pages I had written in my Writer’s Center class worshipped by my fellow VCFA students. It grew from there.

Q: What would you tell other creatives that have abandoned their craft?

Patrick Ross: It’s never too late to come back. You could say it’s like riding a bicycle, in that once you’ve learned how you can always do it again. But I think it’s even easier than that. One still must learn how to ride a bicycle to begin with; we are born inherently creative, so what you’re really doing is returning to your core state of being. The difficulty is what Sabra was referring to, sticking with it.

Finally, I can’t recommend this book highly enough (well, maybe I could) to anyone who has allowed life to get in the way of their creative practice. Patrick proves that there is always a way back to it.