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You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey, it's Mariel.

I remember talking to a friend one time telling him about my latest creative pursuit and him saying something like, I'm just not creative like you are.

He was talking about creativity like it's a fixed trait, something you're either born with or not.

But actually, creativity is a choice, and it's something you can grow and tap into.

Our friends at NPR's science podcast, Shortwave, dug into this recently.

And they came back with some tips on how to nurture your creativity.

Here's the episode.

Hi, Shortwaivers, Burley McCoy filling the host chair today,

and I'd like you to meet psychologist Zerana Ifchavage Pringle. When Zerana was an undergraduate,

she was searching for a thesis topic. To spark ideas, she was reading everything she could get her

hands on, and she stumbled across work from the 1960s during the space age

about creativity. She read that creative people often have personality traits that don't seem to go

together. Creative individuals at times can be extroverted, other times very introverted. They can be

playful, but also very serious about their work,

can seem naive and see things and with fresh eyes, but also be very focused in their work.

In the two decades, Zeran has been studying creativity, she's realized that even though creative

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