7/27/2019 Csikszentmihalyi Quotes
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These are quotes from Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi
Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives...most of
the things that areinteresting, important, and human are the
results of creativity...[and] when weare involved in it, we feel
that we are living more fully than during the rest of life.
...even without success, creative persons find joy in a job well
done. Learning forits own sake is rewarding...
...for better or worse, our future will be determined in large
part by our dreamsand by the struggle to make them real.
Problems are solved only when we devote a great deal of
attention to them and ina creative way...to have a good life, it is
not enough to remove what is wrong withit. We also need a positive
goal, otherwise why keep going? Creativity is oneanswer to that
question: It provides one of the most exciting models for
living.
Each of us is born with two contradictory sets of instructions:
a conservativetendency, made up of instincts for self-preservation,
self-aggrandizement, andsaving energy, and an expansive tendency
made up of instincts for exploring, forenjoying novelty and
risk--the curiosity that leads to creativity belongs to this
set.But whereas the first tendency requires little encouragement or
support fromoutside to motivate behavior, the second can wilt if
not cultivated. If too fewopportunities for curiosity are
available, if too many obstacles are put in the wayof risk and
exploration, the motivation to engage in creative behavior is
easilyextinguished.
...if the next generation is to face the future with zest and
self-confidence, we
must educate them to be original as well as competent.
Whether we like it or not, each of us is constrained by limits
on what we can doand feel. To ignore these limits leads to denial
and eventually to failure. Toachieve excellence, we must first
understand the reality of the everyday, with allits demands and
potential frustrations.
To live means to experience--through doing, feeling, thinking.
Experience takesplace in time, so time is the ultimate scarce
resource we have. Over the years, thecontent of experience will
determine the quality of life. Therefore one of the mostessential
decisions any of us can make is about how one's time is allocated
or
invested.
7/27/2019 Csikszentmihalyi Quotes
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Today many American corporations spend a great deal of money and
time tryingto increase the originality of their employees, hoping
thereby to get a competitiveedge in the marketplace. But such
programs make no difference unlessmanagement also learns to
recognize the valuable ideas among the many novelones, and then
finds ways of implementing them.
...while yearning to overthrow old beliefs, we also thirst for
new certainties...
The quality of life does not depend on happiness alone, but also
on what one doesto be happy. If one fails to develop goals that
give meaning to one's existence, ifone does not use the mind to its
fullest, then good feelings fulfill just a fraction ofthe potential
we possess. A person who achieves contentment by withdrawingfrom
the world to 'cultivate his own garden,' like Voltaire's Candide
cannot besaid to lead an excellent life. Without dreams, without
risks, only a trivialsemblance of living can be achieved.--
