What exactly are these “personality factors” that researchers are referring to when it comes to boosting your creative thinking? One of the most critical components is how you view your talents internally. More specifically, your creative skills are largely determined by whether you approach the creative process with a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. The differences between these two mindsets are described in detail in Carol Dweck's fantastic book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (audiobook). The basic idea is that when we use a fixed mindset we approach tasks as if our talents and abilities are fixed and unchanging. In a growth mindset, however, we believe that our abilities can be improved with effort and practice. Interestingly, we can easily nudge ourselves in one direction or another based on how we talk about and praise our efforts.