--- title: 3 Lessons From History’s Greatest Geniuses That Will Make You More Creative description: Don’t be a quitter or a whiner when things don’t work out canonical: https://time.com/3754255/genius-lessons-more-creative/ author: Eric Barker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-28T10:00:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:17:27.465Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 3 Lessons From History’s Greatest Geniuses That Will Make You More Creative og:description: Don’t be a quitter or a whiner when things don’t work out og:url: https://time.com/3754255/genius-lessons-more-creative/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a14c072e4b7db5e/698784b855a859382aa866bb/480841679-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: conceptual-light-bulb og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 3 Lessons From History’s Greatest Geniuses That Will Make You More Creative twitter:description: Don’t be a quitter or a whiner when things don’t work out twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a14c072e4b7db5e/698784b855a859382aa866bb/480841679-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 3 Lessons From History’s Greatest Geniuses That Will Make You More Creative by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Mar 28, 2015 10:00 AM UTC  Studio shot of conceptual light bulb Studio shot of conceptual light bulbGetty Images by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Mar 28, 2015 10:00 AM UTC ## 1) Reflect On What You Are Trying To Accomplish Don’t rush in. Plan. Think about what you’re trying to do and what it takes to succeed. Via [Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Ghandi](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465027741/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0465027741): --- > “” --- ## 2) Leverage Your Strengths. Ignore Your Weaknesses. Forget being well-rounded. Double down where you are great. Via [Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Ghandi](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465027741/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0465027741): --- > “” --- [Pete Drucker’s work](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/how-can-we-keep-improving) agrees, saying we’re usually better off enhancing our strengths than improving our weaknesses. And leveraging signature strengths is also a path to [flow](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/how-can-you-increase-the-amount-of-flow-you-e) and [happiness](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/does-be-yourself-really-make-you-happier). ## 3) See Failure As A Chance To Learn Don’t be a quitter or a whiner when things don’t work out. Creative geniuses learn from their mistakes and use them to improve. Via [Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Ghandi](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465027741/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0465027741): --- > “” --- This is reminiscent of “[grit](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-grit-the-most-important-quality-to-possess).” There are [techniques](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/what-3-techniques-does-the-army-use-to-instil) for achieving this level of [resilience](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/what-four-psychological-techniques-did-the-go). **Join over 161,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://eepurl.com/o6uAD)**.** Related posts: [New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/09/be-more-successful/) [The 8 Things The Happiest People Do Every Day](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/06/happiest-people/) [How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done – 5 Expert Tips](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/08/how-to-stop-being-lazy/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3754255/genius-lessons-more-creative/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3754255/genius-lessons-more-creative/"},"headline":"3 Lessons From History’s Greatest Geniuses That Will Make You More Creative","datePublished":"2015-03-28T10:00:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:17:27.465Z","description":"Don’t be a quitter or a whiner when things don’t work out","url":"https://time.com/3754255/genius-lessons-more-creative/","keywords":["Psychology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a14c072e4b7db5e/698784b855a859382aa866bb/480841679-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Barker","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-barker/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a14c072e4b7db5e/698784b855a859382aa866bb/480841679-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"conceptual-light-bulb","caption":"conceptual-light-bulb","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3754255/genius-lessons-more-creative/","name":"3 Lessons From History’s Greatest Geniuses That Will Make You More Creative"}}]}] ```