What Distinguishers Original Thinkers from the Rest of Us?

The president of Los Angeles-based Awaken.com, Henry Gellis also leads Gellis Investment Management, which has invested in a number of companies working in stress reduction, health, and nutrition. To get inspired, Henry Gellis enjoys talking to some of the most original thinkers alive today. 

Some people may wonder if there is a way to distinguish original thinkers from the crowd. Psychologist Adam Grant set out to answer this question and spent years studying the most cutting-edge minds of our generation. His studies identified three common traits of all original thinkers. The first of these traits, perhaps surprisingly, is procrastination. While procrastinators typically take more time to finish a project, research has shown that their end results tend to be much more creative. According to Grant, this creativity results from procrastinators taking the time to consider new, outside-the-box possibilities.

The second common trait is that original thinkers tend to have a large number of ideas. Not all of these ideas are necessarily good, but original thinkers have several that they would be willing to bet on being successful. Grant acknowledges that original thinkers tend to fail often, but they are willing to try. 

Some people may think original thinkers are fearless, but this is not true. In fact, says Grant, fear is the third common trait. However, these individuals tend to use their doubt to improve their ideas rather than hold them back. Because of doubt, original thinkers tend to continue refining their ideas to be as good as possible.