168. Would You Be Happier if You Were More Creative?
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Should you become an artist or an accountant? Did Sylvia Plath have to be depressed to write The Bell Jar? And what can *Napoleon Dynamite *teach us about the creative life?

RESOURCES:

• "The Science of Why You Have Great Ideas in the Shower)," by Stacey Colino (*National Geographic, *2022).
• "So, You Think You’re Not Creative?)" by Duncan Wardle (*Harvard Business Review, *2021).
• "The Correlation Between Arts and Crafts and a Nobel Prize)," by Rosie Cima (*Priceonomics, *2015).
• "Report: State of the American Workplace)," by Gallup (2014).
• "Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function)," by Anandi Mani, Sendhil Mullainathan, Eldar Shafir, and Jiaying Zhao (*Science, *2013).
• "Forks in the Road: The Many Paths of Arts Alumni)," by the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (2011).
• "A Meta-Analysis of 25 Years of Mood-Creativity Research: Hedonic Tone, Activation, or Regulatory Focus?)" by Matthijs Baas, Carsten K. W. De Dreu, and Bernard A. Nijstad (*Psychological Bulletin, *2008).
• "The Relationship Between Creativity and Mood Disorders)," by Nancy C. Andreasen (*Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, *2008).
• "The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions)," by Barbara Fredrickson (*Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, *2004).
• "Happiness and Creativity: Going With the Flow)," by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (*The Futurist, *1997).

EXTRAS:

• "Why Are Rich Countries So Unhappy?)" by *No Stupid Questions *(2022).
• "Do You Really Need a Muse to Be Creative?)" by *No Stupid Questions *(2021).
• "Does All Creativity Come From Pain?)" by *No Stupid Questions *(2020).
• "How To Be Creative)," series by *Freakonomics Radio *(2018-2019).
• "How to Be Happy)," by *Freakonomics Radio *(2018).
• Napoleon Dynamite)*, *film by Jared Hess (2004).
• The Bell Jar)*, *by Sylvia Plath (1963).
• Connections), game by *The New York Times. *

SOURCES:

• Stephen Covey), author.
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi), professor of psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University.
• Barbara Fredrickson), professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Sigmund Freud), psychologist and founder of psychoanalysis.
• Jared Hess), filmmaker.
• Abraham Maslow), 20th-century psychologist.
• Sylvia Plath), 20th-century poet and novelist.
• Martin Seligman), professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Duncan Wardle), former head of Innovation and Creativity at the Walt Disney Company.