ABSTRACT
This chapter makes use of the term willpower since that describes well the focused and purposeful commitment which creativity needs. Willpower is more important than intelligence and social class. One of the important distinctions lies between ‘intrinsic motivation’ – the incentives to effort provided by the nature of the thing we are engaged upon – and ‘extrinsic motivation’, where the incentive is provided by expectations of some kind of reward or concerns about negative consequences. Several theories which try to draw relevant research on creativity together stress the importance of willpower. Willpower is linked to being persistent. People with a lot of willpower seem to have a kind of extra energy that lets them go on, even if others are more than ready to give up. Willpower skills not only enhance our perseverance but help us not to start things we do not want to do. Willpower skills help us to control our impulses.
