Should You Get Out of Your Comfort Zone?

What do the most creative people have in common? How open-minded are you, really? And what’s wrong with ordering eggs Benedict?

Take the Big Five inventory:

freakonomics.com/bigfive

• SOURCES:
  • Max Bennett, co-founder and C.E.O. of Alby.
  • David Epstein, author and journalist.
  • Ayelet Fishbach, professor of behavioral science and marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
  • Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
  • Steve Jobs, co-founder and former C.E.O. of Apple.
  • Oliver John, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
  • Daniel Kahneman, professor emeritus of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University.
  • Claude Shannon, 20th century mathematician and computer scientist.
  • Jannik Sinner, professional tennis player.
  • Christopher Soto, professor of psychology at Colby College.
  • Dashun Wang, professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University.
  • Kaitlin Woolley, professor of marketing at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.
• RESOURCES:
  • A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains, by Max Bennett (2023).
  • "Exploration vs. Exploitation: Adults Are Learning (Once Again) From Children," by Alison Gopnik (Observer, 2023).
  • "Motivating Personal Growth by Seeking Discomfort," by Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach (Psychological Science, 2022).
  • "Understanding the Onset of Hot Streaks Across Artistic, Cultural, and Scientific Careers," by Lu Liu, Nima Dehmamy, Jillian Chown, C. Lee Giles, and Dashun Wang (Nature Communications, 2021).
  • "Improv Experience Promotes Divergent Thinking, Uncertainty Tolerance, and Affective Well-Being," by Peter Felsman, Sanuri Gunawardena, and Colleen M. Seifert (Thinking Skills and Creativity, 2020).
  • Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, by David Epstein (2019).
  • "Openness to Experience," by Robert R. McCrae and David M. Greenberg (The Wiley Handbook of Genius, 2014).
• EXTRAS:
  • Big Five Personality Inventory, by No Stupid Questions (2024).
  • "David Epstein Knows Something About Almost Everything," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).