How Does She Do It? With an Autotelic Personality, Of Course
Taylor Swift might be the best modern day example of the autotelic personality
In the same way that one doesn't need to enjoy Surrealism to appreciate the artistry of Picasso, it seems the world is finally conceding to its near-universal appreciation for the creative genius that is Taylor Swift.
Even if you hate pop music, sequins, and cats, you're in a closed-minded minority if you continue to refute her seemingly supernatural talent. Just as the roars of adoration seemingly ripped the fabric of collective culture at a fever pitch, Miss Americana was coronated with yet another crowning achievement: She is the first musical artist to win Time's Person of the Year, a title typically reserved for presidents, humanitarians, and Jobsian innovators.
Her persona is as relatable as it is enigmatic. Among her most gawkable gifts is her ability to profusely leak muse-worthy ideas that others would hoard for their rarity and preciousness. She seems to manifest resiliently bedazzled scars in response to challenge and adversity, churning out song after inspired song that alchemize her sorrows into gold. And somehow, she always has a glow of genuine contentment, with a toothy grin and quirky giggle that suggest she's having the time of her life.
So, how does she do all of this? With an autotelic personality, of course.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined the term autotelic personality to describe people who are internally driven, exhibit a sense of purpose and curiosity, and are much more likely to experience flow, a pleasurable state of optimal performance (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975). The autotelic personality is part genetically inherited, part environmentally driven (Mosing et al., 2012), and tends to experience a merging of action and awareness, sense of control, high concentration, loss of self-consciousness, and transformation of time (Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).
Naturally, this personality often produces the most extraordinary creative output.
A defining feature of the autotelic individual is that they engage in tasks for their own sake — money or fame isn't a core motivator, as the experience of being fully engaged in the task at hand is in and of itself the reward. Now, some of you may push back, 'How can Taylor Swift, a person synonymous with fame and success, have an autotelic personality?' However, if we trace her history — back to her writing songs in her bedroom at the age of 12 years old — we can suggest that her success was the result of her autotelic nature.
As I flicked through her Time interview from my bed, bright and early on the morning it was released, I kept returning to my mental catalog of research on the psychology of autotelic personalities and flow states. Almost as if by design, the interview checked, box by box, the requirements for the autotelic personality. It occurred to me that there's no better way describe the autotelic personality than to use words straight from her definingly red lips.
Here are 6 defining traits of the autotelic personality:
(All quotes are from her Time interview; Lansky, 2023)
1. Tendency to be creative & experience more flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990)
In response to the ferocious prolificness of her creative output: “If you look at what I’ve put out since then, it’s more albums in the last few years than I did in the first 15 years of my career,” she says. That prolific output has fueled her ascension."
2. Greater capacity to meet challenges (Asakawa, 2004)
In response to how she found the greatest creative success after two devastating life events: “It’s not lost on me that the two great catalysts for this happening were two horrendous things that happened to me,” Swift says, and this is where the story takes a turn. “The first was getting canceled within an inch of my life and sanity,” she says plainly. “The second was having my life’s work taken away from me by someone who hates me.”
3. More active strategies to cope with challenges (Asakawa, 2010)
In response to how she handled the purchase of her musical catalog by Scooter Braun: "She began rerecording subtly different versions of her old albums, tagging them “(Taylor’s Version)” and adding unreleased tracks to redirect listenership to them. She frames the strategy as a coping mechanism. “It’s all in how you deal with loss,” she says. “I respond to extreme pain with defiance.”
4. Tenacity to achieve goals (Ishimura & Kodama, 2009)
In response to how she prepared for her maniacally ambitious 3.5 hour Era's Tour concerts: “Every day I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud,” she said. “Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs. Then I had three months of dance training, because I wanted to get it in my bones,” she says. “I wanted to be so over-rehearsed that I could be silly with the fans, and not lose my train of thought.”
5. Derive a sense of fulfillment and claim satisfaction with life (Asakawa, 2010; Hirao & Kobayashi, 2013)
In response to how she thinks about her career in hindsight: “Every part of you that you’ve ever been, every phase you’ve ever gone through, was you working it out in that moment with the information you had available to you at the time. You should celebrate who you are now, where you’re going, and where you’ve been.... There is one thing I’ve learned: My response to anything that happens, good or bad, is to keep making things. Keep making art.”
6. Balance fun and play with the work of skill building (Csikszentmihalyi, 1993)
In response to how she has fun with the playful, often prankster-y nature of her album rerecordings: "The rerecordings project feels like a mythical quest to her. “I’m collecting horcruxes,” she says. “I’m collecting infinity stones. Gandalf’s voice is in my head every time I put out a new one. For me, it is a movie now.”
In this sense, perhaps her beastly productivity and ethereal creativity isn't such an enigma after all. Perhaps it's simply the way that she — and many of us — are wired: With a deep curiosity, playful relationship with fate, childlike spirit, and unrelenting willingness to throw ourselves completely into the work that we love so deeply. To humbly sit down in front of the computer or canvas or blank page again and again and again to create, simply for the sake of creating.