Feeling Entitled Can Boost Your Creativity

Although commonly considered an undesirable quality, entitlement may have a positive twist.

According to psychological scientists Emily Zitek of Cornell University and Lynne C. Vincent of Vanderbilt University, small, temporary feelings of entitlement can boost your creativity.

Zitek and Vincent led four experiments to test their theory.

In one experiment, for example, 99 college students were divided into two groups and asked to complete one of two writing prompts.

One of the groups, the entitlement group, was prompted to write three reasons why they should demand the best, deserve more than others, and get their way in life. The other group was asked to write three reasons they don't deserve more than others.

The students then completed two tasks to measure creativity: come up with as many uses for a paperclip as possible and draw an imaginary alien.

Students in the entitlement group scored significantly higher creativity scores than the other group. They listed more uses for a paperclip than the non-entitled group, and their ideas were regarded as more interesting. Similarly, the entitlement group's alien drawings were judged as more creative, showing more extraordinary abilities like breathing fire.

"Our results suggest that people who feel more entitled value being different from others, and the greater their need for uniqueness, the more they break convention, think divergently and give creative responses," write Zitek and Vincent in their report published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

When you recognize your own worthiness, says Lisa Nichols in the You Deserve It! Paraliminal, you create a sense of confidence and peace, believing and knowing you are connected to your divine purpose. You can increase your sense of worthiness by accepting and releasing toxic negative thoughts you have about past behaviors, decisions, and outcomes in your life.

Use the following four-step healing process, called the Process of Remembrance, to let go of the fears, anxieties, and self-doubts that may be holding you back from creating the life you truly desire.

1) Remember yourself when you were between the ages of one and four years old or think of someone close to you now at that age. Imagine being just as fearless, expressive, emotionally flexible, and free. Feel these emotions and other characteristics typical of that age.

2) Determine what caused you to crush these characteristics within yourself. Many people are subjected to messages that do not align with these characteristics, often from people they love. What negative messages did you hear?

3) Identify the personality traits created as a result of the disconnect that occurred from your reactions and responses to these messages. When challenged, for instance, some people might get angry and lash out while others may recoil and shut down. It's important to own your reaction so you can transform it.

4) Identify and reclaim your innate characteristics of being fearless, expressive, and emotionally flexible and free. You must give yourself permission to be who you were created to be with all the accompanying emotions of joy, bliss, and abundance.

Stand in your greatness and take action. Create an endless playground where there are no walls or limits on what you can conceive and achieve. Demonstrate your worthiness to the universe by actively participating in the life you choose to create.

To help you experience the light of your own natural brilliance, listen to the You Deserve It! Paraliminal.