Think Like Da Vinci: 7 Easy Steps to Boosting Your Everyday Genius

Leonardo da Vinci carried a notebook with him at all times so that he could jot down ideas, impressions, and observations as they occurred. His notebooks (seven thousand pages exist; most scholars estimate that this is about one half of the amount he left to Francesco Melzi in his will) contained jokes and fables, the observations and thoughts of scholars he admired, personal financial records, letters, reflections on domestic problems, philosophical musings and prophecies, plans for inventions, and treatises on anatomy, botany, geology, flight, water, and painting.

“This is to be a collection without order, taken from many papers, which I have copied here, hoping afterwards to arrange them according to the subjects of which they treat; and I believe that I shall have to repeat the same thing several times; for which, O reader, blame me not … ”

– FROM THE FRONT PAGE OF ONE OF LEONARDO’S MANUSCRIPTS ON PHYSICS

Notes on different subjects are frequently scribbled on the same page, and many observations appear more than once, in different sections. And, of course, the pages are filled with glorious sketches, doodles, and illustrations. Although he expressed an intention to organize and publish them someday, he never got around to it. He was too busy searching for truth and beauty. For Da Vinci, the process of recording questions, observations, and ideas was of great importance.

You can, like Leonardo, facilitate Curiosità by keeping a notebook or journal. Get a bound notebook or journal filled with blank pages. You can use anything from the eighty-nine-cent K mart version to a fancy one with an inspiring image on the front cover. The important thing is to carry it with you everywhere and write in it regularly. Supplement your notebook with scrapbooks or files on diverse areas of interest. Cut out and collect newspaper and magazine articles, or download information from the Internet, on any subject you fancy – science, art, music, food, health …

As Leonardo did, use your notebook to record your questions, observations, insights, jokes, dreams, and musings (mirror writing is optional).

Busy lives and job responsibilities tend to drive us toward hard conclusions and measurable results, but the exploratory, free-flowing, unfinished, nonjudgmental practice of keeping a Da Vincian notebook encourages freedom of thought and expansion of perspective. In the manner of the maestro, don’t worry about order and logical flow, just record.

Try the following Curiosità exercises in your notebook:

A Hundred Questions

In your notebook, make a list of a hundred questions that are important to you. Your list can include any kind of question as long as it’s something you deem significant: anything from “How can I save more money?” or “How can I have more fun?” to “What is the meaning and purpose of my existence?” and “How can I best serve the Creator?”

“Feathers shall raise men even as they do birds, toward heaven; that is by letters written with their quills.”

– LEONARDO DA VINCI

Do the entire list in one sitting. Write quickly; don’t worry about spelling, grammar, or repeating the same question in different words (recurring questions will alert you to emerging themes). Why a hundred questions? The first twenty or so will be “off the top of your head.” In the next thirty or forty themes often begin to emerge. And, in the latter part of the second half of the list you are likely to discover unexpected but profound material.

When you have finished, read through your list and highlight the themes that emerge. Consider the emerging themes without judging them. Are most of your questions about relationships? Business? Fun? Money? The meaning of life?

Top Ten Questions

Review your list of a hundred questions. Choose the ten that seem most significant. Then rank them in importance from one to ten. (Of course, you can add new questions or change the order at any time.) Do not attempt to answer them right now; you’ve done enough just putting them in writing in a place where you can easily find them.

Ten Power Questions

The following questions are drawn from different people’s “top ten.” These questions are powerful catalysts to personal growth and fulfillment. Copy them in your notebook for contemplation:

When am I most naturally myself? What people, places, and activities allow me to feel most fully myself?

What is one thing I could stop doing, or start doing, or do differently, starting today that would most improve the quality of my life?

What is my greatest talent?

How can I get paid for doing what I love?

Who are my most inspiring role models?

How can I best be of service to others?

What is my heart’s deepest desire?

How am I perceived by: my closest friend, my worst enemy, my boss, my children, my co-workers, etc.?

What are the blessings of my life?

What legacy would I like to leave?

How Does a Bird Fly?

Choose one of the following topics inspired by Da Vinci’s passionate questioning: a bird in flight, flowing water, the human body, a landscape, reflected light, a knot or braid. And in your journal, ask at least ten questions about it. Again, there’s no need to write answers; in Curiosità, we focus on the questions. For example: How does a bird fly?

Why does it have two wings?

Why does it have feathers?

How does it “take off”?

How does it slow down?

How does it accelerate?

How high can it fly?

When does it sleep?

How good is its eyesight?

What does it eat?

Then choose a topic from your personal or professional life and do the same exercise – ask ten questions about your career, your relationship, your health. Record the questions in your journal – no answers yet, just questions.

THEME OBSERVATION

Working with a theme is a powerful tool for focusing your Curiosità. Choose a theme for the day and record observations in your notebook. You can jot down your thoughts throughout the day, or just make mental notes to be recorded in your notebook at a quiet time before sleep. Aim to make accurate, simple observations. Speculation, opinion, and theory are fine, but actual observation offers the richest resource.

Your list of a hundred questions, or the power questions, will provide plenty of themes for this exercise. Additionally, you can choose any of the following or make up your own. Some favorite themes include: Emotions, Seeing, Listening, Touch, Aesthetics, and Animals. Do this exercise on your own or choose a theme with a friend and compare notes at the end of the day.

CONTEMPLATION EXERCISE

In an age of sound bites, contemplation is becoming a lost art. Attention spans grow shorter and the soul suffers. To contemplate, as defined by Webster, is “to look at with continued attention, to meditate on.” It comes from the root contemplari, which means “to mark out a temple” (con, “with”; templum, “temple”) or “to gaze attentively.”

A Sample Theme Exercise

My friend Michael Frederick is a theater director, acting coach, and teacher of the Feldenkrais Method, the Alexander technique, and yoga. He has been doing theme work for more than twenty-five years. He graciously agreed to share the following unedited sample from his notebook:

January 10, 1998. Theme: Contact with Material Objects

1) 7:40 a.m. Noticed the quality and sense of my feet first touching the floor. That the contact with the floor was supporting me and allowing me to continue lengthening through my body as I stood up for the first time today.

2) 8:20 a.m. As I brushed my teeth, I saw how I was holding my toothbrush too tight in my right hand and this tension spread up through my arm and shoulder causing neck tension. Then I looked in the mirror and noticed I was slumping.