HOW to think like LEONARDO da VINCI
How to think like Leonardo Da Vinci - A Book Synopsis for YOU
What if you could have a mentor that is an absolute ICON & a world-renoun GENIUS.
In working with you, he would ENCODE you with magic & ignite YOUR OWN INNATE GENIUS.
Would you sign up for such a life-altering activation?
AND how much would you be willing to invest to work with this MASTER?
A LOT, I would, A LOT!
Let me make it come ALIVE! for you.
In writing “How to think like Leonardo Da Vinci”, Michael Gelb sets out to activate OUR GENIUS... with Leonardo Da Vinci as OUR MENTOR!!!
WHOAH!
Leonardo Da Vnci
Leonardo da Vinci, OUR MENTOR ahem!, was not only the leading visual artist of his time, but he was also an inventor, an engineer, a musician, a scientist, an incredible entertainer & athlete. Talk about MULTI-PASSIONATE. My kind of guy!
“For in truth, great love is born of great knowledge of the thing loved.” - da Vinci
Yep, he was a master that loved all things he did. Once again, my kind of guy.
“Beyond all his stellar achievements, Leonardo da Vinci serves as a global archetype of human potential, giving us intimations of what we ourselves may be capable of doing.” - Gelb
Yes! He is what WE ALL CAN become, in time and through specific persistence.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE?
Michael Gelb takes us on a wild date. He dives deep into the most potent 7 attributes of Da Vinci’s GENIUS and sets it as ultimately OUR OWN! (tear drop)
1. Curiosità - Curiosity! REMAIN CURIOUS all your life, my love. I beg you.
As children, we were naturally curious, but as we grow up much of our inquisitiveness ebbs.
“Almost all children in their natural state ask lots of questions. That’s how they learn so much in the first five years of life. But then we send them to school where they learn that answers are more important than questions,” - Gelb
The genius maintains an insatiable curiosity life, a relentless pursuit to learning and evolving, going further and beyond.
“The desire to know is natural to good men.” - da Vinci
Be open, be curious, be mad desirous!!!
2. Dimonstratzione - OBSERVE & EXPERIENCE the world within you and outside, take a magnifing lens if you have to!
Da Vinci always used observation & experience as basis of his creative & scientific work. He did NOT follow dogma. This is what it takes to move into the Genius. It’s a relentless persistence to see ‘for yourself’ and a keen willingness to learn from our own wins & mistakes. An open Fearlessness.
Make sure to remain this way, however, even into the wise senior years. Do not settle with the knowledge you have at any stage of the game. The Becoming is a never-ending process.
“So the more senior you become, the more concerted effort you must make to seek out different opinions. Then you have a chance to think independently” - Gelb
Keep evolving. Keep in the momentum. Do not RUST!
3. Sensazione - Senses & Sensations. Feel into them! Bathe in them!
A continual refinement of focus & attention. Seeing, listening, feeling, being present and aware. Meditation, focus, awareness are all key key in refinement of what we catch from life around us and fro within us for creation.
“The Italians have la dolce vita, the sweet soulful life. The French have joie de vivre, the joy of living and in the States all we have is happy hour,” - Gelb
Get LIT UP! by your senses. Shake it up! Come ON! Yallah!
4. Sfumato - This literally means ‘up in smoke’! pffff
This points to the ability to embrace uncertainty & ambiguity. To be confident & focused even in the midst of paradox. Creativity occurs simply in the unknown.
“When you suspend the old thing the new thing doesn’t always automatically emerge. There’s a big gap and the more you’re able to embrace that gap of knowing and uncertainty the greater the likelihood that you’ll be really creative.”
You have to be able to be comfortable here, in the unbearable GAP of ‘not knowing’. In order to innovate, to move, to conquer mediocrity. The movement will not happen in the ‘same old’ states.
5. Arte & Sciencia - les arts & les sciences, the WHOLE PACKAGE is key.
Always keep integrating logic & imagination, science & art, right-brain & left brain . We want a whole brain thinking model. When you access these states, you wake areas of your brain that have been dormant since childhood.
Gelb recommends we practice mind-mapping for ANY ideas that we are developing.
“Mind mapping is a whole-brain method for generating and organizing ideas, originated by Tony Buzan, and largely inspired by Da Vinci’s approach to note taking. You can use mind mapping for personal goal setting, daily planning, and interpersonal problem solving. It can help you at work, with your kids, or with any pursuit. The most marvelous application of mind mapping, however, is that through regular practice it trains you to be a more balanced thinker, à la Leonardo.” - Gelb
Mind-mapping is a powerfully activating approach to creation. Our minds aren’t ordered linearly, they are multi-dimensional, so craft your brainstorms in 2-3D mindmaps.
6. Corporalita - To innovate you need a body that WORKS!
Da Vinci was well known as the strongest man in Florence. He was an accomplished athlete, fencer, and a horseman. Cultivate not only strength & fitness, but also grace & ambidexterity for creative flow.
“We think of creativity as an intellectual exercise but it requires tremendous energy. Learning to cultivate your life force, your life energy is a very important part of this,” - Gelb
Design a body that FEELS passion. A body that works.
7. Connessione - See the patterns in life & recognize their SIGNIFICANCE!
Our genius employs systems thinking. Cultivate a wide appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things in the universe & knowledge. Once again Gelb recommends mind-mapping for development of this thinking & feeling style.
The past, the present & the future are all like a perfectly patterned mandala. CHAOS just needs your light. Cultivate it.
Done ! 7 Steps to GENIUS, under the guidance of LEONARDO. (sigh)
Love love love him! Definitely a Crush ;-)
I always admired his work, but now I have him encoded into my DNA, thanks to Michael Gelb.
LEONARDO was just like us!
He used AFFIRMATIONS!
“Although he experienced self-doubt and questioned the value of his efforts, he never gave up. Leonardo’s courage and persistence in the face of adversity are tremendously inspiring. He strengthened his will to continue his work through affirmations that he wrote in his notebook, such as:
‘I do not depart from my furrow.’, ‘Obstacles do not bend me.’, ‘Every obstacle is destroyed through rigor.’ ‘I shall continue.’, ‘I never tire of being useful.’
And he JOURNALED!
“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 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.”
In the end, Michael takes us through a powerful journalling exercise that may potentially change your life! READY!
100 QUESTIONS
Time to ask your most burning 100 questions - You have 60 mins!
“Great minds ask great questions. The questions that ‘engage our thought’ on a daily basis reflect our life purpose and influence the quality of our lives. By cultivating a Da Vinci-like open, questing frame of mind, we broaden our universe and improve our ability to travel through it.” - Gelb
Give yourself - 60 minutes.
Find a comfortable place where you won’t be distracted.
Sit down and make a list of 100 questions you find most significant for you, the most interesting ones. Questions can range from “Why is the ocean blue?” and “How can I live long?” to “What are am I really good at?” and “What am I most crazy about?” and whatever comes through your heart & soul.
Push through the fears & the desire to walk away and finish the list all in one session.
Then read through your 100-Q list and identify the THEMES that emerge. Just identify them, no judgement. Are your questions about Meaning of Life? Love? Business? Growth? Money?
TOP 10 QUESTIONS - you have 15 mins!
Review your list of 100 questions and pick out the 10 that you find most SIGNIFICANT. Then rank them in importance from 1 - 10. All in 15 mins!
Now you have a REALLY good sense of what’s really key for you. Straight up YOU!!!
POST YOUR TOP 10 in the group DESIGN for SIGNIFICANCE, IMPACT & BLISS or here below! Please share, I will personally support you!