Challenge Day #2

How to Think Like Leonardo da'Vinci

"Genius is made, not born.  And human beings are gifted with an almost unlimited potential for learning and creativity. Now you can uncover your own hidden abilities sharpen your senses, and liberate your unique intelligence - by following the example of the greatest genius of all time, Leonardo da'Vinci."   (How to Think Like Leonardo da'Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day, by Michael Gelb.)  When I read this I knew I wasn't leaving the store without this book.  I devoured it.  I have referred to it so often it is falling apart. 

When I started my own business, I was often told to become an expert in one area; "Be known as the go to person for a specific topic."  I understood the advantages in marketing and the rationale for finding my niche.  However, every time I tried to hone in on something I found myself intrigued by something else and off I'd go on another tangent. The phrase Jack of trades, master of none aptly describes me. 

Napoleon Hill in his classic book Think and Grow Rich recommend you create a Master Mind Group.  A group of individuals living or dead whom you go to for advice and counsel. Hill believed, "No two minds every come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind."  This idea paired with my my fascination for several historical figures including Benjamin Franklin, Galileo, Michael Angelo, Marco Polo, Amelia Earhart and others was the catalyst for adding the quintessential Renaissance Man Leonardo da'Vinci to my Master Mind Group.  I often find myself asking "What would Leo do?"  So reading Gelb's book fed my desire to listen to someone who understood the value of being a person whose expertise expands a significant number of different subject areas.  In particular, da'Vinci's love of the natural world along with his ability to deeply observe it and look to it for guidance has touched my soul.  You'll find evidence of this in my book A People Primer: The Nature of Living Systems, where I draw from nature to help the reader understand perceptual control theory. 

Like Gelb I have always wondered, “Can the fundamentals of Leonardo’s approach to learning and the cultivation of intelligence be abstracted and applied to inspire and guide us toward the realization of our own full potential?” If so what are these principles and how can I live them and help others discover them? The book suggests that Leonardo lived his life by following seven key principles. Gelb provides and assessment and processes to enhance each principle. 

1. CURIOSITÀ (CURIOSITY) Curiosity: “An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.” Wow I love this one – I believe we are all naturally curious and that as children grow we often discourage this ideal.  Finding ways to encourage people’s innate desire to understand the world in which they live is key to being an educator/learner.  At the heart of curiosity is asking questions.  If you have ever spent time with me you know I ask a lot of questions – in this way I am much like the three year old who constantly wants to know why.
2. DIMONSTRATZIONE (INDEPENDENT THINKING) — “A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.” For me, the path to learning involves viewing mistakes as learning opportunities, the practice of metacognition and continuous self-evaluation. I have seldom been willing to accept that what someone tells me is the way it “has to be.”  I also do not believe there is only one way to solve a problem. For many adults, allowing children to embrace independent thinking can be difficult.
3. SENSAZIONE (REFINE YOUR SENSES) — “The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to clarify experience.” As I’ve already said, I envy da’Vinci’s ability to see deeply – I often think of him as seeing with his soul as well as his eyes.  A practice I try to nurture. Drawing all of my senses into any activity is how I define mindfulness. I think this is why I love cooking and eating so much.  Cooking and eating involve all of the senses combining them into to one sensational experience.  The smells, the textures, the taste, the sounds, the look and the flavors all blending into one glorious adventure. 
4. SFUMATO (EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY) — Literally translated as ‘Going up in Smoke’ — “A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.”  To truly understand something, comes when I can frame it as a paradox. Knowing that less is more, that small shifts create big changes and that perceptual control theory is both simple and complex are all examples of sfumato.  There are times in life when we need to let go of what we know and hang in mid-air before grabbing onto something new.
5. ARTE/SCIENZA (ART & SCIENCE, WHOLE-BRAIN THINKING) — “The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination.” Of the four life skills Glenn Smith and I have taught in jails, corporations and schools, Imagineering is my favorite.  Imagineering is about the art of creating the life of your dreams by first tapping into your imagination and answering the question; “Who do I want to be?”  Which brings about defining the principles by which you want to live. The engineering or science part of Imagineering comes from building your life one thought, one action, one moment at a time.
6. CORPORALITA (MIND-BODY CARE) — “The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.” I must admit this is one place I fall short.  I have in periods of my life been extremely dedicated to physical wellbeing.  First by doing Curves and Pilates, then moving onto a Jillian Michaels CD and then walking two miles a day.  As I write this, I am good about meditating and regularly challenging my mind, but physically I have room to grow.  I am very aware of the connection between my mind and body. I love the flood of endorphins I feel when I exercise on a regular basis.  I am however, a zealot about drinking water.  I know that when I drink my 8-10 glasses a day, everything in life seems to flow.
7. CONNESSIONE (INTERCONNECTEDNESS) -- "A recognition and appreciation fot the connectedness of all things and phenomena.  Systems thinking."  I am at heart a systems thinker.  I think it comes from spending every summer at the family lake house in northern Wisconsin.  I was taught to pay attention to and take care of the ecosystem of the Great Northwoods.  I recognized at a young age the balance and impact of clear cut logging, the changes brought about by more and more residences around the lake and the connection of each of us to each other. When a big storm blows through, everyone pitches in to help each other.  As a teenager living in a foreign country I learned people are people wherever you go no matter what language they speak. This experience also enriched my understanding of interconnectedness. As my native friends remind -- "We need to take care for the next seven generations to come." 

As I read this book I found myself being at peace with my approach to life.  I recognized I was attempting to be a renaissance thinker and go wherever my curiosity lead me.