How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci
Question received wisdom and authority., Risk making mistakes., Pursue knowledge fearlessly., Look for the interconnectedness in things., Draw your own conclusions.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Question received wisdom and authority.
Genuine innovation requires that you, like Leonardo Da Vinci, question the accepted answers to complicated questions and actively form your own opinions and observations about the world you inhabit.
Leonardo trusted his senses and intuition over the "wisdom" of others, both contemporary and historical, relying upon himself and his own experience of the world to inform his worldview.
For Leonardo, curiosity meant both looking forward and looking back, looking beyond the accepted wisdom of the Christian Bible to interact with the ancients, studying Greek and Roman texts and philosophical modes of thought, the scientific method, and art.
Exercise:
Examine an angle of a particular issue, concept, or topic you feel strongly about, from the opposite point of view of your own.
Even if you're confident you "understand" what makes a painting great, or how a string quartet is put together, or you know everything there is to know about the state of the polar ice caps, make it your business to seek out dissenting opinions and alternative ideas.
Make an argument for the opposite of what you believe.
Play devil's advocate. -
Step 2: Risk making mistakes.
A creative thinker won't hide in the comfortable blanket of safe opinions, but will mercilessly seek truth, even at the risk of being completely and totally wrong.
Let your curiosity and enthusiasm for topics rule your mind, not the fear of being wrong.
Embrace mistakes as opportunities and think and act in such a way as to risk making them.
Greatness risks failure.
Leonardo Da Vinci enthusiastically studied physiognomy, a bogus science that purported to link facial features and character.
Now thoroughly debunked, it was a trendy concept in Leonardo's day, and might've contributed significantly to his innovative interest in our understanding of detailed anatomy.
Though we might think of this as "wrong" it's perhaps better to think of it as a kind of swampy stepping stone to a greater truth.
Exercise:
Find a dated, debunked, or controversial idea and learn everything you can about it.
Consider what it would mean to see the world in this alternative way.
Look into the Brethren of the Free Spirit, the Hell's Angels, or the Harmony Society, and learn about their worldview and the historical context of their organization.
Were they, or are they, "wrong"? , The curious thinker embraces the unknown, the mysterious, and the frightening.
To learn about anatomy, Leonardo spent countless hours studying corpses in less-than-sterile conditions, compared to the modern cadaver lab.
His thirst for knowledge far outweighed his squeamishness, and led to his pioneering study of the human body and his life drawings.Exercise:
Research a topic that frightens you.
Filled with dread about the end of the world? Research eschatology and apocalypse.
Scared of vampires? Dig up the dirt on Vlad the Impaler.
Nuclear war always giving you nightmares? Learn about J.
Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project. , To think curiously means to look for patterns in ideas and images, finding similarities that link disparate concepts rather than differences.
Leonardo Da Vinci could never have invented the "mechanical horse" that became his bicycle without having linked seemingly unrelated concepts, horse-riding and simple gears.
Try to find common ground in your interpersonal interactions, and look for the things you can relate to about an idea or issue, the things you can take from it, rather than looking at it as "wrong".
Exercise:
Close your eyes and randomly draw squiggles or lines on a page, then open your eyes and finish the drawing you started.
Look into the nonsense and make sense from it.
Generate a list of "off the top of your head" words and put them all into the same poem or story, looking for a narrative in the chaos. , The curious thinker is unsatisfied with received wisdom and accepted answers, and chooses instead to either validate those accepted answers with real-life observations and perceptions, or form new opinions based on an experience of the world.
Of course, this doesn't mean that you can't validate the existence of Australia because you haven't seen it yourself, but rather that you choose to abstain from an opinion about it until you've learned everything you can about it, and experienced that knowledge for yourself.
Exercise:
Think of a time your opinion was swayed by someone or something.
It could be as simple as changing your opinion about a movie you kind of liked, because all your friends felt the opposite way and you preferred to fit in.
Go back and re-examine that movie with a fresh set of eyes. -
Step 3: Pursue knowledge fearlessly.
-
Step 4: Look for the interconnectedness in things.
-
Step 5: Draw your own conclusions.
Detailed Guide
Genuine innovation requires that you, like Leonardo Da Vinci, question the accepted answers to complicated questions and actively form your own opinions and observations about the world you inhabit.
Leonardo trusted his senses and intuition over the "wisdom" of others, both contemporary and historical, relying upon himself and his own experience of the world to inform his worldview.
For Leonardo, curiosity meant both looking forward and looking back, looking beyond the accepted wisdom of the Christian Bible to interact with the ancients, studying Greek and Roman texts and philosophical modes of thought, the scientific method, and art.
Exercise:
Examine an angle of a particular issue, concept, or topic you feel strongly about, from the opposite point of view of your own.
Even if you're confident you "understand" what makes a painting great, or how a string quartet is put together, or you know everything there is to know about the state of the polar ice caps, make it your business to seek out dissenting opinions and alternative ideas.
Make an argument for the opposite of what you believe.
Play devil's advocate.
A creative thinker won't hide in the comfortable blanket of safe opinions, but will mercilessly seek truth, even at the risk of being completely and totally wrong.
Let your curiosity and enthusiasm for topics rule your mind, not the fear of being wrong.
Embrace mistakes as opportunities and think and act in such a way as to risk making them.
Greatness risks failure.
Leonardo Da Vinci enthusiastically studied physiognomy, a bogus science that purported to link facial features and character.
Now thoroughly debunked, it was a trendy concept in Leonardo's day, and might've contributed significantly to his innovative interest in our understanding of detailed anatomy.
Though we might think of this as "wrong" it's perhaps better to think of it as a kind of swampy stepping stone to a greater truth.
Exercise:
Find a dated, debunked, or controversial idea and learn everything you can about it.
Consider what it would mean to see the world in this alternative way.
Look into the Brethren of the Free Spirit, the Hell's Angels, or the Harmony Society, and learn about their worldview and the historical context of their organization.
Were they, or are they, "wrong"? , The curious thinker embraces the unknown, the mysterious, and the frightening.
To learn about anatomy, Leonardo spent countless hours studying corpses in less-than-sterile conditions, compared to the modern cadaver lab.
His thirst for knowledge far outweighed his squeamishness, and led to his pioneering study of the human body and his life drawings.Exercise:
Research a topic that frightens you.
Filled with dread about the end of the world? Research eschatology and apocalypse.
Scared of vampires? Dig up the dirt on Vlad the Impaler.
Nuclear war always giving you nightmares? Learn about J.
Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project. , To think curiously means to look for patterns in ideas and images, finding similarities that link disparate concepts rather than differences.
Leonardo Da Vinci could never have invented the "mechanical horse" that became his bicycle without having linked seemingly unrelated concepts, horse-riding and simple gears.
Try to find common ground in your interpersonal interactions, and look for the things you can relate to about an idea or issue, the things you can take from it, rather than looking at it as "wrong".
Exercise:
Close your eyes and randomly draw squiggles or lines on a page, then open your eyes and finish the drawing you started.
Look into the nonsense and make sense from it.
Generate a list of "off the top of your head" words and put them all into the same poem or story, looking for a narrative in the chaos. , The curious thinker is unsatisfied with received wisdom and accepted answers, and chooses instead to either validate those accepted answers with real-life observations and perceptions, or form new opinions based on an experience of the world.
Of course, this doesn't mean that you can't validate the existence of Australia because you haven't seen it yourself, but rather that you choose to abstain from an opinion about it until you've learned everything you can about it, and experienced that knowledge for yourself.
Exercise:
Think of a time your opinion was swayed by someone or something.
It could be as simple as changing your opinion about a movie you kind of liked, because all your friends felt the opposite way and you preferred to fit in.
Go back and re-examine that movie with a fresh set of eyes.
About the Author
Melissa Wood
Melissa Wood is an experienced writer with over 2 years of expertise in lifestyle and practical guides. Passionate about sharing practical knowledge, Melissa creates easy-to-follow guides that help readers achieve their goals.
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