How to be More Productive by Using Da Vinci’s 7 Principles
Guidelines from the maestro that can support our work today
The word “genius” is practically synonymous with the name Leonardo Da Vinci.
Born near present-day Florence in 1452, Leonardo was the ultimate Renaissance man. Today, Da Vinci is famous for his paintings, but he was also a brilliant scientist, anatomist, inventor, physician, and architect.
In short, Leonardo was what UNESCO calls a “universal genius.”
Luckily, Da Vinci chronicled his entire life — and his work — in a series of notebooks that survived through the centuries. And these notebooks nowadays help us understand the thinking patterns, techniques, and strategies behind Leonardo’s genius.
Enter the “Seven Da Vincian Principles.”
In 1998, American author Michael J. Gelb published his bestseller How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci, in which he analyzed Da Vinci’s thinking and outlines seven essential principles.
As such, the seven tenets of Da Vinci’s genius are the following:
- Curiosità: relentless curiosity and a willingness to learn new things.
- Dimostrazione: being ready to test knowledge through experience and accepting failure.
