Unlocking the da Vinci Code – 4 Steps to Creative Thinking
Are creative thinkers born or can anyone become an entrepreneurial soul?
Leonardo da Vinci was one of the great creative minds of all time. But he also had a success system that nourished a passion for work, play, and innovation that any of us can adopt. His principles have been widely chronicled and practiced by individuals and corporations for centuries.
Although often known as a man of mystery (eloquently, if not fictionally dramatized in Dan Brown’s blockbuster novel, The Da Vinci Code), da Vinci recorded thousands of pages in personal notebooks that provide insight to his process for cultivating curiosity and creativity.
Published around 1684, 165 years after his death, da Vinci’s journals reveal that he scribbled notes and drawings every day. From silly humor to complex inventions, he had a system of connecting everything he saw. He blended art and science, medicine and music, culture and new ideas. Many said his notes were so random they lacked order, but that was his genius.
Ironically, da Vinci was considered attention deficit by some historians, maybe even dyslexic. He failed to finish many things he started. Perhaps his most creative genius was the use of journals and apprentices to compensate for his occasional focus failure. Just a crazy theory of mine.
Yes, da Vinci may have been born with an extraordinary curiosity that most of us were not. Visionaries like Jobs, Mozart, and Einstein had the same gifts. But contrary to popular belief, creative skills don’t require gifts at birth. They require the ability to ask “WHAT IF?” From there, da Vinci’s success was driven as much by CREATIVE ROUTINES as any genius ability.
So if you’re looking to unlock the da Vinci code to your own creative genius, here’s the formula:
Creative Step 1: Discuss and experiment
Talk about ideas, then put words into action.
Creative Step 2: Be curious and passionate
Maintain an insatiable passion about people, places, and things.
Creative Step 3: Surround yourself with talent
Cultivate friends and teams who think outside the box. Creativity will rise to the level of our peers.
Creative Step 4: Maintain a private journal or public blog
Whatever you see, think, or hear each day, write it down. From ideas and humor to health and relationships, set no limits on imagination.
Now go paint something, or at least ask the starter question, “WHAT IF?”
This blog is based on a chapter in
The 4 Essentials of Entrepreneurial Thinking
Essential 1, Skill 5 – Cultivate a Creative Mindset
