Leonardo da Vinci. Almost every inhabitant of our planet has heard the name of this greatest Italian artist, architect, sculptor, scientist, philosopher, thinker, engineer, inventor and one of the most prominent people in the art of the High Renaissance.
The life, work and creativity of this person forever changed the world and ideas about it. What are his "Vitruvian Man", "The Last Supper" and "Mona Lisa" or projects unprecedented in his era of inventions? Leonardo da Vinci was a genius. And at the same time - an ordinary person, just like the rest of us. But what allowed him to create day and night, generate new ideas, create incredible projects and be one of the best people of his time?
The life and work of Leonardo da Vinci has been studied and continues to be studied by many researchers around the world. And the most prominent representative of this category of researchers is the American writer and researcher in the field of the essence of creativity and the harmonious interaction of mind and body, Michael Gelb.
In total, he has 13 published books, which are devoted to the creative aspect of the personality of the great artist. Best-known among these books are The Da Vinci Code Decoded and Learn to Think and Draw Like Leonardo Da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day, which have become bestsellers.
It is in his latest book that Michael Gelb describes the seven creative principles of the famous master, which you can use in your daily life to develop creativity and maximize your creativity. It is about them that we will talk in the article offered to your attention.
7 principles of creativity Leonardo da Vinci
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1. Curiosity / Curiosita
Curiosity is inherent in every person to varying degrees. You probably paid attention to the fact that children, for example, always ask many questions about absolutely everything: "Why is the sea blue?", "How do birds fly?", "Where does the rain come from?" This is especially true for children under 5 years old. Thus, they receive information about the world around them. However, according to Michael Gelb (and many psychologists, by the way), the level of curiosity decreases over time, because children begin to go to school, where, as a rule, many questions already have answers, and those questions that have no answers are simply go down.
In order for creative activity to be always at a high level and allow creating and finding new ideas, a person must remain curious throughout his life. And you need to remain curious just like a child - to be interested in everything: what, how, why, where, why? All such questions should fuel creativity and provide direction for work.
2. Independence of thinking / Dimostrazione
For creativity, you need to be able to think in different ways and look at the same things and phenomena from different angles. Over time, each person acquires his own point of view on something, develops his position and his attitude. This, of course, is good, but very often leads to one-sidedness of thinking: a person seeks confirmation only of what corresponds to his vision, is interested only in what “suits him”, surrounds himself with appropriate materials. And any other opinions and points of view they begin to reject.
A truly creative person should beware of this - he needs to have a versatile vision and consider everything from different positions, which will allow him to be independent, non-trivial and objective in his thinking.
3. Perceptual acuity / Sensazione
This implies a person's ability to truly enjoy life and his desire for this, as well as to live "to the fullest" every moment, to see the meaning in the little things and be happy.
Attention to detail is essential to creativity. Many modern people have forgotten how (they never knew how!) To feel their life: the breath of the breeze, the scent of flowers, the glare of the sun on the water, the twinkling stars in the sky - all this is overlooked, people become stale and become impervious to anything except momentary affairs and everyday worries.
A creative person must improve his perception and train his five basic senses. Michael Gelb advises turning to art, music, poetry, and occasionally indulging yourself with good wine and chocolate.
4. Uncertainty / Sfumato
As you know, uncertainty often causes fear in a person. People are afraid to commit unusual actions, things that are at odds with their habits and established beliefs, tend to avoid unusual situations.
But if a person can be confident in himself even in unusual circumstances, this opens up wide horizons for creativity. According to Michael Gelb, surprise and new discoveries, recognition of what a person did not know before, have a huge and positive impact on the disclosure of creativity.
And if you do only what you are used to, then there can be no talk of any discoveries. If you strive to become and be a truly creative person, you must cultivate a vague image of yourself, but at the same time be sure of yourself. And the pursuit of the unknown and paradox should become a part of your nature.
5. Imagination and Logic / Scienza
It is a well-known fact that the left hemisphere of the human brain is responsible for analytical thinking, and the right hemisphere for creative thinking. For each person, the development of one always prevails over the other.
However, in the modern world, in order to efficiently generate new extraordinary ideas, a person should try to develop both hemispheres, i.e. purposefully develop logical and creative thinking.
Michael Gelb thinks drawing contributes the most. Take a piece of paper and a pencil and try to shape your thoughts into images. What do you do? What associations do you have? Try to remove something or, conversely, add. Can you somehow apply this in your life? Think about it, come up with new ideas and analyze them. This will help you develop your brain as best you can.
6. Balance of body and mind / Corporalita
Not every person knows that Leonardo da Vinci, among other things, was perfectly developed physically. He was even considered one of the most powerful people in all of Florence, and was also an excellent horseman and excellent fencing.
Michael Gelb is convinced that creative activity is a special kind of intellectual exercise that requires considerable energy resources. A person who is physically weak, in his opinion, will never be able to increase his creativity to the proper level.
And therefore one of the integral components of creative activity, as well as the life of a creative person, is physical exercise and sports and, of course, keeping oneself in good shape. Leonardo da Vinci, incidentally, was equally good with both hands.
7. Connection diagram / Connessione
A mind diagram can also be called a thought diagram or a schematic representation of systems thinking. Michael Gelb is of the opinion that this diagram is very important for the ability to generate new ideas, because clearly displays the infinity of the capabilities of the human brain.
In most cases, it is a special tree-like scheme, where the main concept is in the center, and the “branches” branching off in different directions are the associations it causes. It is very effective to use mind mapping in creative work. This is evidenced by at least the fact that it is almost always used in brainstorming sessions, for strategic planning and in various kinds of trainings.
Contrary to the widespread belief that creative thinking is a gift and is not available to those who do not have this gift, this is by no means the case. A person can make a discovery or invent something without doing anything for this, only in very rare cases.