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THE BIG IDEAS
The Seven Principles
Of da Vinci’s genius.

How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci
Seven Steps to Genius Everyday
BY MICHAEL GELB · DELL © 2000 · 336 PAGES

A Hundred Questions
That can change your life.

Keep a Journal
Or da Vinci-like Notebook.

Unconscious Database
Tap into it!

Get Your Mind Map On!
Powerful stuff.

Affirmations
How’re yours?

Learning to Draw
See the world anew.

“It was with the idea of finding the principles underlying Leonardo’s limitless
creativity that I began my work on the book you are now holding in your hands.
The seven principles I eventually identified were simply my attempt to write the
how-to guide that Leonardo never put down on paper, to codify the principles
implicit in Leonardo’s work so that they can be used by others. I feel very strongly
that the genius of Leonardo resides not just in what he created by in what he
can inspire us to create. Beyond all his stellar achievements, Leonardo da Vinci
serves as a global archetype of human potential, giving us intimations of what we
ourselves may be capable of doing.”

The Body of a Genius

~ Michael Gelb from How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci

How’s yours?

Goals and Process

Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci was not only the leading artist (Mona Lisa, Last Supper,

Both, please! :)

etc.) of his time, he was also an incredible inventor, military engineer, musician, and scientist
(not to mention the fact that he was, apparently, also one heck of a party planner and one of the
strongest athletes as well)?!
Yep. That’s our kind of guy.
In How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Gelb boils down da Vinci’s genius into seven
attributes and provides a fun and powerful framework complimented with incredible exercises
that help us develop our creativity and fully express our unique genius.

“For in truth, great love is
born of great knowledge of
the thing loved.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci

This book was one of the most influential reads in my early days and I can vividly remember
reading it shortly after selling my first business (eteamz) nearly eight years ago. I highly
recommend it and I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas (plus one of the most
transformative exercises I’ve ever done: A Hundred Questions).
Let’s start by taking a quick look at the seven attributes of da Vinci and then we’ll explore a few
of my favorite Big Ideas on how to rock ‘em!

THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF DA VINCI’S GENIUS
After an introduction to da Vinci’s life, Gelb walks us through these seven attributes of da Vinci’s
genius. (Note: Please say these out loud with your best Italian accent! :)
1. “Curiosità—An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for
continuous learning.
2. Dimonstratzione—A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a
willingness to learn from mistakes.
3. Sensazione—The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to
clarify experience.
4. Sfumato (literally ‘Going up in Smoke’)—A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox,
and uncertainty.

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PhilosophersNotes | How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci

“The knowledge of all things
is possible.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci

5. Arte/Scienza—The development of the balance between science and art, logic and
imagination. ‘Whole-brain thinking.’
6. Corporalita—The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.
7. Connessione—A recognition and appreciation for the connectedness of all things and
phenomena. Systems thinking.”

A HUNDRED QUESTIONS
“Great minds ask great questions. The questions that ‘engage our thought’ on a daily basis
reflect our life purpose and influence the quality of our lives. By cultivating a Da Vinci-like open,
questing frame of mind, we broaden our universe and improve our ability to travel through it.”
Got a journal? If not, time to get one!
Da Vinci carried his everywhere. You might want to as well. Gelb has a lot of awesome exercises

“The desire to know is
natural to good men.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci

to fill your new journal up and research has proven that capturing your thoughts, questions,
dreams, goals and all that jazz is good for ya. (See the next Big Idea. :)
[Speaking of journals: Did you know that in 1994, Bill Gates bought 18 sheets (of the 7,000
existing) from da Vinci’s notes for 30.8 million bucks. Not bad, eh?]
The first Da Vincian principle is Curiosità and Gelb offers us an incredible exercise for that
new journal of yours. It’s called “A Hundred Questions” and is easily one of the most powerful
exercises I’ve ever done. It goes like this:
Give yourself ~60 minutes. Find a comfortable place where you won’t be distracted. Sit down
and make a list of 100 questions you find interesting. Write about whatever’s meaningful for
you. Questions can range from “Why is the sky blue?” and “How can I optimize my health?” to
“What are my greatest strengths?” and “What am I most passionate about?” and whatever else
comes through.
Odds are that the first few questions will flow and then it will be a little tougher. Push through the

“I wish to work miracles.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci

desire to walk away and finish them all in one sitting. Then read through your list and note the
themes that emerge. Consider the themes you notice without judging them. Are your questions
about Business? Relationships? Self-Growth? Money? Spirituality? The Meaning of Life?
Top 10 Questions. Once you’ve done that, review your list of 100 questions and choose the 10
that you find most significant. Then rank them in importance from 1 to 10. Do that and I promise
you you’ll have a REALLY good sense of what’s important to you in your life!!
Without exaggeration, this is probably the most powerful exercise I’ve ever done and those 10
questions have guided my life over the last 8 years in incredibly powerful ways.
So…
What’re you waiting for?!? Find some quiet time and get your questions on will ya?!
[P.S. For those curious souls, here are the Top 10 Questions I came up with on Saturday, June
8th, 2001:

“Just as iron rusts from
disuse, and stagnant water
putrefies, or when cold
turns to ice, so our
intellect wastes unless it is
kept in use.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci

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1. How do I master myself and control my will/how do I become a warrior? (I was into Dan
Millman’s Way of the Peaceful Warrior at that stage. :)
2. What is love? How do I live with agape, philos and eros? (I was also binging on Paulo
Coelho who described the three Greek words for love in one of his books!)
3. What is the optimal life? How do I live this life?
4. What is health? How do I achieve optimal health/energy/power?
5. What is important to me?

PhilosophersNotes | How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci

“The greatest geniuses
sometimes accomplish
more when they work less.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci

6. How can I inspire others to reach their potential and to love life?
7. Who are the 10 greatest wisdom philosophers?
8. Who are the 10 greatest examples of this wisdom in action?
9. What is living in the moment? How do I do that?
10. Why is religion so widespread?
Wow.
Just typing those out gave me goosebumps as I feel into how much they have influenced my life.
I really hope you do the exercise!
P.P.S. After this exercise, Gelb presents what he calls “10 Power Questions” and suggests you
pick one of those or one of your Top 10 questions and practice the lost art of contemplation. The
question I picked? “How can I get paid to do what I love?” SUPER powerful question and the
fact that I’ve lived this question for nearly a decade is why I’m getting paid to read and write and
grow! … How can YOU get paid to do what you love?!? ]

KEEP A JOURNAL OR “NOTEBOOK”
“Leonardo da Vinci carried a notebook with him at all times so that he could jot down ideas,
impressions, and observations as they occurred. His notebooks (seven thousand pages exist;
most scholars estimate this is about one half of the amount he left to Francesco Melzi in his
will) contained jokes and fables, the observations and thoughts of scholars he admired, personal

“The happiest people in the
world ask, ‘What if I could
find some way to get paid
for doing what I love?’”
~ Michael Gelb

financial records, letters, reflections on domestic problems, philosophical musings and prophecies,
plans for inventions, and treatises on anatomy, botany, geology, flight, water, and painting.”
Journaling. Powerful stuff.
Did you know it’s scientifically proven to boost your happiness levels? Yepperz.
In fact, according to Marci Shimoff in her great book Happy for No Reason (see Notes): “In
an experiment by Dr. Robert Emmons at the University of California-Davis, people who kept
a ‘gratitude journal,’ a weekly record of things they felt grateful for, enjoyed better physical
health, were more optimistic, exercised more regularly, and described themselves as happier
than a control group who didn’t keep journals.”
Plus, how ‘bout this from Sonja Lyubomirsky in The How of Happiness (see Notes): “There
are many ways to practice optimism, but the one that has been empirically shown to enhance
well-being is the original Best Possible Selves diary method. To try it out, sit in a quiet place,
and take twenty to thirty minutes to think about what you expect your life to be one, five, or
ten years from now. Visualize a future for yourself in which everything has turned out the way
you’ve wanted. You have tried your best, worked hard, and achieved all your goals. Now write
down what you imagine. This writing exercise in a sense puts your optimistic ‘muscles’ into
practice. Even if thinking about the brightest future for yourself doesn’t come naturally at first,
it may get there with time and training. Amazing things can come about as a result of writing.”
So, you got a journal yet? :)

“If the young Leonardo
were alive today and attending
grade school, he would
probably be on medication.”
~Michael Gelb

TAP INTO YOUR UNCONSCIOUS DATABASE
“Neuroscientists estimate that your unconscious database outweighs the conscious on an order
exceeding ten million to one. This database is the source of your creative potential. In other
words, a part of you is much smarter than you are. The wisest people regularly consult that
smartest part. You can, too, by making space for incubation.”
Love that.

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“Keeping your mind open in
the face of uncertainty is
the single most powerful
secret of unleashing your
creative potential.”
~ Michael Gelb

So, how do the greatest minds do this?
According to Gelb, we rarely get our best ideas when we’re officially “at work.” If we want to
enter the domain of genius, we’ve gotta “take time for solitude and relaxation”!
Joseph Campbell says something similar. He puts it this way: “This is an absolute necessity for
anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know
what was in the newspapers this morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t
know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes you. This is a place where
you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the
place of creative incubation. At first you might find that nothing happens there. But if you have
a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.”

GET YOUR MIND MAP ON!
“Mind mapping is a whole-brain method for generating and organizing ideas, originated by Tony
Buzan, and largely inspired by Da Vinci’s approach to note taking. You can use mind mapping for
personal goal setting, daily planning, and interpersonal problem solving. It can help you at work,
with your kids, or with any pursuit. The most marvelous application of mind mapping, however, is
that through regular practice it trains you to be a more balanced thinker, à la Leonardo.”

“In addition to expanding the
understanding of the nature
and scope of intelligence,
contemporary psychological
research has revealed
startling truths about the
extent of your potential.
We can summarize the
results with the phrase:
Your brain is much better
than you think.”
~ Michael Gelb

Mind mapping absolutely rocks.
The basic idea is that our minds aren’t ordered linearly and we want to give ourselves an organic
structure that mirrors our minds and nature as we capture ideas.
Gelb’s brilliant intro to mind mapping is worth the price of the book alone (many times over)
and you can check out a video of how I mind map on the site! :)

HOW’RE YOUR AFFIRMATIONS?
“Although he experienced self-doubt and questioned the value of his efforts, he never gave up.
Leonardo’s courage and persistence in the face of adversity are tremendously inspiring. He
strengthened his will to continue his work through affirmations that he wrote in his notebook,
such as:
‘I do not depart from my furrow.’
‘Obstacles do not bend me.’
‘Every obstacle is destroyed through rigor.’
‘I shall continue.’
‘I never tire of being useful.’”
Gotta love those affirmations, eh?!?
I love to write this as the first line in my AM journaling: “Today is going to be the greatest day of

“The ability to thrive with
ambiguity must become part
of our everyday lives.”
~ Michael Gelb

my life!” And, I dig this Gay Hendricks-inspired affirmation: “Every day I expand in creativity,
love, kindness, generosity and abundance as I inspire those around me to do the same!”
So, what are some of your favorite affirmations?

LEARNING TO DRAW
“For Leonardo, drawing was much more than illustration; it was the key to understanding
creation. So for aspiring Da Vincians, learning to draw is the best way to begin to learn to see
and create.”
Drawing: This falls under the third principle: sensazione—all about developing our senses.
Before reading this book I was convinced I couldn’t draw a stick figure. Seriously. Not pretty.

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PhilosophersNotes | How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci

“The bottom line: Embrace
ambiguity and trust
your gut.”
~ Michael Gelb

But Gelb convinced me to give it a shot and inspired me to get into Betty Edwards’ Drawing
on the Right Side of the Brain book (which blew me away) and even take a week long drawing
course a couple years ago.
Here are the amusing before and after shots of my self-portraits from that class (yes, I know I
look a bit like a wanted poster! :):

“I’ve worked with
thousands of managers
at all levels. Some are
analytical, serious,
thorough planners; others
are intuitive, playful,
spontaneous improvisers.
The very best are those
who balance analysis and
intuition, seriousness
and play, planning and
improvisation, Arte
and Scienza.”

Before

After
Plus: here are a couple of my “upside
down” drawings I did in class so I could
learn to actually see what was there
and patiently draw what we saw rather
than hastily “draw a knight on a horse”
or get intimidated that we couldn’t do

~ Michael Gelb

it. Really cool exercise. Especially for
a former can’t-draw-a-stick-figure guy
like me. :)

THE BODY OF A GENIUS
“What is your image of the body type of a genius? Did you grow up, as I did, with the stereotype
of the skinny, ‘four-eyed,’ brainiac nerd? It’s amazing how many people associate high

“Aerobic (‘with oxygen’)
exercise strengthens your
cardiovascular system,
improving blood and
therefore oxygen flow to
your body and brain. Your
brain is, on average, less
than 3 percent of your
body weight, yet it uses
more than 30 percent of
your body’s oxygen. As you
become aerobically fit, you
double your capacity to
process oxygen.”
~ Michael Gelb

intelligence with physical ineptitude. With a few exceptions, the great geniuses of history were
gifted with remarkable physical energy and aptitude, none more so than Da Vinci.”
Corporalita. That’s the sixth principle.
Hard to believe that in addition to everything else that was amazing about Da Vinci, he was
ALSO an incredible athlete. Dig it.
I like to say we’re gonna have a hard time living at our highest potential if we have a hard time
getting out of bed and, as Gelb says: “With a few exceptions, the great geniuses of history were
gifted with remarkable physical energy and aptitude.”
In the book Gelb goes off on a number of ways we can rock our “grace, ambidexterity, fitness,
and poise” including a discussion on The Alexander Technique that led me to a workshop in
Greece where I studied this movement discipline. (Fun.)
For now, what’s the #1 thing you can do for your body?!? Is it exercising more consistently,
eating more healthfully, getting more rest?!?
What’s the #1 thing that, if you started doing today, would have THE most positive impact on
your life?!?

PhilosophersNotes | How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci

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“Now the most important
question for artists
of life: Am I willing to
hold the creative tension
between my ideals and my
current reality?”
~ Michael Gelb

GOALS AND PROCESS
“Think of an important goal that you have accomplished. Describe the process you followed in
achieving that goal. Have you ever achieved a success without experiencing fulfillment? How do
goal and process, doing and being, relate? Does the end justify the means? To live a successful
and fulfilling life, must one: a) be 100 percent committed to achieving clearly defined goals; b)
recognize that the process of living every day, the daily quality of life, is of greatest importance;
or c) both a and b?”
I’ll take c) please!!!! :)
Tal Ben-Shahar, the Harvard professor of Positive Psychology, captures the beauty of holding
both in his fantastic book Happier (see Notes) where he delineates four different archetypes
and points the way to happiness that echoes Gelb’s wisdom here: “The rat racer’s illusion is that
reaching some future destination will bring him lasting happiness; he does not recognize the
significance of the journey. The hedonist’s illusion is that only the journey is important. The
nihilist, having given up on both the destination and the journey, is disillusioned with life. The

“Genius is made, not born.”
~ Michael Gelb

rat racer becomes a slave to the future; the hedonist, a slave to the moment; the nihilist, a slave
to the past.
Attaining lasting happiness requires that we enjoy the journey on our way toward a
destination we deem valuable. Happiness is not about making it to the peak of the mountain
nor is it about climbing aimlessly around the mountain; happiness is the experience of
climbing toward the peak.”
Here’s to embracing BOTH the journey AND the destination as we have fun learning to think
like Da Vinci and express our most radiant genius!

Brian Johnson,
Chief Philosopher

If you liked this Note,
you’ll probably like…
Happier

About the Author of “How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci”
MICHAEL GELB

Michael J. Gelb, is the world’s leading authority on the application of genius

Happy for No Reason

thinking to personal and organizational development. He is a pioneer in the

The How of Happiness

fields of creative thinking, accelerated learning, and innovative leadership. Gelb

The Power of Myth
The Seven Spiritual Laws
of Success
The Gifted Adult

leads seminars for organizations such as DuPont, IBM, Merck, Microsoft, Nike,
and YPO. He brings more than 30 years of experience as a professional speaker,
seminar leader and organizational consultant to his diverse, international
clientele. (from his web site where you can learn more: MichaelGelb.com)

About the Author of This Note
BRIAN JOHNSON

Brian Johnson is a lover of wisdom (aka a “Philosopher”) and a passionate
student of life who’s committed to inspiring and empowering millions of people
to live their greatest lives as he studies, embodies and shares the universal truths
of optimal living. He harts his job.

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PhilosophersNotes | How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci