Leonardo da Vinci’s To-Do List: Peek Into A Creative Mind

Do you ever read about people like Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso and some of the other most creative people in history and wonder how they approached their daily lives? I do. Sometimes I get to the end of the day and feel like I didn’t finish some of the most menial tasks on my to-do list, yet there are other people who were able to change history with the same 24 hours.

Apparently Leonardo da Vinci carried around a little notebook with him everywhere. As he was inspired by the world around him, he would constantly take notes and sketch. His curiosity was insatiable, and he wanted to know everything about everything.

Historian and author Toby Lester got his hands on one of Leonardo’s to-do lists written in one of those notebooks. As you see below, the topics on this list are all over the place, and it’s obvious his mind wandered a lot. He was a free spirit with a free mind, and many times he didn’t focus much. However, contrary to what we are taught today, sometimes not focusing can yield the biggest results from a creative perspective. It’s not clear whether these are things he wanted to finish in a week, a month or a decade.

These are his exact notes. Toby added a few words to make it more understandable, and those words are noted in brackets. You can learn more about Leonardo da Vinci in Toby Lester’s new book Da Vinci’s Ghost, which will be released in a few months.

Via: [Nuclear Toast] [NPR Science Blog]