Recently, I started reading Walter Isaacson's biography of Leonardo da Vinci and it's a goldmine of ideas for notebook enthusiasts.

Today, I want to share a few of my takeaways about how the Renaissance genius lived and the ways he used his notebooks to develop his mind.

Paper has a proven track record.

The first thing that struck me is the fact that Isaacson is able to go directly to the source himself thanks to the durability of paper. 500 years after Leonardo da Vinci's death and his notebook are still here to speak to us directly. The irony is Isaacson also wrote a biography about Steve Jobs while he was still alive and they couldn't even access Job's emails that were less than a decade old. Nobody knows if Obsidian databases or Apple Notes files will still be accessible in a hundred years but one thing is certain: paper has proven itself to be surprisingly resilient.

Always carry a notebook.

Leonardo always had with him a small notebook tied to his belt so that he could take notes, write down things he wanted to remember, or draw whatever caught his eye. This meant he could always capture inspiration when it stuck and allowed him to gather material for his artistic endeavors.

Observe the details.

Something that caught my attention is how observant Leonardo was. He would spend hours watching dragonflies hover above water just to figure out if all four wings flapped at the same time or at alternating rates. He would study countless birds to discover how their wings flapped, if they pushed down at a faster rate than when going up, and whether those patterns differed between species. Every one of these observations were noted in meticulous detail in his journals leading to insights that were hundreds of years ahead of their time and art that was far superior than most of his peers.

Without digital distractions the world is endlessly fascinating.

You and I have probably never looked at a bird for more than ten minutes. That would be boring compared to the endless amusement our phones and other modern conveniences afford us. But imagine for a moment how interesting nature and the ingenuity of your fellow man might seem if you had nothing else to do but to look around you and observe. It's a world lost to time now but it's worth pausing to consider the value of getting away from the noise of the world to look longer and harder at the reality in front of our eyes.

Modern to-do lists are so boring!

Leonardo has a bad reputation of not finishing what he starts but don't let that fool you into thinking he wasn't productive. His notebooks are filled with endless to-do lists that are substantially more interesting than any modern person's. Just a few:

And I'm over here writing down:

• Get groceries at Costco
• Write newsletter
• Respond to emails

The modern world is obsessed with results and knocking out action items which is why we judge Leonardo for not finishing projects. But Leonardo clearly valued knowledge and the pursuit of curiosity more than these mundane chores. In this sense, I think he was more productive than any guru could dream. His notebooks prove he spent all of his time in perfect alignment with what he valued, not what the world told him to value.

Drawing is thinking in the visual.

We've all heard that writing is thinking on paper but for Leonardo drawing was another way to think on the page. His notebooks show hundreds of drawings of hypothetical designs for machines that were never intended to be invented. They were a way for him to visualize an idea to better understand things he was learning about in his observations and studies. If he came across something he wanted to understand better he would draw detailed schematics with different perspectives and always look for how the individual parts of a thing worked together with the whole. This led to him inventing visually realized concepts like the ball bearing some 200 years before it ever got invented.

Odds are we can't match his artistic capabilities but I think there's real value in learning how to draw to unlock that extra ability to think visually on the page.

Genius is a process.

It's easy to assume Leonardo da Vinci was born a genius. One look at his notebooks gives the impression that he's in a different league and that may be true to some extent. But I don't think that's whole story. I think his notebooks show a man who applied himself to a life of constant exploration and learning that culminated in him becoming a genius.

He had no formal education but was equipped a ravenous curiosity that drove him to seek out knowledge almost compulsively. When he wanted to learn how to paint he studied the masters. When he got a commission to do work on a church he bought every book on engineering he could find. When mathematics caught his interest he spent countless hours studying Euclid's Elements. He asked people with expertise when he had questions. He conducted experiments, he formulated hypothesis, and he never satisfied himself with the delusion that he knew everything he needed to know.

And the most important part is he documented everything. Detailed notes and drawings explaining to himself every minute detail about the subject he was exploring. He would end up with so much material that he would start to synthesize it all into treatises to be published. But before he could finish anything worth publishing he would be on to the next fascination. It was a process of learning, experimenting, and documenting, over and over again, until the day he said his final words.

Could anyone who put that much effort and energy into learning become a genius? Maybe, maybe not.

But there's no harm in trying to push yourself past previously conceived limitations and look at a little bit longer at the world around you.

Prompt:

Go outside and find something to observe for 15 minutes. Look at it closely and notice the details. Take notes about what you see. Try drawing it if you can. If after 15 minutes you still aren't noticing anything new, then look longer. There is always more than meets the eye.