During a recent mentoring session, I was discussing what the teachers core values were. What is the driving force behind how he is, as a teacher and as a person, and what was not negotiable for him.
He brought up a book he has read, and his core values are based on this, How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. So I decided I needed to investigate this a bit more, so I could see what made him tick, and oh boy…..this was gold!
Enter my trusty chat GPT to give me a summary of the book, what a time saver!
“The book argues that genius is not innate but cultivated through intentional habits. By practicing Leonardo’s seven principles, readers can enhance creativity, insight, balance, and personal growth. Gelb includes practical exercises, reflections, and activities that make the book a hands-on guide for expanding one’s thinking the way Leonardo did.” – Chat GPT
In very basic terms there are 7 ways you can think more like Leo.
Curiosity: relentless questioning and desire to know – asking lots of open ended questions, lifelong learning.
Experimentation: instead of accepting things at face value, test ideas through experience. Embrace mistakes, challenge assumptions.
Sharpen the senses: sensory awareness, especially sight, is key to creativity. Mindful observation, listening, appreciation of beauty, and sensory training to heighten perception.
Embracing Ambiguity: develop emotional resilience, open-mindedness, and tolerance for the unknown.
Whole-Brain Thinking: integrated art and science, logic and imagination. Creative modes of thinking, integrating mind-mapping, drawing, imaginative play, and scientific reasoning.
Cultivating the Body: promote exercise, posture, nutrition, and body awareness, reflecting Leonardo’s interest in anatomy, movement, and well-being.
Interconnectedness: patterns and relationships everywhere. Holistic thinking, systems awareness, and the ability to synthesize diverse ideas
I had a light bulb moment – I feel like maybe Leo and I are on the same page in regards to our values, and with my mentee teacher too!
If I had to summarise one word for my year, it would be curiosity, so when that came up as the first principal, I knew I was onto something good.
But I think, while it’s great to feel like my values align with these 7 core principles, how can I build these values up and practice them, helping to instill a potentially new way of thinking in myself, and then think about how I can get my students along for the ride?
I have started to compile a list of tasks I can do to help cultivate these 7 core values into my everyday life.
Curiosity
Giving myself 10 mins, I am going to write down as many questions about my life that I can think of. No answers, just questions. Aiming for 60+
Circle the 10 most important.
Highlight the 3 most exciting
These become my curiosity compass.
Experimentation challenging assumptions.
Choose one of my top 3 questions from the task above, and take one tiny action to explore it:
- Try a new method
- Test an idea
- Break a routine
- Do something outside your comfort zone
Then ask myself: What happened? What did I learn?
Sharpen the senses & cultivate the body (at the same time!)
Go for a 10–15 minute sensory walk and focus one minute each on:
- Only sight
- Only sound
- Only touch
- Only smell
- Only overall awareness
Write down the 5 most surprising details you noticed.
Then do 10 minutes of gentle stretching or yoga, take 5 slow, conscious breaths and scan your posture.
Ask: “What is my body telling me today?”
Embracing Ambiguity (and uncertainty)
Write down a current life uncertainty or dilemma, then write two opposing truths about it (for example I want a career change AND I fear changing.)
Sit with both. Don’t solve them. Simply acknowledge them.
Whole-Brain Thinking
Choose a problem or project and create a mind map combining to stimulate both analytical and creative thinking:
- Words
- Sketches
- Arrows
- Colors
- Connections
Interconnectedness.
Looking at all the information from the tasks above, write answers to these questions:
- Which curiosity questions keep reappearing?
- What experiments taught me something valuable?
- What sensory insights surprised me?
- What ambiguity am I learning to accept?
- What patterns or connections do I now see across my life?
Its powerful thinking, deliberate actions to explore ideas and feelings.
What is something you might do to complete these tasks?
