Recently I've been quite interested in Leonardo Da Vinci, and as I watched a few documentaries about him I noticed quite a few similarities in Leonardo's approach to life and self-improvement work. There is a book called "How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day" which I haven't yet read, but the author basicly describes a few of Leonardo's principles, which are: Curiosita’ – an insatiable curiosity Dimostrazione – testing knowledge through experience Sensazione – continued refinement of the senses Sfumato – a willingness to embrace ambiguity Arte/Scienza – developing a balance between art and science Corporalita’ – cultivating fitness and poise Connessione – recognizing and appreciating that all phenomena are connected I find that quite interesting. To me it seems like he basicly understood self-improvement on an almost intuitive level. Especially principle 5 is very interesting to me, having a balance between art and science. Maybe in a sense this translates into having a balance between the "left" and "right" brain, to both master intuitive and logic thinking. The willingness to embrace ambiguity is one of the key principles for self-actualization, just as the continued refinement of the senses. A large part of his life was dedicated to meditation, and very soon in his life he understood that ones circumstances do not rule over ones life (he was a bastard, in a time where it drasticly limited your options in life). He was journaling aswell, thousands of pages of thoughts, ideas, sketches. He even used his journal to write down simple things so he wouldn't need to remember them (like what he would have to buy). And I know that these things help the mind to be clear and have deeper focus, because the brain does not have to hold the information constantly, which does require mental ressources. The last point is quite interesting aswell, maybe hinting at non-duality, but I don't know. Now my question is, was Leonardo Da Vinci such a genius that he discovered the value of all these principles, or did all of these principles make him a genius? Maybe it was a interplay of both, but I think one can learn quite a lot from him.