Little Leonardos – daydreaming is the key to creativity, creativity is the key to success.
Leonardo Da Vinci is said to be the greatest mind that ever lived. He has inspired some of the most well known innovators such as Einstein, Franklin, Jobs. But why does he have this legacy? Because he believed that a person could know everything about everything and he never stopped in his pursuit to achieve this.
Some facts about Leonardo:
• He was left handed
• he was homosexual
• he was born out of wedlock
• he was a procrastinator
• he was a daydreamer
• he was vegetarian.
He lived in a time when all these traits went against societies expectations and standards. He was a misfit. He was seen as eccentric.
Unlike Michael Angelo, who was also gay, Leonardo was comfortable in his own skin. He knew he was different and embraced it, celebrated it and rather than hide it, he flaunted it. He and Michael Angelo, who felt ashamed of his differences, were polar opposites and famously did not get on, possibly for this very reason.
Now let’s jump to the 21st century. We are lucky to now live in a society which has accepted most of these traits without judgement, well, all except two. Can you guess which two?
Let me tell you a story about me and my son. When I was at primary school, I hated it. I wanted to be at home. At home I could draw, colour, make, go outside when I wanted, role play, act and learn about the world in my own way, in my own time, to my own timetable and all these things made me happy. At school I was on someone else’s timetable. When information was given to me, I had to learn it and take action according someone else’s expectations, speed of thought and speed of understanding. Because I didn’t learn at the same speed as my teacher or the fastest kid in the class, I was constantly accused of not paying attention, of daydreaming – accused, like it was a crime. It was my way of processing the information being thrown at me.
When my son went to primary school, it was like history repeating itself. I remember a parents evening and being told that he’d had to be put in the corner as he wasn’t concentrating. He’d been given a creative writing task, but whilst everyone else was scribbling away, he was sitting, appearing not to be doing anything, frozen, and hadn’t written a thing. He was punished for it.
“Sometimes when you’re creative, you accomplish the most when you seem to be working the least, because you’re bringing things together, and you’re letting them gel. You’re intuiting what you’re going to do.” Da Vinci
But the reason he hadn’t written anything was because he was taking time thinking about what and how he was going to write. It wasn’t that he was doing nothing, he was deep in thought, daydreaming to achieve the given task. He was punished for it.
To those who have children currently in school who recognise this, have faith. Our brains are all unique. We don’t all learn the same way.
Leonardo is famous for his inspirational quotes and this one seems apt here:
“Just as food eaten without appetite is a tedious nourishment, so does study without zeal damage the memory by not assimilating what it absorbs.” da Vinci
“Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.” Da Vinci
Leonardos thirst for knowledge, put him on a path where he was in charge of his destiny. He studied what interested him, which opened his eyes to more and sent him down wormholes in his desire to know more. And in this mindset he discovered something remarkable:
“Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.” Da Vinci
He could see connections. Subjects were not separate, they all connected and he could see that one could not exist without the other.
“Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses – especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” Da Vinci
Taking my cue from Leonardo, I’ve recently been dipping my toe into learning about neuroscience. An article written by the American Psychological Association regarding studies into creativity as an inherently human trait, spoke of several studies by various academics into how the brain works when being creative. The results are fascinating .
Studies have revealed that there are two types of daydreaming:
• the non productive type – where we dream of alternate realities, fantasise
• the productive type – where we plan or problem solve.
In our usual state of planning/problem solving, we use just one part of our brain, the cognitive control network.
However, when we are letting our mind wander, daydreaming in an alternative reality, dreaming at night, building imaginary worlds or scenarios, we use two parts of our brain, the Cognitive Control Network and the Default Mode Network.
In other words, daydreaming makes us more intelligent. Rather than seeing it as a negative, we should be encouraging it. What if we did, what if we rewarded and encouraged non-productive daydreaming. It may lead to a desire to learn more, to discover what else is possible in the future. It could lead to another Leonardo Da Vinci.
Katharine x