Boring To-Do Lists? Not If You Study Leonardo da Vinci

To-do lists. They just never seem to end. Multiply the following by infinity and you’ll get an idea of what mine looks like:

• Stressful thing
• Another stressful thing
• Something boring due today
• Something I should have done yesterday…

Managing a PhD, being a parent and running a blog, I’m pretty adept when it comes to adding things to to-do lists, but not such an expert at getting to the end of them. Is it possible to make our to-do lists a little bit less stressful and a bit more … exciting?

If, like me, you’re on the hunt for task management inspiration, then studying the work of Leonardo da Vinci will leave you with a new style of to do list.

A to do list with a little less stress and a bucket load of curiosity.

And that’s a list we want to actually get done.

Leonardo Da Vinci Was One of the Greatest Minds in Human History

Leonardo would not be out of place in today’s society, despite living around 500 years ago. He was a true pioneer in cross-disciplinary thought and artistic creation. For example, not only was he an incredible painter, creating the likes of The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, he was also an incredible physicist studying anatomy, fluids and light.

Leonardo was a true polymath.

If I could have half the brain of Leonardo, I would be happy.

Given his curiosity about everything he encountered in life, it got me thinking; did he have to do lists? And if he did, just what was on them?

Da Vinci’s To-Do List Did Not Hold Back

Turns out he did. And his to-dos are …pretty epic.

He left behind an incredible collection of notebooks which gives us some insight into what was going on inside his mind.

I always consider our own hand written notes to be a particularly unique look into our own minds.

Hand writing and hand drawing capture something that digital note-taking does not; soul.

Da Vinci’s notes started divergent, then became convergent

Within the chaos of da Vinci’s notes, emerges a mind fascinated by everything. In this beautiful flickable digitisation of one of da Vinci’s notebooks by the British Museum, we find a cockle shell on the same page as notes on weights and balance.

This might have something to do with the expensive nature of paper 500 years ago, but it goes to show that being organised is not essential to how we see the world, nor how we interpret it, nor what we can create from it.

As someone who feels strongly guided by the sense of organisation a to-do list can bring, it’s a hard pill to swallow. I captured a resonating quote the other day by fellow Medium member and Obsidian-lover Prakash Joshi Pax. He said:

“Remember, creativity is not about having everything in order. It’s about making connections. And sometimes, these connections happen when things are a bit messy.”

I squirmed a little. My notes should be a little messy? Oh, the thought!

Many of da Vinci’s notebooks were originally separate sheets of paper and were subsequently bound into a notebook. He started messy and brought his thoughts together later.

Getting letters and notes bound into volumes was common historically. I own beautiful examples of family correspondence letters bound into ornate books. Although each letter may seem mundane, together they tell a rich history of the family. This is something we lose with digital technology.

Can we try to capture some of this journey through our to-do lists?

Da Vinci’s notebooks can tell the same story about his mind and what he did. Interspersed with intricate drawings of the behaviour of light were to do lists.

Da Vinci has many to-dos, some were small and some were huge

Da Vinci didn’t hold back on his to do list. Robert Krulwich from npr, translated some of his to-dos. They include:

“[Calculate] the measurement of Milan and suburbs”

“[Find] a book that treats of Milan and its churches, which is to be had at the stationer’s on the way to Cordusio”

“Get the master of arithmetic to show you how to square a triangle”

“Get Messea Fazio (a Professor of Medicine and Law in Pavia) to show you about proportion”

“Examine the crossbow of Maestro Gianetto”

“Ask Benedetto Portinari (A Florentine Merchant) by what means they go on ice in Flanders?”

“[Ask about] the measurement of the sun promised me by Maestro Giovanni Francese”

I mean I can’t help but get excited about all these things Da Vinci wanted to do. They embody curiosity, not deadlines.

Even I feel an urge to do them, despite the vast variety in size and scope. Imagine having a to-do list that has the power to motivate other people? Now that’s what I meant by epic!

Many Have Been Inspired by Da Vinci’s Style of To-Dos

I’m not the only one to be inspired by da Vinci’s to list and notebooks. After coming to some thoughts I had, I first wanted to know whether others had got a similar impression.

Here’s a taster of how others around the web were inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci:

Albert Costil at the Entrepreneur, suggests to “always carry a notebook” around with us whilst embracing a bujo style of notetaking. He tells us to “embrace random thoughts and doodling”. We could use daydreaming and wandering to tap into this type of thinking. As such “never stop being curious” to learn more about your thoughts and ideas. And finally “don’t be afraid to set big goals” which will allow you to set a dream and set you on a path of discovery of reality and habits.

Imagine the thought of wondering around in a dream scribbling mindlessly in a notebook? Perhaps this is the first step in creating a dreamy to do list.

Taking more of a note-taking angle, Building a Second Brain author, Tiago Forte identifies “there are hidden gems in our notes” so we don’t know straight away what is important. He also believes that “notes are a means to an end” and are not the final creative form. That goes back to the idea of notes starting out disorganised. Because notes help to build everything we come to know and understand, Tiago believes that “notes deserve respect”.

So, giving our to-do list time to grow and develop might be a good thing, especially if we regularly review it and take steps to make sure we’re in control.

Here on Medium, Evernote posted 5 takeaways:

• “invoke your own system” and create a note-taking system designed for you. In the world of PKM, that’s the ‘P’ part.
• “always innovate” by keeping your notes as a living entity rich with ideas
• “take charge of your life through lists” and make them epic
• “cross pollinate” throughout all areas of your life — who knows what new species will come of it?
• “promote yourself” by keeping lists of your areas in which you are skilled.

This is where things start to get juicy. To-do lists should be personal. But didn’t I just suggest making to-do lists epic enough others want to do them? Here we also start to learn about the importance of making connections between areas of your life and using this to progress yourself. About as opposite as a traditional to-do list makes you feel, as it outgrows your physical and mental capacity.

Joe Byerly From the Green Notebook also suggests to “carry a notebook everywhere” to capture things as they occur. This allows you to “be an observer” and note and/or draw the things you see and hear. One thing that I don’t do, and he suggests, is to “use the space”, even going back to fill in blank notebook spaces. Finally he says “start today” which is always sage advice.

Now although these are all very valid points and take home messages, they weren’t the things that I took home from studying his notebooks and translated to do lists.

I found a little bit more nuance in what was written in his to do lists.

There Are Some Other, More Subtle Things, About His Lists Few People Talk About

With all these in mind, here’s my own takes on da Vinci’s to-do list:

1. Embrace drawing, text and to-dos in equal measure by focusing on manual methods at the time of capture. Repeat these drawings, notes and to-dos finding all angles and perspectives. Digital note-taking is very text heavy. Manual note-taking (using our own hand) gives us so much more freedom and can help memory. I often result to a manual notebook for its flexibility.
2. Don’t be afraid to mix and match subject matter on the same page. We can use the wonders of digital to converge them at a later date. By thinking divergently with our to-dos we don’t become pigeon holed into one idea. Instead we keep our brain open to the possibility of many thought streams. Going against the urge to organise as much as possible, this feels uncomfortable. But when I am uncomfortable, I learn new things.
3. Return to thoughts regularly, collecting similar together but also to contrast those that are different. Spending time reviewing our to-dos is as important as taking them. The beauty with digital note systems, like Obsidian, is that we can play with our to-do lists.
4. Put the expertise and enthusiasm of other people at the centre of your to-do list. In this way tasks have some degree of delegation, they respect the opinions of others whilst treating yourself as a novice. When other people talk about their passion subjects they become animated because they feel valued and enthusiastic. When I talk to someone enthusiastic, I too become enthusiastic.
5. Leave no ambiguity as to the nature of the task. Many of Da Vinci’s to-do’s make very clear what is required. Yet they don’t have dates. Our modern age is driven by deadlines. Da Vinci’s tend to be linked to locations and people. How could this be made to work today?
6. Write tasks as finding answers to unknowns rather than ‘to-dos’. This keeps the creative juices flowing. If tasks are curiosity driven in the style of ‘what will you learn’, then it engages a different part of the brain. In addition, when I connect the left and right sides of my brain, for example through the use of imagery, then that’s when the magic happens.

After feeling inspired by da Vinci’s notes I went on a walk. I needed to clear my head. In true da Vinci style, I always carry a little Snopake A7 eligo NoteBook (which they don’t make anymore 😭).

With the above takeaways in mind, I wrote a few ‘to-dos’ in that little book. But unlike traditional to-dos, these were exciting. They were framed questions like ‘find out how plants uptake water and release root exudates at the same time’ and ‘what can plant succession theory tell us about note-taking and PKM?’ and ‘ask a farmer what decision-making process they use to determine what grassland mixture to sow’.

Today, it’s not fill out my timesheet, it’s ‘fill out my timesheet to get paid a big amount of money so I can go on a lovely summer holiday somewhere warm’.

This week is not ‘x-ray soil cores,’ it’s; ‘ask (our technician) to help me scan my buried soil cores so that I can see in 3D detail what roots do to the structure of the soil when they are growing by themselves and when they are growing with another species.’

It might seem a long winded task, but I’m certainly curious. And I bet you are too.

If, you want to continue being super curious and want more insight into the research process and personal management with a sprinkling of plant and soil science included, join me in my new free, weekly newsletter, Brain STREAM.