I know that many of the folks who follow AgileLiving.net and The Bottom-line Bookclub are Renaissance Souls at heart – people who love doing many things and feel constricted in work scenarios that are specialized and one-dimensional. Agile Living is about dissolving the social and internal restrictions so that you can experience, create and be more. And it’s about seeking variety, novelty and change so that you can be more agile, resourceful and resilient, so Renaissance Souls already have a lot of what it takes to live an agile life.
But there’s a perception that probably comes from the Factory Age, that if you want to be successful, you must choose your profession early, and you must specialize and follow a path of linear success, and there’s the common saying, “A jack of all trades and master of none” that gets bandied around when you start talking about wanting to do all of the things you love doing.
Well, Leonardo Da Vinci is the original Renaissance Soul and he was a jack of all trades and master of many. I chose this book because Michael has modeled Da Vinci for us and given us 7 principals – 7 ways of being and thinking – that Da Vinci used to create the rich, diverse and successful life that he lived. And I think these success principles apply now just as much as they did in the Renaissance period when Da Vinci roamed the earth.
