READ TO UNDERSTAND YOURSELF

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 READ TO UNDERSTAND YOURSELF 


I know we read books to learn about other people. But there's another side to this thing. You also read to understand yourself.


I will give you an example. While reading Leonardo Da Vinci's biography by Walter Isaacson, I learned something that changed my life forever. Leonardo was a creative person. His works are still celebrated today, yet he lived more than 600 years ago. That gives you a perspective of how creative he must have been.


Despite his creativity, Leonardo had one problem-he was a person who could get excited about a project, begin it, and leave it unfinished. Here's Leonardo's paradox: throughout his life, he did not complete even a single project. Even his best work, The Mona Lisa, is still incomplete.


The prince contracted Leonardo to carve a knight on a horse. He began the project but then, to carve the best horse, he decided to study horses. While on the study, he made some important discoveries, like a horse's digestive system. With this knowledge, he developed a better method of feeding horses. However, Leonardo never completed the sculpture.


When I read this, I realized that I had the same streak. Begin a project, go deep, find amazing things and use them in different fields but never complete the original work.


It was while reading about Leonardo that I understood this about myself.

We read to understand the world and others and, at the same time, to understand ourselves.

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