The Da Vinci Curse
Why people ‘suffering’ from that are especially creative, versatile, and just damn exceptional.
A couple of months ago I came over a book called “The Da Vinci Curse: Life Design for People with Too Many Interests and Talents”
For me, this book was a gamechanger of who and what I am. Recalling talking to my aunt Birgitta a couple of years ago, and she asked me what I was working with and I told her ‘I’m working as a librarian now’, and she replied as it was the most natural thing that “Well Anders, you have so many talents”. And it’s true, listing all my knowledge and field of work is a very long list [See the footnotes]
So me recognizing myself in the book is no wonder because that’s me in a nutshell. People like me are often referred to as Renaissance men/women, dilettantes, Jack of all trades, and so on. In many ways a demeaning way of describing us, and for me, it’s been a curse but also my pride of being ‘me’! I have all my life taken pride in always learning new things, and improving my knowledge. Not stopping when I know what I need for a task, a job, or employment.
The first problem is us humans we want all people to be neatly tucked into a box. We “Da Vinci Cursed” doesn’t fit into a box, we’re maybe fitting in a couple of boxes, but we would probably overflow them too. And for most people, that’s just plain weird and extremely hard to comprehend. Employers want people they can fit in a box as they can understand them.
The case FOR people with the Da Vinci Curse
Every workplace and organization would benefit from having a ‘Da Vinci’ person as they have easy to learn, have a waste knowledge, and have a helicopter view of the world. This is a fact, and I have seen it in almost every company/organization I have been employed in or consulted in. Whether if they have known it or not, my knowledge has led them forward and developed both the organizations and the other employees. I have always shared my knowledge and helped my coworkers advance their knowledge.
The case AGAINST people with the Da Vinci Curse
As mentioned before, the world or other humans are not built to either employ or engage with us. The ability to understand with their binary outlook at the World is to set in stone to understanding. They can’t handle more “Fuzzy logic” people. And that is their loss. DVC people can also easily get bored when the task they’re given isn't enough to stimulate their intellectual needs.
- Footnote: This article makes a good run though and analysis of the book. https://medium.com/switch-collective/the-da-vinci-curse-and-the-transformations-of-work-9db1b0edef10
- Footnote: My educations
Electronics service and maintenance 3 years
Music education 3 years
Music Science 2 years
Various shorter education in programming, project management, logistics, and management - Footnote: My employments (very rough listing, for full info, see my profile on Linkedin)
Sheepfarmer, currier, and folk musician (self-employed)
Music teacher and Graveyard worker
Janitor
Electronics repair and maintenance (Self-employed)
Electronics maintenance
Electronics Factory fitter
Maintenance
Coordinator of maintenance
Consultant in logistic, quality, and manufacturing
Consultant in Social media and marketing, design of wp-sites
Photographer
Library assistant and projectmanager
Freelance writer and photographer
