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The Da Vinci Curse: Life Design for People With Too Many Interests and Talents
This book is for the person with many talents, multiple passions, contradictory interests, raging bursts of enthusiasm that seem to go away as fast as they came, and the feeling that she hasn’t yet found what she’s been looking for.Contrary to the standard advise, we cannot afford to do everything we most of it would be a loss of time, taking our focus away from the significant things in our lives. We would be dividing our time among so many activities that a point will come in which we are not doing anything, really –at least not seriously. We have to choose wisely and follow the one path we are called to. The rest are merely hobbies.
232 pages, Paperback
First published October 7, 2012
25 people are currently reading
920 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 2, 2020
7 Takeaways from this book
1 - Modern society doesn't have much time nor interest in Da Vinci people, the Renaissance men and women of our time. What the world needs are specialists, who become masters of their fields.
2 - As knowledge accumulates, expertise becomes more and more important and if you want to master a highly complex skill, you can only dedicate yourself to one thing.
3 - Da Vinci people fear competition and criticism so they only learn enough to convince themselves that if they wanted to, they could master it. And while they may know a bit about many fields, they end up feeling like “Jacks of all trades, masters of none.”
4 - How can you lift the Da Vinci curse? Find a single activity that is complex enough to integrate many of your talents. That is your calling. How do we find it? The author proposes a three-step approach.
5 - Step 1, Preselection: if you had infinite time and money, how would you spend your life? Write down all the activities that come to mind, including jobs, hobbies and even one-time experiences. To pass through this stage, the dream has to fulfill three criteria: is it fun, do we have a talent for it, and can we earn money with it?
6 - Step 2, Assessment: Ask the questions, how much income potential does each activity involve? Second, how fulfilling will each activity be? Use the BCG matrix (Cows, Dogs, Stars and Question Marks). Set cows and dogs aside (they will either make you money with no fulfilment or none). Focus on Stars (activities that can bring you money and fulfilment). Keep Question Marks (do them for your fulfilment and explore ways to monetize them).
7 - Step 3, Balance fear (some, but not too much. If you're not afraid, it's not ambitious enough and you'll lose interest), overcome procrastination (otherwise your new plan will never take off), surmount creative blocks (if your inspiration dries out, go back to why you started it in the first place) and manage narcissism (some will maintain self-esteem, too much will lead to mania or depression).
1 - Modern society doesn't have much time nor interest in Da Vinci people, the Renaissance men and women of our time. What the world needs are specialists, who become masters of their fields.
2 - As knowledge accumulates, expertise becomes more and more important and if you want to master a highly complex skill, you can only dedicate yourself to one thing.
3 - Da Vinci people fear competition and criticism so they only learn enough to convince themselves that if they wanted to, they could master it. And while they may know a bit about many fields, they end up feeling like “Jacks of all trades, masters of none.”
4 - How can you lift the Da Vinci curse? Find a single activity that is complex enough to integrate many of your talents. That is your calling. How do we find it? The author proposes a three-step approach.
5 - Step 1, Preselection: if you had infinite time and money, how would you spend your life? Write down all the activities that come to mind, including jobs, hobbies and even one-time experiences. To pass through this stage, the dream has to fulfill three criteria: is it fun, do we have a talent for it, and can we earn money with it?
6 - Step 2, Assessment: Ask the questions, how much income potential does each activity involve? Second, how fulfilling will each activity be? Use the BCG matrix (Cows, Dogs, Stars and Question Marks). Set cows and dogs aside (they will either make you money with no fulfilment or none). Focus on Stars (activities that can bring you money and fulfilment). Keep Question Marks (do them for your fulfilment and explore ways to monetize them).
7 - Step 3, Balance fear (some, but not too much. If you're not afraid, it's not ambitious enough and you'll lose interest), overcome procrastination (otherwise your new plan will never take off), surmount creative blocks (if your inspiration dries out, go back to why you started it in the first place) and manage narcissism (some will maintain self-esteem, too much will lead to mania or depression).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 31, 2013
This book was a git and one of those books that you wonder what people are thinking when they see you reading it. "Does this jackass really think he has sooo many talents that he needs to read a book to figure out what to do with them?" Well yes, that's what's going on with this book, deal with it. It's an interesting topic and the book is filled with gems that made me laugh. Yes it is sort of a self-help book with exercises and suggestions on how to narrow your focus (and when to keep it wide). But if the title entices you at all you will get something out of this. Don't stress over the exercises and just take it all in from different angles as a true Da Vinci curser would!
May 16, 2016
Read a summary on blinkist.com and it was far better than what I was expecting – in short, don't fear the competition and work on an activity that involves more than 1 thing you are interested in order to keep yourself interested and professionally developing.
June 28, 2017
Da Vinci people suffer from being unable to focus on one activity. They simply have too many talents and keep jumping from one to the other, which makes them unhappy and frustrated. But by finding a path that is both complex and financially viable, they can find their true calling
June 7, 2018
This was a very good book. Due to the nature of my work I was familiar with most of the ideas, but still found it useful and enjoyable to read. The second section of the book offers a very practical method of reflection on what you find important and meaningful in life. It then goes on to offer suggestions on how to focus your energies in these areas. I found it useful. I also think that it could be used as part of wider reflections as part of therapy, such as in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). So, any ACT therapists might want to check it out.
I did feel that in the third and final section the author could have been more explicit in offering practical suggestions around the ideas he was putting forward; but, thinking about it I concluded he probably regarded his readers as smart enough to figure out the details of how to manage things themselves. People don’t need to be spoon fed everything.
I recommend it, and not just for the Da Vinci Cursed.
I did feel that in the third and final section the author could have been more explicit in offering practical suggestions around the ideas he was putting forward; but, thinking about it I concluded he probably regarded his readers as smart enough to figure out the details of how to manage things themselves. People don’t need to be spoon fed everything.
I recommend it, and not just for the Da Vinci Cursed.
April 18, 2020
Finally, a book describes my persona. Reanessains man, jack of all trades or chameleon? No, I'm suffering from the Da Vinci curse! Finally established!
June 8, 2022
I think in the past, the contents of this book may have been useful, but Today, in addition to being an expert in "one field", we need to have sufficient skills in other things as well.
It's life!
It's life!
Read
September 29, 2024Just watched a summary for it
March 10, 2025
I haven’t finished this book yet, but I feel like I need to write about it anyway.
First off, I had this on my Pinterest forever, so I was really excited to finally read it. But so far, all it has given me is an uncomfortable deep dive into Lospennato’s personality—a truly egocentric, narcissistic man.
Reading The Da Vinci Curse feels like a constant stream of “this book is not like other books” and “I have the meaning of life, and you don’t.” Also, the writing is weak, the flow of ideas is all over the place, and the sentence structure is often just incomprehensible.
That said, I have to admit that some parts are interesting—if only the writing didn’t make it so hard to follow.
First off, I had this on my Pinterest forever, so I was really excited to finally read it. But so far, all it has given me is an uncomfortable deep dive into Lospennato’s personality—a truly egocentric, narcissistic man.
Reading The Da Vinci Curse feels like a constant stream of “this book is not like other books” and “I have the meaning of life, and you don’t.” Also, the writing is weak, the flow of ideas is all over the place, and the sentence structure is often just incomprehensible.
That said, I have to admit that some parts are interesting—if only the writing didn’t make it so hard to follow.
January 22, 2022
Key learning of the book:
People with different talents and interests often act based on fear of competition.
Only studying a topic enough for being able to say "I could master this if I wanted".
In that way, you keep your self-esteem high without needing to compete with others.
What's the book about?
The author shares some tips to find and filter our talents and then some more tips to "avoid procrastination".
People with different talents and interests often act based on fear of competition.
Only studying a topic enough for being able to say "I could master this if I wanted".
In that way, you keep your self-esteem high without needing to compete with others.
What's the book about?
The author shares some tips to find and filter our talents and then some more tips to "avoid procrastination".
March 20, 2025
Ah yes, the plight of being too talented and too interested in too many things. This is the book that explains why my life is just an ever-expanding collection of niche obsessions and career pivots that make perfect sense to me but concern everyone else. Lospennato basically holds up a mirror and says, “Yeah, you might have The Da Vinci Curse—congrats, now please pick a lane.”
June 28, 2016
As i am suffering of this, the book is helping by giving a solution that i am intending to try tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Weekend!
I hope the solution works out for me. But it is good to identify the problem, it's the first step to solve it.
I hope the solution works out for me. But it is good to identify the problem, it's the first step to solve it.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews