What can a Renaissance artist and an entrepreneur of the digital revolution have in common? Apparently nothing. Yet Leonardo da Vinci and Bill Gates share an essential habit, as simple as it is effective: being alone to think better.
An ancient practice that today has returned to the center of scientific attention: creative solitude.
Same strategy, different eras
Leonardo da Vinci, says the historian Giorgio Vasari, spent hours in front of the wall of the Last Supper, immobile, without painting. He observed, reflected, waited. Then, with a quick gesture, he added an essential detail to the work and walked away. What seemed wasted time, in reality it was active mental time.
Five centuries later, Bill Gates also adopted a personal retreat form: the Think Weeks. For seven days, alone in a hut on the lake, turn off telephone and computer, without meetings or distractions. Read books, take notes, reflect.
In 1995, just during one of these weeks, he approved the development of the first Internet Explorer.
Two different men, two distant eras. But the same intuition: to generate ideas need time, silence and absence of external stimuli.
Science confirms it: creativity is born when the brain is “deactivated”
The neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli, author of the book The Brain at rest (2025), explains that the human brain works better when it is not overloaded. In moments of apparent inactivity – when we are not doing anything specific – a neural network called default Mode Network comes into action.
This network is connected to fundamental functions such as:
The brain does not work better when it is full of stimuli, but when it has time to breathe.
According to Jebelli, 10-20 minutes a day of silence and conscious loneliness are enough to stimulate this brain activity. You don’t need to meditate or do complex exercises.
It can be enough:
The important thing is not to have immediate goals and remain disconnected from the outside world for a short time.
Loneliness does not mean insulation
According to Jebelli, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between solitude chosen and forced isolation. The first is useful and beneficial, the second can be harmful.
Completely isolating from the world can generate stress and worsen mental health. On the contrary, cut short but regular moments of conscious solitude has positive effects on:
Even the type of company we attend counts. Spending too much time with people who do not enrich us emotionally or mentally can be more tiring than to remain alone.
Creative loneliness is not for a few elected: it is accessible to anyone, even in daily life. Just turn off the phone for half an hour, go out of this destination or simply not fill every minute.
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