William Gurstelle Quotes

Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo is arguably the world's most famous polymath. So many thoughts and so many different ideas!

I'm a writer and I also do a lot of professional speaking on risk taking and creativity as well.

I work with a lot of different editors at different publishers and magazines and so on, and having a system of shared folders makes keeping track of things a snap.

I think it's important to associate with positive, upbeat people.

I'd love to get ideas on overcoming jet lag.

You get energy from other people, so hang out with energetic people.

There are interesting scientific and historical connections between these things that I just love.

Yeah, it's a weird little niche, but by God, it's my niche.

In my office, I like it quiet, so I can concentrate.

I started a funny book from the 1930s called The Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse. Wodehouse is a comic genius.

Every day, I walk with my dog - summer, winter (it gets -20 F in Saint Paul), rain or shine. The nicer the day, of course, the longer the walk.

I get some of my best ideas while out walking.

When something good hits me, I'll use Siri to make a note so I don't forget.

I'm really good at building things that shoot, hurl, or throw stuff.

There are a lot of ideas I've had that I originally was quite taken with, but over time, I lost steam. They stay on my list, but between me and you, I'm probably never going to do them.

Some things are better than other things: Google, Gmail, my vintage Montgomery Wards socket set (30+ years, still going strong), my Estwing framing hammer, and my Dremel rotary tool.

I have a large standalone workshop on the back of my property where I prototype and build stuff. It's bright, roomy, and has a giant door so it's easy to bring projects in or out.

In my home office, I built a custom sit-stand desk to which I connected a big, kidney shaped glass top which I got for cheap at Ikea. Kidney-shaped desk tops are, I think, the most efficient of all possible desk shapes.

My home office and workshop are on an overlook on the only deep river gorge on the entire length of the Mississippi River.

I always have a ton of projects in mind. On my ToodleDo list, I divide projects into those I'm actively working on, those I'm not doing but believe I will do, and those that sound good, but who knows if I'll ever get to them.

I spend a fair amount of time just thinking about whether something is feasible or not, and if it is feasible, whether it's really worth doing.

I've seen Leonardo Da Vinci notebooks which are filled with tiny, messy scrawls written in mirror image across the page. I'd love to know how he kept all his projects going at once.

I specialize in science and history, with a special emphasis on including do-it-yourself projects in the mix. My dozen or so books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies. I'm also a contributing editor at Popular Science and at Make Magazine.

I travel internationally a lot and I have a hard time sleeping and staying awake normally after crossing multiple time zones, especially going east. I've tried light therapy but not found it too helpful.

When I write, I love finding connections between ideas. When the connections are plentiful and strong, then I know it's a pretty good subject to write about.

In my workshop, I like to have the TV on for background noise, but I only put on shows that you don't really need to watch in serial order; stuff you can glance up every once in a while and still know what's going on; for example, Cops reruns, Jeopardy!, and Forensic Files.