Sherlock Holmes is a character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in a series of short stories and novels written between 1887 and 1927. In the stories, Holmes is a “consulting detective”, whose keen eye and hard logic lead to astounding deductions (or abductions). Since the original stories, he has been portrayed in a number of movies and fiction – he is often considered the “most well known detective” in the world, despite being fictional.

There are a few characteristics of Sherlock Holmes which make him an interesting archetype to model oneself upon, as a means to self-improvement. In the following lists, I consider the (fictional) man, as well as some challenges and milestones I can use in order to measure how well I can emulate him.

• logical and highly intelligent
• a capable strategist & tactician
• a natural philosopher (interested in science)
• an artist and musician

• keen observation/abductive reasoning
• polyglotism
• cryptanalyst
• bare-knuckle boxing

• join MENSA
• complete the Français course on DuoLingo
• complete the cryptography courses from Stanford
• draw a realistic female figure
• play four piano pieces
• play four guitar pieces
• win a table-top war game

• find a sketchbook and practise with magazine pictures while watching TV
• download some cool guitar tablature
• do a MENSA practise exam
• finish the MENSA puzzle book
• book a MENSA examination