NLs need a creative space for their interests. Ivor, engineer, scientist, model airplane designer, furniture maker, kayaker and artist retreats to his workshop where the magic happens. A technique to stimulate nonlinear thinking is variety – in environment, challenges, activities. Variety enables this NL to express his natural curiosity, creativity and imagination
Many nonlinear thinkers are strong visual-spatial thinkers meaning they think in mental 3D models and thrive on complexity and challenges. They see the whole first and how the whole system fits together then the parts. They can dismantle the whole into its component parts and create different configurations. Or they can combine it with something else.
Variety is vital to visual-spatial thinkers in both their work/projects and their environment. Having a creative space for all their projects stimulates their natural curiosity and allows them to explore something when it “pops into their mind” because they can simply move to that part of their workspace and become immediately engaged. This energizes them and fuels their creativity.
Nonlinear thinkers love wicked problems. When they have a workspace like Ivor’s inner sanctum, they can engage in multiple projects at the same time. This enables them to apply what they learn from one project immediately to a different project that appears to be dissimilar thereby leading to a solution they might otherwise not have considered. Just as in real estate, the key is location, location, location