The way I think about linear thinking versus networked thinking comes down to this: can you hold multiple ideas at the same time? School trains you to move in a straight line — one concept, then the next, then the next. But the world doesn’t work that way, and neither do the most interesting problems. Linear Thinking in a Nonlinear World makes exactly this point — that the tools we’re given are often the wrong shape for what we’re actually trying to figure out.
The example that keeps coming back to me is the Shinkansen. The engineers didn’t solve the sonic boom problem by going deeper into train engineering — they pulled from nature, from the way a kingfisher’s beak cuts through air without a splash. That’s what lateral thinking looks like to me. It’s not about knowing everything; it’s about being open and willing to pull from completely different areas. Someone who can’t think that way gets stuck. Linking your thinking encourages leaps of insights is basically a description of what happens when you let those cross-domain connections form naturally.
I think a lot of people hear “networked thinking” and assume it means having a massive mental library — like you need to be some kind of polymath before it applies to you. That’s not it at all. Linear Thinking vs Systems Thinking gets at this distinction well. It’s more of an orientation than a qualification. Being interdisciplinary isn’t about volume of knowledge — it’s about staying open to where an idea might come from. Teaching People to Use Networked Thinking is something I keep returning to because that reframe is the whole challenge when you try to teach it.
If I actually leaned into this more, I’d experiment more and let my mind wander more. Not aimlessly — but with less pressure to stay on a single track. There’s something about giving yourself permission to make unexpected connections that changes how you work through a problem. Systems Thinking vs Linear Thinking frames this as a shift in how you perceive causality, which feels right. And I think that’s where Lateral thinking time in fitforlife becomes practical — it’s not a nice-to-have, it’s actually a different way of being in a problem.