I was watching a video of Merlin Mann of 43Folders the other day and I was surprised to find him talking about patterns of creativity. Is he moving towards hacking behaviors?

Why Patterns are Important

I am not a cognitive scientist, so this is pure speculation, but it seems that humans naturally are pattern seekers (which is why people like solving puzzles). We have a compulsion to understand the world around us. Since the world is so vast and complex, the only way we can manage is by breaking it down into smaller pieces. These pieces are patterns.

A pattern is something that repeats itself. Rather than the world being completely random, patterns help us to anticipate the future (giving us a sense of security). A reliable person is one who follows a defined pattern, thus being predictable.

If you alphabetize your papers (the pattern), you do not need to know the location of every single piece of paper. You only need to know the pattern and you can easily find what you need. Patterns allow us to function because it helps us to understand the world around us.

Patterns Bring Comfort

It is amazing how important patterns are in bringing comfort to an individual. In his review of Star Wars, James Rolfe (AVGN), mentions that the genius of Lucas is not necessarily his innovations, but in his ability to successfully combine every story ever told. It is something we are familiar with (on a subconscious level) and it comforts us.

Famous designer, Mark Boulton, believes that the golden ratio is important in design, not because it has magical properties, but because the ratio’s abundance in nature causes us to already be familiar with it. He says when something “feels right”, we are really just subconsciously hitting upon a pattern that we are already familiar with.

Patterns Can Be Too Comfortable

Humans have the amazing ability to cope with persistent patterns. There are some places in Africa where river blindness is epidemic. River blindness is caused by a parasite entering in your blood. It first causes uncontrollable itching, until it eventually causes blindness. This disease was so common in some areas that children thought it was normal to go blind when you got older.

Unfortunately, humans have a strong affinity to patterns, even if they are bad patterns. This means that you may be experiencing a bad pattern, but in a strange way, it brings you comfort. Breaking a pattern will cause you discomfort. When you are not familiar with something, you will not know what to do (which is why having a next action is useful).

Using Patterns

• 1. Identify Patterns for Use: This is what some people would call “increasing consciousness”, which really just means being more aware of what is going on. Generally, people become excellent in their respective fields by becoming aware of subtleties that the average person will miss.

  In this example, you can see how a 1px shadow can make the difference between an average icon and a really good looking icon. Once you are aware of a pattern, you can begin to use it to your advantage.

• 2. Getting Over Patterns: Breaking a pattern is uncomfortable because it is unfamiliar and not necessarily because it is good or bad. If you consistently break the pattern, it will increasingly become familiar and will become a new pattern. Sometimes you just need to work through the discomfort.