This chapter was interesting to me because I generally thought that patterns are a good thing, but after reading this chapter I realize that patterns can at times be limiting. I am not saying that patterns are bad, because they are not, but sometimes they may lead to jumping to the wrong conclusions or getting stuck, because we’re so used to specific orders that we miss new information. I particularly liked the example with the sequencing of shapes, because it proved rather simply how sometimes it’s not about doing the best or most efficient option but rather doing an unexpected one, which is the core of lateral thinking.
When explaining the issues related to self-maximizing systems, the author said that there comes a time when one cannot proceed without restructuring the known pattern, and I believe that this is sometimes what gets us stuck when solving a problem. It’s the inability to start over, along with the knowledge that that we have done our best at each stage, that get us. Which circles back to the beginner’s mind example we discussed in class, since experts tend to have rigid patterns set in their field of expertise, beginners may be able to see things more clearly at times since they are not unintentionally searching for known patterns. This reading helped me understand a little bit more clearly why adopting lateral thinking at times may facilitate our thought process.