Most of humanity is stuck in a rut and refuses to acknowledge its power.
Look around your physical and digital environment—even among entrepreneurs; there are a few pattern breakers who really stand out.
Why is that the case? Because they get a cold shower early in the morning and follow a cliched morning routine? No.
Lifestyle interruption works, but what if your lifestyle doesn’t match your long-term visions? You need to do something, but not for the sake of it.
It all starts with a vision audit, which I’m in the process of launching to help people en masse with this very same problem.
I’ve had this problem plague me and others around me –
Every time people make a positive interrupt in their life, they need time to adjust to the new way of life.
Sooner or later, this becomes another pattern, and it makes us cozy because we’re already standing out of our comfort zone.
So, is there a need for change when you’re already a changemaker?
Pattern paralysis: Why people take too long to act
Most people aren’t wired to think beyond the usual, primarily because of comfort or mindset rigidity.
Anything remotely surprising and upsetting happens, and it usually spirals people out of control over their basics.
Let’s consider the greatest pattern interrupts we’ve faced as humans.
There are events outside our comprehension that fall on us like a hammer—world wars, pandemics, natural disasters.
These pattern interrupts force us to rebuild after utterly destroying parts of our lives.
Then, there are events we can see coming, but we choose to stick to our current reality out of comfort or confusion.
It can be as simple as your personal issues of delaying the inevitable when not dealing with a crisis head-on or being unable to handle sudden interruptions — like the AI boom and a creativity crisis.
We spot them like deer in headlights but aren’t sure how to react.
The problem is that most people prefer to act only after being hit—like that startled deer—looking up to those who understand the gap between looming danger and our present state.
To say this is as vanilla as a good or bad thing is a gross understatement.
Those who know how to succeed have the power to recognize and frame this gap for those of us who are confused or comfortable.
You don’t need to scream “Problem! Problem!” at them, but survival instincts compel us to act only when a threat is imminent or has already struck.
Pattern interruption without forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to do:
I’m only talking about pattern interruption because, after careful self-analysis, I can see that I’ve done it all my life.
- Every aspect of life today forces people into doing and talking the same way. Because by our inherent nature, most people love stability. We all want the same things with a different angle – good health, wealth and relationships worth chasing.
- A pattern interrupt isn’t standing apart for the sake of it. Its not anarchy like The Joker – that’s not his superpower.
- The ones that stand out lead the charge and attract with that charge
The best transformation anyone can go about in their lives is to become something from nothing.
Most creators start out with the need to be different, only to realize there’s no such thing as different.
Creation is what you do when you’re fed up of the same old.
Finding is what you do when you want to fit into an existing mold.
Creative finding is what you need to do to find your fit in a world that is ever changing.
Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, said in an interview in response to the question – if he wanted to create a company today:
“I wanna go off and do very unusual things, even if they don’t have any money value to people or for starting a company, but they’re just fun to do.”
Steve also said in the same interview, “…And the reason is – I always avoided doing what other people were doing. I was very shy, and I didn’t want to compete head on – and then we’re both coming out of the same engineering books and you’re gonna do the same as me – And if you got more money and a more big company….. I wanna go off and do very unusual things, even if they don’t have any money value to people”
Standing out isn’t all roses and glory
Every time you do something out of ordinary, either from your personal perspective or the lens of others around you.
You will face friction and the inability of others to comprehend it through their usual lens.
Buuuut, there’s a big benefit to doing things this way, if you can go into areas unexplored, or do things just a little out of the norm, you create a space instead of finding one.
You attract people to this new space and serve as a guide/coach/mentor/creator/nomad, label it any way you want.
But in the end, this new space is what you own until you lead others to it and move on to the next.
It’s here that you find a gap to sell/guide/coach.
You see it all around you in the current day:
- Freelance writing has become commoditized because it can be understood and labeled, making it a template for AI to parrot. This is not a shade on good writers but on the practice of being a freelance writer
- You can see it in templates of things being sold on social media or freely given away—which people don’t find value in anymore because they can be easily labelled and imitated.
- You can see it in a 9 to 5 where people are being laid off despite years of experience and loyalty, and only those who understand how to serve in the gap created by new tech being retained.
The best bet you can make on yourself today is to do things for fun, explore for the sake of it, and create for yourself – with new problems that will always come up.
How to start pattern interruption today – Let’s call it Minimum Viable Interruption (MVI)
The first step to pattern interruption isn’t a grand overhaul. It’s about finding small ways to disrupt your habits and thought loops. Think of it as planting seeds of change, one step at a time.
Ask yourself—what’s one thing in your routine that feels stale? Start there. Shake it up, even if it’s as simple as taking a different route to work or choosing to work on something new for 30 minutes every morning.
MVI isn’t about massive, unsustainable change. It’s about creating momentum in a direction you’ve never considered before. It’s like testing the waters before diving in, seeing where minor tweaks lead you.
For example:
• If your work feels repetitive, add a layer of unpredictability. Learn a new skill adjacent to your current role, or take on a project you’re not fully prepared for. Surprise your clients and yourself that you’re able to do more, charge more, be more.
• If your creativity feels stuck, stop consuming and start creating. Write one idea a day without worrying about how “good” it is. Capture it in a second brain app.
• If you’re overwhelmed by uncertainty, break it into smaller chunks. Don’t aim to solve everything—solve one thing and let that guide your next step.
The goal isn’t perfection here. It’s progress and a little movement from your current trajectory.
If I discounted the effort and difference between the level of mental and physical effort it takes to stray from normal, I’d be branded as a marketing bro in no time.
I would go on to say that it takes more effort to stick to a templated path, and you’re supposed to follow instructions rather than stray from them and find your own way.
What’s next for you? Own the gap
The truth about pattern interruption is that it’s less about the “interruption” and more about what you do after it.
When you disrupt the usual path, you see gaps that most people don’t.
You become undefinable, and persuasion and proof are the only way to explain the difference and sell the gap.
Those gaps? They’re opportunities.
→ Freelance writers who pivot to becoming strategists
→ Creators who break free from templates and build their own style
→ Coaches who recognize the market is shifting and adapting to the new with dynamic offers and support
These are the people who thrive—not because they’re smarter or luckier, but because they’re willing to explore what others ignore.
The beauty of MVI is that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You just need to look where others aren’t.
So, ask yourself:
What’s one small step you can take not just today but this week or this month – to interrupt your own patterns?
What’s one gap you’ve noticed but haven’t explored?
Because the longer you wait, the harder it is to catch up.
And if you’re still wondering whether it’s worth the effort, remember this: the difference between standing out and staying stuck is often just a single step in a new direction.
To top this letter off, I highly recommend watching how this viral video is the best pattern interrupt that did rounds on YouTube.