Finding the Key: How I Unlock Any System

Whenever I step into something new, I am not looking for information.

I am looking for the key.

The element that holds the structure together.

The principle that explains the behaviour of the whole.

The thing that, once understood, makes everything else reorganise itself.

Curiousity is always first. I explore widely, ask questions, test edges. But I am not collecting fragments. I am searching for the organising force beneath them.

Once I find it, the system opens.

It no longer feels complex.

It feels structured.

And structure is navigable.

That is how I move between subjects within mathematics, strategy, art, science, creative writing and business design without feeling scattered. I am not switching identities. I am locating the key in each domain.

Different surface.

Different language.

Same discipline.

Find the key. Unlock the system.

A Mind Without Fences

People often assume that when I pivot between maths, strategy, art, science, creative writing and business writing, it’s because I am scattered and unfocused.

For me, it’s the opposite.

My mind is not a collection of disconnected interests. It is a pattern-seeking instrument. An autistically wired architecture that refuses to sit at the level of fragments.

When I step into a new domain, I don’t feel overwhelmed by the volume of information. I look for the key.

The structural centre.

The piece that, once understood, makes everything else rearrange itself.

Once I find the key, the domain stops being foreign.

It becomes navigable.

What I Mean by “The Key”

The key is not always obvious.

In mathematics, it might be symmetry.

In strategy, it might be incentive alignment.

In art, it might be contrast.

In leadership, it might be load.

In governance, it might be accountability.

In human systems, it is often coherence.

The key is the organising force that explains the behaviour of the whole.

Without it, you memorise rules.

With it, you understand structure.

And once you understand structure, you can pivot.

Autistic Pattern Intelligence

There’s a narrative that autistic cognition is narrow.

My lived reality is the opposite.

Autistic perception does not naturally settle for surface variation. It tracks consistency, contradiction, rhythm and misalignment. It searches for the invariant across changing conditions.

When something doesn’t cohere, I feel it.

When something fits, I see it.

This is what allows me to move between disciplines without losing footing. I am not learning from scratch each time. I am mapping the new terrain to its underlying architecture.

Maths and music share pattern.

Art and strategy share tension and release.

Business writing and storytelling share narrative flow.

Science and leadership share hypothesis and feedback.

Different language. Same structural spine.

Find the key and the walls dissolve.

The Pivot Is Structural, Not Random

From the outside, it may look like I pivot often.

Inside, I am doing the same thing every time.

I am locating the organising principle.

Once I have it, I can:

• Translate complexity into clarity

• Build frameworks that hold under pressure

• Create art that carries coherence

• Design systems that reduce friction

• Write in a way that moves both intellect and intuition

The key makes scale possible. It makes transfer possible.

It is why I can move from a white paper to a painting without feeling disjointed.

They are both explorations of structure.

How You Can Use This Technique

This way of thinking is not reserved for autistic minds. It is a discipline anyone can practise.

Start here:

1. Stop collecting facts. Start looking for force.

   When you encounter something new, ask: what is driving this system? What holds it together? What makes it move?

2. Ask what would collapse the whole thing.

   If one element were removed, what would fail? That element is often close to the key.

3. Look for repetition.

   What pattern keeps reappearing across different examples? Patterns reveal structure.

4. Identify the tension.

   Every system balances something. Risk and reward. Freedom and control. Efficiency and care. The balancing point is often the hinge.

5. Translate it.

   Once you think you’ve found the key, try to explain the system in one sentence. If you can’t, you haven’t found it yet.

This technique shifts you from memorising content to understanding architecture.

And when you understand architecture, you can:

• Learn faster

• Adapt more fluidly

• Move between disciplines

• Spot risk earlier

• Build stronger ideas

You stop being dependent on expertise at the surface level.

You become literate in structure.

The Gift and the Discipline

A mind without limits is not chaos.

It is responsibility.

When you can see the hinge point in a system, you also see where it will fail.

When you can identify the structural tension, you can design differently.

When you can locate the key in human behaviour, you can either manipulate or liberate.

I choose to use it to liberate.

To turn otherness into advantage.

To design environments where coherence replaces friction.

To build maps others can use long after I have left the room.

The Key to Everything

There is no single universal key.

But there is always a key within the system you are exploring.

The discipline is to search for it relentlessly.

To refuse distraction.

To resist fragmentation.

To move past surface noise.

Once you find it, everything organises itself.

And when you live this way, there are no limits to where you can move.

Because you are not chasing topics.

You are decoding structure.

And structure, once seen, connects everything.

About SJ Greaves and Little Red Notebook

SJ Greaves is an autistic strategist, writer and systems thinker, and the founder of Little Red Notebook (LRN).

LRN is an autistic-led studio focused on unlocking neurodivergent brilliance through structural clarity. Rather than framing difference as deficit, SJ’s work centres pattern intelligence, coherence and system design. SJ's approach helps individuals and organisations reduce friction, increase alignment and build environments that work with cognitive diversity rather than against it.

Across strategy, governance, creative work and leadership design, SJ brings a consistent discipline: locate the organising principle, strengthen the structure and unlock capacity.

Little Red Notebook exists to design systems where intelligence is not managed, it is enabled.