When the Tracks Run Out

If you have ever seen the holiday classic The Polar Express, you know the scene above.

The massive train is thundering its way to the North Pole. But suddenly, the tracks run out while the Hero Boy and Girl as well as the conductor are standing at the front. The comfortable, predictable steel rails that guide the train disappear, buried under a massive, frozen lake. The train doesn't have time to stop, though, before it’s thrust onto the ice sheet

The screech of metal, the fishtailing of the cars, the complete loss of friction and control, and the caricature-esque engineers struggle to get the train in order. It’s chaotic. The train is sliding sideways, spinning in circles, and a huge crack in the ice threatens to sink the train and the eager children on board.

But if you watch the Conductor, famously voiced by Tom Hanks, he isn't panicking. He is steering, shouting “left” and “right” using the momentum of the slide to keep moving forward and back on the tracks.

The Disappearing Tracks

This scene came to mind as I was thinking about what to write about this week. I usually try and take some lesson I’ve learned and spin it into a lesson that I can share with you.

My life has felt like this scene for the last few weeks. With my father passing in October, my life has been a constant stream of traveling and starting and stopping. It’s felt like as soon as I get settled, it’s time to get on the move again. I haven’t been sleeping right, following my usual routines, and have struggled to maintain consistency at the gym (noticed by my mother at Thanksgiving who so craftily asked me, “Have you been going to the gym as much?” Thanks, Mother.)

As we enter December, the "tracks" of our daily lives often disappear. The routines that hold us steady in October and November get buried under the ice of holiday parties, travel schedules, end-of-year deadlines, rich and delicious food, and the general frenetic energy of the holiday season.

We fall off our gym routine. We miss a few days of meditation. We eat a few too many cookies. We stay up too late.

The train hits the ice.

The temptation, when this happens, is to slam on the brakes. We feel the loss of control, we feel the chaos, and our instinct is to stop everything and wait until the "tracks" reappear (usually around January 1st with our New Years Resolutions).

But I want to offer a different perspective this week and talk about how to keep the train moving even when the tracks are gone and you’re gliding on a sheet of ice.

The Biology of the Slide

To understand why we derail so easily this time of year, we have to stop judging ourselves morally and start understanding ourselves at a biological level.

We often view our lack of motivation as a character flaw. We think, "I'm just being lazy," or "I don't have enough discipline." But the truth is much deeper and much older than that.

Humans, by nature, are lazy.

I don't mean that as an insult; I mean that as an evolutionary fact.

We are energy-conserving machines. We invented spears to make hunting game easier. We invented shovels because digging with our hands was too hard. We invented farming tools to remove the friction of survival. We invented communities to free us from the threat of isolated extinction.

Something I discuss in my book, Techquilibrium, is that all technology is created for one singular purpose: to make our lives easier; to remove some form of friction or resistance from the world.

We are hardwired to seek the path of least resistance, and we create tools that lead us there.

So when the holidays hit and the friction increases—when it’s cold outside, when the gym is closed, when the schedule is packed—your biological default kicks in. Your brain screams, "Stay on the couch! Save your energy! You can do it tomorrow!”

Defining Thoughts

One of the most influential concepts/quotes I’ve come across recently is this:

Your first thought is how you’ve been conditioned.
Your second thought defines who you are.

That first thought that pops into your head when the alarm goes off?

It is always going to be the lazy thought.

It is always going to be the unmotivated thought.

It will list every reason why you shouldn't do the thing. It’s too cold. I’m too tired. I don’t feel like it.

That first thought is how you have been conditioned. It is your biological predisposition to laziness speaking, and there’s nothing wrong with that! You can’t help it, and you shouldn’t blame or judge yourself for having these thoughts.

But the second thought?

That is where the magic happens. When you take responsibility for that second thought, you get to make the choice for who you are going to be. The second thought is the conductor on the ice sheet saying, "Yes, we are sliding, but we are still going North." The second thought is the one that leads you to get out of bed anyways and go for that walk because you know it’ll make you feel better. It’s the thought that reminds you to put the phone down when you’re around loved ones, or to keep moving however slowly it might feel.

The Trap of "Motivation"

The biggest mistake we make when we hit the ice is waiting to "feel" like steering. In other words, we wait for motivation.

But here is the hard truth:
Motivation follows action, not the other way around.

Motivation is an emotion. It is fleeting, and frankly unreliable. If you tether your progress and your success to the amplitude of your motivation, you are setting yourself up for failure.

We try to negotiate with our resistance. We sit on the edge of the bed and have a debate with ourselves. Should I go? Do I feel like it? In the world of psychology, this is called emotional reasoning.

But you cannot think your way into a new way of acting; you have to act your way into a new way of thinking. The hardest part of writing a book is the first sentence. The hardest part of the gym is putting your shoes on.

The hardest part about doing anything is the getting going.

On the ice sheet, the train doesn't wait for traction to move. The conductor spots the tracks on the other side and moves to find that traction.

In life, we get to apply the same principle. Yes, sometimes we’re sliding around seemingly out of control on a thin sheet of ice that threatens to shatter alongside our sanity at any moment. Staying put is a guarantee the ice will dissolve beneath you, moving in the direction of traction is the only chance you have at not being swallowed into the cold abyss.

3 Ways to Get Back on Track (Or Ride the Ice)

So, how do we handle this? How do we move from the lazy "first thought" to the empowered "second thought"? How do we keep going when the perfectionism of the "tracks" is gone?

Here are three tools you can use this week to ride the chaos:

1. The 5-4-3-2-1 Method

When you are staring at the ceiling in the morning, or staring at your running shoes, and that "First Thought" of laziness is screaming at you, do not engage in a debate. You will lose.

Instead, use a tool from Mel Robbins: The 5-4-3-2-1 Method.

When you don't feel like doing something, count backwards from five: 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... and then physically move. Do the thing. Get out of bed. Put your shoes on.

This countdown interrupts the neural loop of hesitation. It shuts down the "First Thought" (the conditioning) and forces you into action before your brain can come up with excuse number five. It is a way of manually overriding your default settings.

2. The Two-Minute Trash Rule

Perfectionism is the enemy of progress. Especially this time of year, we think that if we can't do a full hour workout, or write three perfect pages, or meditate for twenty minutes, it’s not worth doing. We allow ourselves to be slaves to the idea that "I've got to do this perfectly," and in doing so, we rob ourselves of the ability to move forward.

My favorite antidote to this is the Two-Minute Trash Rule.

Whatever you are avoiding, give yourself permission to do it for just two minutes, and—this is the key—give yourself permission to be absolute trash at it.

Write absolute garbage for two minutes. Do the sloppiest, easiest workout for two minutes. Meditate poorly for two minutes.

Why does this work?

Because it lowers the barrier to entry.

It silences the perfectionist.

Once you let yourself be trash for two minutes, you’ve broken the seal. You engaged the gears. Usually, once you get going and get something out into the world, you find you can keep going.

You can refine it later. You can make adjustments.

But you can't steer a parked car or a train sitting on a sheet of ice, and you can’t get stronger if you don’t pick up a weight.

3. Anchor in Identity, Not Emotion

Finally, we need to stop relying on how we feel and start relying on who we want to become.

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, has a great quote about this.

This is exactly the kind of feature I am building into my wellness app, Arete. I am designing Arete to ground your habits and goals in creating an identity, not just tracking stats. I want to help you create an identity for yourself that is supported by systems, so you can rely on your systems instead of your motivation.

When the "First Thought" says "I'm tired," the system says, "I am an athlete, and athletes train."

When the chaos of the holidays says "Skip it," the identity says, "I am a writer, and writers write."

By building an identity, you are building a compass. And a compass works just as well on the ice as it does on the tracks.

The Sacred Chaos

There is a beauty in the slide, if we are brave enough to see it.

The Polar Express sliding on the ice is one of the most memorable scenes in the movie not because it is perfect, but because it is thrilling. It is a testament to the durability of the train and the skill of the conductor.

Your life is going to be slippery sometimes. My life certainly is!

You are going to have moments in these coming weeks where the external environment does not support your internal goals.

Can you maintain your internal steadiness when the external world is spinning? Can you recognize that your "First Thought" is just biology trying to keep you safe and small, and that your "Second Thought" is where your destiny lives?

That is the practice. The gym is easy when you have time. Eating well is easy when you have a prepped fridge. But doing the best you can, with grace and humor, when you are sliding sideways on the ice?

That is where the real growth happens.

So, as we move deeper into this festive, chaotic month, give yourself permission to slide a little.

If the train drifts, don't jump off. Don't pull the emergency brake. Count 5-4-3-2-1, give yourself two minutes to be trash, and just keep moving North.

Next Steps

As we approach the end of the year, it is natural to start looking forward. Next week, I will be sharing 5 questions to ask yourself before 2025 ends. These aren’t your standard "New Year's Resolution" prompts; they are designed to help you close the loop on this year so you can enter the next one with clarity and intention.

Until next time, live uninterrupted.

~Coleman