I wrote a similar article on my anonymous blog. I’m going to remove that blog soon so it is time to “move” over all interesting stories from there to over here. So lets go!<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure if this is an official term, but I use The Thought Train<\/em> to describe a particular mental state \u2014 a kind of (hyper)focus in which I consciously get \u201clost\u201d in my own thoughts.<\/p>\n It often starts innocently enough, like thinking about what I did at work yesterday. But before I know it, my mind jumps to the periodic table, then to The Matrix<\/em>, black holes, the universe, the Big Bang, and what might\u2019ve come before<\/em> the Big Bang. Then, just as suddenly, I\u2019m back in IT mode, revisiting system architecture diagrams or a bug I once encountered in a tool I built years ago.<\/p>\n \u00a0All of that can happen in just a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n I have no idea if this is an autistic trait or not \u2014 and honestly, I don\u2019t really care. What I do know is this: these random Thought Trains are incredibly enjoyable.<\/p>\n There\u2019s something deeply satisfying about letting your mind roam freely, connecting wildly different topics at high speed, with no agenda, no filter, and no one telling you to stay on track.<\/p>\n But there is one small \u201cbut.\u201d <\/em>Sometimes I catch myself thinking, \u201cWait\u2026 what was that idea I had five minutes ago?\u201d <\/em>And more often than not, it\u2019s gone. Just like that. Vanished into the mental void.<\/p>\n It\u2019s like watching a brilliant train speed by, only to realize you forgot to take notes \u2014 and now you\u2019re stuck on the platform wondering what station it was even heading to. Ironically, trying to take notes during such a Thought Train tends to derail the entire process. It\u2019s disturbingly similar to how quantum superposition works: the moment you observe a quantum state, you collapse it. Likewise, the moment I try to capture a thought in the middle of that mental state, the magic often dissolves.<\/p>\n The basics remain the same. It always starts with something mundane \u2014 a simple thought about work, a memory, or something I saw earlier that day.<\/p>\n And then, out of nowhere, a word, a smell, a sudden mental image\u2026 something<\/em> triggers a shift. In a split second, the topic changes. I\u2019ll be thinking, pondering, or having an internal dialogue \u2014 and before I know it, that very process triggers another shift. Sometimes it\u2019s abrupt, other times it\u2019s a smooth transition \u2014 but it never stops for long.<\/p>\n And in my Brain Factory<\/em> metaphor, it\u2019s like Randy and Dandy \u2014 my two overly enthusiastic Scrumicons \u2014 are hosting a chaotic retro-fest in the Thinking Department. At the exact same time, Roger the Janitor is rolling through with his garbage trolley, hurriedly dumping bins. But of course, he misses a spot.<\/p>\n As trash starts mixing with the retro materials, nobody notices. Some of it ends up on the planning board. And somehow, it all gets turned into ideas \u2014 pinned there with pastel-colored Post-its like it was meant to be.<\/p>\n Normally, I\u2019m not a big fan of Randy and Dandy chaotically dancing through my carefully constructed factory. They tend to stir things up that were deliberately kept separate \u2014 and honestly, they can be exhausting.<\/p>\n But in this specific case? They\u2019re pure gold. Somehow, they manage to link things together that were never<\/em> meant to be glued \u2014 and yet, it works. When creative chaos ensues in my brain, Randy and Dandy \u2014 and probably Roger \u2014 are right there at the center of it all.\u00a0They\u2019re fetching random pastel-colored Post-its from the board, reading them out loud in front of everyone \u2014 and probably over the intercom system.<\/p>\n And my CEO, Bob? He\u2019s probably off fetching a strong mug of coffee \u2014 caffeine, right? Except his machine is broken (again), so now he has to take the stairs all the way down because the elevator is out of service. And when he finally returns\u2026 Sure, I can control how long Bob stays downstairs sipping his lukewarm coffee. But I can\u2019t, for the life of me, get Randy and Dandy to properly document what happened during their helium-balloon mayhem\u2122\u00ae retro. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n So yeah \u2014 when I try to recreate the mayhem retro, a.k.a. the Thought Train, it\u2019s simply not possible. No documentation exists. And Randy and Dandy sure as hell didn\u2019t inform my memory guys to properly store, save, and back up all the information.<\/p>\n Am I the only one with these Thought Trains? And please share your own story! I’m curious!<\/p>\n Originally, I was planning to copy over the old version of this story almost one-to-one. But halfway through, I realized how much fun it is to actually rewrite<\/em> it \u2014 and to let my Brain Factory metaphor run wild inside the narrative. And knowing now that those three are probably involved whenever one of these Thought Trains takes off\u2026 Might just make me smile the next time it happens. Their<\/em> process. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n Brain out!<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wrote a similar article on my anonymous blog. I’m going to remove that blog soon so it is time to “move” over all interesting stories from there to over here. So lets go! The Thought Train? I\u2019m not sure if this is an official term, but I use The Thought Train to describe a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[157],"tags":[131,147,163,164,165,162],"class_list":["post-267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brain-factory-tm","tag-autistic-perspective","tag-brain-factory","tag-creative-chaos","tag-hyperfocus","tag-internal-dialogue","tag-thought-train"],"yoast_head":"\n
Sort of.
Kind of.
Don\u2019t ask me how. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n
So he\u2019s blissfully unaware \u2014 ignorance is<\/em> bliss, after all \u2014 that Randy, Dandy, and Roger have completely taken over the factory upstairs. Somehow, Bob has even managed to close his own ears \u2014 completely oblivious to what\u2019s being shouted over the intercom system. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n
The Thought Train, unfortunately, is already gone.<\/p>\nQuestions<\/h2>\n
Is this an autistic trait?
Or are there more people out there with their own Randy and Dandy \u2014 hijacking retros, mislabeling Post-its, and throwing pastel chaos into the mix?<\/p>\nPostscript – The rewrite<\/h2>\n
Turns out, letting Randy, Dandy, and Roger join the Thought Train made it more chaotic… and way more fun.<\/p>\n
Hopefully without disturbing the process.<\/p>\n