I was thinking about that old children’s book this morning, the one with the little steam engine pulling a single caboose up a steep hill. You probably know the story. A small train gets a special assignment to carry some VIPs to their destination. The engine has to clear a big hill, and the whole way up it repeats, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” The engine makes it. The VIPs arrive on time.
A lot of people remember that story as a lesson in positive thinking. Say the right words, believe hard enough, and the universe will deliver. That version has become popular in recent years. If you think it, it will come true. Manifest your success. Speak it into existence.
But that is not what the book actually shows.
In the illustrations, the little engine is not sitting still at the base of the hill, chanting affirmations and waiting for momentum to appear. The engine is moving. The wheels are turning. The steam is pushing. The phrase “I think I can” is being repeated while the train is already climbing, straining, working its way toward the summit. The mantra does not replace the effort. It accompanies the effort.
I have tested this principle my whole life, and it has proven true every time. I am not going to be successful unless I am doing what that little engine did. I can say “I think I can” all I want, but until I start saying it while actually doing the hard thing, nothing is going to happen. The belief matters, but only when it is paired with action. The words help me keep going, but they do not move the train by themselves.
This distinction matters more than it seems. When I am facing something difficult, a project that feels too big or a problem I am not sure I can solve, I notice the temptation to sit with the idea first. To plan more, to visualize more, to talk about it more. Those things have their place, but they are not the work. The work is starting. The work is taking the first step up the hill, even when I am not sure I have enough steam to make it all the way.
I have seen this play out in small ways and large ones. The startup that finally gained traction did not do it because I believed harder. It happened because I kept building, kept fixing, kept showing up even when the backend was a mess and the money was tight. The relationship that deepened did not deepen because I wished for it. It deepened because I made the call, showed up when it mattered, stayed in the conversation when it got hard.
“The belief matters, but only when it is paired with action.”
So when I catch myself waiting for confidence before I start, I think about that little engine. The confidence came during the climb, not before it. The engine did not know for certain it could clear the hill. It thought it could. And it kept moving while it thought.
That is the part I need to remember today. I do not need to feel ready. I do not need to have it all figured out. I just need to start moving and keep the words going while I do. I think I can. And then I take the next step.
