Stop Following the Rails: Why Structured Careers Can Steal Your Time

There's a Sheena Easton song from the early '80s—Morning Train—that captures a whole way of living in under four minutes. Same train, same time, same return. Nine to five. Love waiting at home. Life moving forward on a schedule you could set your watch to.

For a long time, that was my life, too.

I walked to the train station every morning. Took the same train into the city. Went to the office. Worked. Took the train home. Day after day after day. It was linear, predictable, and contained. And there was a comfort in that rhythm. A sense that if I kept showing up, something solid was being built.

And yes—there was discipline in it. Real discipline. Structure. Repetition. The kind that gets things done.

But it was also a hamster wheel.

The Hidden Difference Between Structure and Discipline

Here's what makes this tricky: both inherited structure and chosen discipline can look the same from the outside. Both involve showing up. Both require effort. Both create forward motion.

The difference is in the source of direction.

Discipline is powerful—but when it's embedded inside a rigid system, it can also make inertia feel like virtue. When the structure comes from outside—from company mandates, industry norms, or societal expectations—movement becomes automatic. You don't have to decide where you're going because the track decides for you.

And that automation is seductive. It removes the burden of choice. It gives external validation. It lets you measure progress by proximity to the rails rather than alignment with your values.

Until one day you wake up and go: wait, the train is still running, but I’m not sure where it's taking me anymore.

The Three Questions That Reveal the Difference

If you're wondering whether you're operating from inherited structure or chosen discipline, ask yourself:

1. Would I still do this if no one were watching? Inherited structure relies on external accountability. Chosen discipline comes from internal commitment. If the only thing keeping you on track is fear of judgment or loss of status, you're running on somebody else's rails.

2. Can I articulate why this specific path serves my *actual* goals? If your answer is "it's what you're supposed to do" or "everyone in my position does this," that's inherited structure talking. Chosen discipline can name the connection between action and intention.

3. Am I making progress or just making time? Inherited structure measures forward motion. Chosen discipline measures meaningful direction. One asks "did I show up?" The other asks "did this matter?"

When the Rails Disappear

Career transitions are so unsettling because they interrupt that automatic forward motion. The external structure vanishes. There's no schedule to follow, no performance review to check the box that you're "on track."

And in that void, a lot of people panic. They feel undisciplined. Unmoored. Like they've lost something essential.

But here's what they've actually lost: the illusion that movement equals meaning.

Now, here comes the harder work—building structure from the inside out. Deciding what deserves your discipline. Creating your own rails based on where you actually want to go, not where the system expects you to arrive.

This requires a different set of muscles. You have to:

• Define your own standards instead of inheriting them

• Generate your own momentum without external pressure

• Validate your own progress without organizational feedback

• Sit with uncertainty while building clarity

It's not easier than staying on the rails. But it's honest.

Building Your Own Track

Freedom isn't the absence of structure. It's the ability to step off a path that no longer fits—and build one that does.

If you're in a season of transition, you haven't lost discipline. You've lost the system that made discipline automatic. And now you get to discover what you're actually committed to when the choice is fully yours. And that can be both scary, and thrilling, for you.

Here's what I want you to think about:

Where has staying "in line" made it harder to notice how much time has passed? And what would you build if you had to design your own structure from scratch?

Let me know in the comments.

I’m Richard Taliaferro. I’m a certified career coach specializing in helping mid-stage professionals gain clarity on their career journey. I’ve written a guide on how to escape the work hamster wheel. Click here to download yours.