![]() If it's 70 degrees and sunny, you've just had a wonderful breakfast, the scenery is incredible, and everything is going your way and yet you STILL want to quit your job, at least then you know you're making a logical decision instead of an emotional decision and that's really important. You can certainly make it through one more day, right? So wait until you're having a great day and then decide if you want to quit your job. Do you have to quit your job right this second? Of course not. I mean, stop and think about it for a moment. For instance, you don't want to quit your job in the middle of a terrible day where it's 40 degrees and raining, you have a terrible cold, you're stewing over an argument you had on the phone with someone back home, and just nothing is going your way. In fact, one of the policies I have is never make major decisions during emotional times. You don't want to make career altering and life altering choices because you're having a bad day. Eventually they'll make for some of the most enjoyable stories you'll have to tell people over the years. And you know, these difficult times are always temporary. In fact, when you're facing tough times you have to keep reminding yourself that you knew this was coming and that (hopefully) tomorrow is going to be a better day. No matter what challenges you face out there you have to push through it and get to that one year mark safely. In fact, you should keep one specific goal in mind right from the start - getting through your rookie year safely with your first company. So no matter how difficult the many challenges are you'll be facing, you have to find it within yourself to fight through it and stay the course. But because they weren't prepared mentally for how difficult this job and lifestyle can be they quickly just became overwhelmed with the whole thing and walked away. Unfortunately a lot of people do exactly that early on in their careers and it's a real shame because many of them would have been outstanding drivers that went on to have long, enjoyable careers. Trust me when I say this - almost all of you at some point are going to want to pack your bags, head home, and never think about trucking again the rest of your life. But there's also be times you're convinced you made a huge mistake getting into trucking in the first place. You know, there's gonna be times when you're so excited about travelling the country in a big rig that you won't believe they're paying you to do it. You're going to experience some of the biggest swings in your mood, your confidence, and your optimism that you may have ever experienced in your life. You should go into it expecting your first year to be pretty much a neverending stream of tough challenges. So the best thing you can do is approach your training the way you would approach going through 'boot camp' in the military. So it's nearly impossible to prepare someone for things they haven't experienced in the past, and it's also impossible to prepare you for every single challenge you might face out there, of course. And as you might expect, most of the time you'll be facing numerous challenges all at once. This is just one example of the hardships you'll face out there, many of which will be a completely new experience for you. Now that level of solitude and isolation can be quite a traumatic experience for a lot of people, especially those who are used to being together all the time with their families back home. Have you ever even gone two or three days without seeing a single person you know? No family, no friends, no acquaintances? Nobody? Rarely will most people go one or two days without seeing someone they know, let alone weeks at a time without any relief. ![]() On top of that, it's also common for over the road drivers to spend several weeks travelling the country without seeing a single person they know. That level of isolation isn't something that most people experience very often. It will not be uncommon to spend 18 hours a day, or more, inside that truck alone, completely isolated from everyone. For instance, as a solo driver you're going to be alone in that truck far more than you would ever expect. We talk a lot about some of the specific hardships you'll face, including lonliness, stress, exhaustion, tough personalities, long days, erratic sleep patterns, and of course all sorts of terrible traffic and weather along the way.īut in the end it's impossible for most people to relate to some of these problems because it isn't anything they've experienced in the past. Now as you know, at truckingtruth we try like crazy to help prepare you for life on the road. Hey folks, this is Brett Aquila with and today I want to talk about taking the right approach mentally to getting your trucking career underway.
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