Under the humble title ABC Wednesday, she started with A and each week progressed through the alphabet sharing things in her world that were inspired by that letter.
It was so successful that she continued, round after round, and her blog has, to date, cycled through the alphabet 19 times. During the fourth year she invited me to join her team and I have participated in one way or another since then.
After much heartbreaking consideration it was decided last year that the blog would discontinue and so round twenty will be the final round.
I have not always regularly contributed to the blog each week, but as this is the final round I am going to make an effort to fit it in among my various other daily activities (like working and stuff.)
Sometimes my posts will be elaborate, some weeks they might just be a picture or a quick thought. But I will try over the next 26 weeks to share some snippets of the trucking world, one letter at a time.
So this week let's start with:
A is for Attitude.
An important aspect of trucking is attitude.
Trucking is a career and a lifestyle that requires an enormous amount of dedication; If you approach it with a chip on your shoulder it's just a matter of time before someone will knock it off.
In order to be successful in this industry you need to be flexible, patient and willing to learn.
No matter how long you've been out on the road there are still new things that you can learn and once you've decided that there's nothing else to learn, it's time to hang up your keys and call it quits.
As a truck driver you are going to go places where they feel their time is more valuable than your time is and you can either accept that and get your load eventually, or you can be upset about that and get your load eventually.
Don't believe the tough talking guy in the truck stop who tells you that all he had to do was throw a temper tantrum and he got his own way at the shipper or receiver. Temper tantrums are not effective tools in this industry.
Whether you are dealing with clients, law enforcement, your dispatcher, the cashier at the truck stop, or just your fellow drivers, a nasty attitude will seldom get you very far. A smile a kind word and a little bit of courtesy and you will be down the road before you know it.
Most of us get paid by the mile and it's a sad fact that the pay per mile is the same whether you drive with a grumpy face or a smile on your face. But an upbeat attitude can make those miles go by a lot faster
You can click RIGHT HERE to see what other participants around the world are sharing this week.
