Question:
For any driver time becomes your enemy. Time becomes a vicious foe that will attempt to destroy your career time and again.
While seemingly impossible pick up and delivery schedules, Hours or service regs, and the like can certainly make your job as a driver challenging it is not the real enemy you have to worry about, that you must guard against.
It is having too much time on your hands just to sit around a think, and when you are by yourself your thoughts will eventually turn to everything that is wrong or that you think is wrong in your corner of the world. Everything from an argument you had with your dispatcher 6 months ago to current problems at home, to what you percieve as the great evils of the trucking industry and everything in between.
Those who have yet to take the big leap and start to actually drive a truck on their own may think from many of the posts...when do you have any time to breathe tet alone think. Those who have or are driving will tell you that you end up with more time to think than to breathe. Every mile that you are driving, while you are waiting for your fuel tanks to fill, while you are sitting having a meal, while you are getting loaded or unload (or doing those tasks yourself). While you are waiting for sleep to take you at the end of your day. All of this is time for you to think.
So now you know your greatest enemy in regards to a long and happy career as a truck driver. What can you do to keep this villan at bay? The answer is simple, but putting it to use is anything but easy.
1. Be alert to the enemy at all times. Always be on guard.
2. Keep your mind busy on other things. Read, listen to music closely (try to memorize the songs), listen to talk radio or audio books. Force yourself to dwell on the positive. Excercise. Do what ever it takes to loose yourself in something other than thinking about the wrongs.
3. Address and resolve problems immediately. Do not let them go on one second longer than it takes to dial the phone or punch in a few messages into the qualcomm. If you put off dealing with a problem while you are on the road it will end up dealing with you. Even a small problem will grow and end up eating at you until it colors your outlook on everything.
4. Change your outlook on things. Look for the good. Search for the good. Even a small good can fend off a larger bad.
Best of luck to you...and remember: Time can be your worst enemy if you allow it to do what it wants. Take charge and make time your servant and not the other way around.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
Sounds like where my mind wanders when I'm mowing the lawn, or any other mindless activity involving a droning device.
Ya, you'all know what I mean!!
Bg

Answer:
That's a very insightful post. The psycholigical stress of driving -- especially living on the road 24/7 doing OTR -- is very under rated.
I suspect some drivers forge their log books and run themselves into an early grave working way too hard -- not just because they need the money and are pressured by their dispatcher -- but because it beats going insane just sitting around!
Reading books -- novels or anything -- is a great way to keep your mind from drifting to self-pity or anger (same thing) when there's too much time.

Answer:
running the northeast is the cure for having nothing to think about,you will be to busy pay attention to the road to worry about some little thing that you can't do nothing about
the job is a head game and if you think that your company or dispatcher has time to sit around plotting to make your life miserable,think about do they really even think about you with the phone ringing non stop and 100 things going wrong an hour?
In 1962 President John Kennedy was the first president to send Congress a transportation message recommending a cutback in regulation of surface freight transportation.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv14n3/reg14n3-moore.html
Answer:

the job is a head game and if you think that your company or dispatcher has time to sit around plotting to make your life miserable,think about do they really even think about you with the phone ringing non stop and 100 things going wrong an hour?
This is so true! I spent 2 long years dispatching limousines (40-60 vehicles on the road most of the day... often with only ONE dispatcher!). The phone was constantly ringing with reservations asking if I could send a car someplace, or whether they could book a job at such and such time, and the radio was going non-stop with drivers calling in or clearing-out finances and wanting their next pick-up. I'm staring at a big-a$$ computer screen, flipping from one window to the next, trying to figure in my head when a car is going to get light in a certain part of town and whether the driver has time to make it to a pick-up nearby to minimize dead-head time and maximize the company's and driver's profit.
With all this going on, I could always count on some half-trained new driver to get lost or need me to give individualized, one-on-one training OVER THE RADIO while 5 other drivers break-in trying to get my attention. Then, the moron corporate hired from a rental car company to come manage a limousine business has to stand behind me and lecture me on making sure I'm filling out paperwork every time a driver is 2 minutes late for a pick-up.
Now, do you really think I had the time to plot to make sure that Denny Dumb$&*t driver only got to do flight crew shared -rides (low tips) and didn't get any private airport pick-ups (higher tips) for his shift???
Now, I and the other "good" dispatchers did our best to maximize the driver's potential for income, but our main goal was to service the customer the best way we could by juggling cars and drivers. Sometimes, a driver would have low tipping runs... that's not our fault. BUT, we didn't have time or for that matter the brain power, to plot out "screw you" plans for individuals.
I realize that this was not the trucking business, but having seen both in operation, they are very similar in many of their dynamics.
I believe drivers just have to accept that "doo-doo happens" frequently in this business even in the best of circumstances and drivers need to learn to deal with it. If it's too bad, look for a better company, or do what I am doing, get out and do something different. I'm going to nursing school in the fall... yes, it is a difficult profession, but I've decided after all the $%^t jobs I've worked in the transportation business, by comparrison, it's not half-bad.
MrClark
"What, me worry?" -A.E.N.—Groucho Marx 1890-1977

Answer:
Man is the only creature that is controlled by the "clock". Everything we do is regulated by the "clock". Animals sleep when they get sleepy, they get up when they want to. Plants grow and blossom when the weather suits them. We as "civilized humans" have become prisoners of the "clock". And I must confess that I am the world's worst. Nine years with Trailways turned me into a "model prisoner". Everything with the bus business was controlled by the clock. And even after 30 years later, I hold the trophy of being the best "clock watcher".
When I pull a trip, I "clock" my self. I know what time I should be at a certain point. I know how long it takes to run from point A to point B. I really "hate myself" for being a "clock watcher", but it is like an addiction. All of us would live longer and enjoy life much better and fuller, if we would quit "watching the clock".
Slow down and smell the roses. But Corporate America says "lets go, it has to be there", go we run by the roses and never stop and smell.
Just a grouchy old man.

Answer:
"model prisoner".
Wish I'd thought of that -- perfect choice of words.

Answer:
back to the top for some of our new posters and lurkers.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
Here's some other advice that is worth it's weight in gold. (The fact that I, Myself, am giving it is purely coincidental and unconsequential.)
Get yourself a laptop computer and some good mapping software; Microsoft streets will suffice, but there are other programs which are just as good. When you get pickup and/or delivery assignments find out the exact directions before you move. If possible call the shipper/consignee also to confirm directions. You will want to have a cellphone with a good long-distance plan or good phone card; Some companies even issue a phone card to drivers for this very purpose. Yes, it will cost some money initially if you must invest in a phone card, but it will pay off many times over.
The whole purpose of this is to save yourself a boatload of time which means more miles per week=more money, or at the very least, more home time.
Don't listen to dispachers who tell you to get near and then call or ask other truckers on the C.B.
Getting near your destination city and then trying to get directions is horse$hit.
*NOTE I may be full of crap, but the above advice WILL make you more money per week.
[This message was edited by Wesley Willis on July 29, 2003 at 18:15.]

Answer:
Interesting topic. Time can be your worst enemy if you let it get out of control. Staying up all night BS'ing on the CB, party row and back row antics, playing video games into the wee hours of the morning, etc.
One does have time to think in this business. There are runs that are more relaxed and you think about everything. I enjoy time to myself and think about the things that interest me, especially running at night. World economics, politics, etc.
It depends on what type of trucking your involved with also. I have many more relaxed trips than most drivers in this business. In that regard, I'm luckier than most.
Tight time schedules can be very stressful. Add traffic, weather conditions and you can become a mental wreck. That's when your thoughts can begin to turn against you. Sleep depravation and stress are two of your worst enemies too! Add all this up and your mind starts to work against you.
I've been there, that's why I don't haul general freight. I run food grade tankers instead. It's a lot more laid back.
I believe a lot of the talk you hear on the CB, especially up in the North East is stress related.
Many drivers are so stressed out, they cannot think straight. The world is against them around every corner.
This is why I advocate the DOT not attempt running trucks by "time" alone. Trying to run a truck within a time frame on a log book is running the truck against the clock. That's not a very good idea. Drivers tend to tailgate and speed because their racing against the clock. This business isn't Nascar.
If you notice, most drivers don't use alarm clocks too much. In fact, drivers hate alarm clocks. We have them but seldom use them. I bet I don't use my alarm clock more than 10 times a year.