By the time this article hits the streets you should have voted or be on your way to vote by 8:00 PM local time November 5th. Last month I wrote in this space about the importance of your participation in the process and what it may mean to our future. If the good Lord is willing, “We The People” will have their say in how we change the trajectory of this nation. It has been a long road to get where we are. Very few things happen in life just because we wish them. Action is required by the citizens.
The year 2024 is winding down, and we all should be making plans for next year, regardless of the outcome of the election. Hopefully, you are on track to be how and where you planned to be last year at this time. This is not only a road map for your business plan, but for your personal life goals, as well. Any good business plan has multiple steps to reach a successful conclusion. The first step is having the original idea of your expectations. What does that mean?
Those of us who own trucks and other business assets are actively thinking and planning on how to improve our position or financial standing, but what about the average driver, office personnel, or dock worker/laborer? Those people who go through the motions, doing their jobs, and at the end of a week they are still in the same place – or maybe even they lost a step or two. What can they do to improve themselves or change their perspective of themselves?
I think it’s fair to assume all of us know or have known at least one very successful person. Some of them may be the people who grace the pages of this very successful truckin’ magazine. Most likely it’s someone who was not voted “most likely to succeed” at his/her high school graduation. They weren’t born into an affluent family that had access to the best things in life like top tier schools, low interest loans, or family ties. When you think back on them you realize they should have never amounted to anything, but here you are, admiring their accomplishments. Ask yourself how and why they got from where they were to where they are today. Those custom trucks and multi-unit fleets didn’t just happen, they are the end result of planning and driving to success!
America is the land of opportunity, a place where anyone can better their future. As a child, I was told I could be anything I set my mind to be. These ideas were not just taught at home, but they were reinforced in school, as well. In my early years, my mother was a stay at home mom who dreamed of leaving that farm and going to Europe to see the sights of early civilization and trace her family heritage. Later, she was able to do that, but not until the responsibilities to her children were cared for.
My parents worked hard as dirt farmers and store clerks during the 1960s and 70s. Later in life, when his children were all out of the house, my father took up truck driving. All their hard work gave us kids the opportunity to see the world. We didn’t do any world tours, but I did get to spend my summer vacation (1971) in the Missouri Ozarks bailing hay with an exchange family.
Two years later, in 1973, I spent a few weeks in Minnesota, learning about life there. The crowning jewel was to win an all-expense paid trip to Delhi, New York, during maple syrup season, where we spent time working on a dairy farm and collecting maple sap with an amazing family. While there, I learned the secrets to making that sweet nectar we call New York maple syrup. Do you see a common theme? Each one of these opportunities happened because of some contest or personal performance, where I exhibited leadership, learning, and dedication – the very foundations I have built my life on.
Two months ago, I wrote an article called “I Think I Can,” and if I were to categorize my greatest achievement to date, it would be the power of positive energy. It’s been a long road from 6502 Mitchell Road to where I am today. Yes, that is a real place, and the address of my childhood. It’s true, I live only a short bicycle ride from there today, but it’s the distance in between that tells my story. But it’s a story anyone can achieve.
I set about my life in short, high energy spurts, broken into manageable segments of time, when I’m most alive. Sure, I sleep when I can, work when I should, and smile often at the folks who don’t understand my motives. So many of the younger folks see me as elderly, past my prime, and post-retirement, but the truth is, I see myself as an advanced teenager with many years ahead of me. You are only as old as you feel. So, what makes that difference? Could it be your perspective or just senility? I don’t care what someone else thinks, I’m living my best life, and if that means taking risks and doing dangerous stuff, so be it.
They will never tell a story about people who didn’t do dumb stuff and only thought about it. I have found the people who I looked up to were risk takers, problem solvers, and go getters. Not all of them became successful, and some failed spectacularly. But that did not stop them or define them, it only made them more resilient and more determined to fight on. It’s that spirit I would like to address today. Set goals and plan for your future – become an active participant in your own life, and don’t just wait for things to happen.
When I was serving in the Marines, we had a commonly used phrase, “Bad men make bad things happen… weak men have bad things happen to them.” That’s not a direct quote, but for a family friendly publication, I have revised it to reflect the only two types of people we saw. It was also often said, “It’s that you should not die for your country, but for the enemy to die for his… at the end of your sword.” Truer words were never spoken. The will to live and the power to succeed are one in the same only realized at different times.
I’m a person that will re-purpose discarded items, found or purchased, to give them new identity. I’m reminded of this when I think of the prisoner who, while serving time as a POW, learned origami, the art of paper folding, from an Asian prisoner of war. He practiced different forms and styles and became well known for his works of art. When the guards became suspicious of his motives, they withheld paper from him as a form of punishment. He, however, had a bible they allowed him to keep and read. He folded and fashioned the pages from his personal book of scripture to encourage other inmates to fight on and to not give up. The guards only saw his artwork and never realized that he was sending messages to other inmates, boosting their moral, by reading the words on those pages. Not all success will be measured in dollars or cents, some are held in the folds of our heart.
I have written many things about how to excel in the trucking world – from maintenance to trip planning. We spend so much of our time either driving or working on those cotton picking trucks that we don’t have the time to work on ourselves. The body and soul are critical aspects in our physical being. No, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one in this magazine, but I do practice medicine for myself in my daily routine.
For those of you who may be new to this article I am a cancer survivor. Three years ago, I was diagnosed, and then I underwent a treatment that left me physically and emotionally devastated. As an OTR driver, I lost the ability to do my job, thus stealing my purpose and drive in life. I still miss the long drives, and the open road headed for the coast. Someday I may again be able to get back to it because, fortunately, I own the truck and was able to park it for a period of time. I received the best medical care, but very little emotional support from the cancer program.
There are certain responsibilities a person must seek out and tender for themselves. It wasn’t until that time that I realized how many of my friends have been down that same road. How each one handled the outcome determined their life expectancy. Many hear the “C” word and panic, frozen by fear, scared of the unknown. Fear doesn’t need to be a bad thing. Fear can be used to motivate or to drive a person to action. I use fear to force me into doing what some may think is impossible. I’m not Superman, but I can do things that require superhuman strength. One of the benefits of age is wisdom and knowing how to pace yourself and persevere by determination alone to get things done.
As drivers, we break our work down into manageable segments. Long haul drivers may do this by planning their meal stops rather than counting the miles. Local drivers may have a different method of time management, but both still break their day down to manageable segments. Every task we undertake is able to be compartmentalized, reduced into smaller increments, and measured. In life, few of us are good at everything, but all of us are good at something. Finding that something is what many spend their life looking for.
You may ask yourself why any of this is relevant to people in trucking today? It’s relevant because most of us become easily disappointed or distracted in our lives. Just look at the drivers who jump companies multiple times a year. They normally don’t better themselves, they only change the faces of the people who get to control them. So, how do you change where you are today to get to where you want to be tomorrow?
First things first, do you know where you want to go or what you want to accomplish? Most people are just looking forward to the day when they never have to go to work again. I will let you in on a secret, retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Sure, the hours are better, but the pay isn’t. It takes money to live good in your golden years. Unless you are making big contributions to a set financial plan now, you probably won’t see retirement, and if you do, it will be far less appealing than you have envisioned.
I’m surrounded by friends who have spent their entire life counting the days until they could retire. They made plans in their minds to see the world and visit children in other states. This all sounds great, but did they do the necessary work to reach their goal? Most did not and they are now working part time or sitting at home watching the world go by.
I too have goals that I still plan to accomplish. Yes, they are a bit extreme, however I am working on reaching them one step at a time. With any project, first the mind must conceive before the heart will believe, then, through energy and dedication, the hands can and will achieve. I’m still building back my physical strength after the devastation caused by radiation and chemotherapy. It’s been a long road with numerous setbacks, but I never lost sight of the end goal – to live a long and prosperous life (something that three years ago I didn’t know was even going to be possible).
During the treatments and then the recovery, my body let me down. It shriveled away to the point of needing help just to walk. I never considered myself sick, and at no point did I let others tell me I was. It takes a lot of heart to believe in yourself to fight on when you are barely able to stand. My goal was to keep living, to help others live, and to fight another day. Every aspect of my life is governed by that power.
Each of us should look within and find those qualities that drive us. Then, as we envision our future, break down that path into manageable segments and a road map that will get you there. I read a quote somewhere, and I now live my life by this code: “Never count your days, but make your days count!” These are truly words to live by on the road to living a better life, 10-4.
