With those three immortal words, Winston Churchill rallied his nation to a wartime victory during a time when their crushing demise seemed alarmingly imminent. What is it that causes one man to face his fears with bravery and ferocity while another caves into submission? Fear causes some of us to retreat to a fetal position of defeat before we’ve even entered the fray. Others seem to rise to conquer a challenge solely motivated by fear itself. Some people are amazingly resilient in the face of overwhelming odds and difficulty. Those folks who have this amazing resilience go on to do great things. They are our heroes. They aren’t necessarily known to the masses as national heroes, but somebody knows them as a hero.
I had a friend when I was growing up who considered his own mom to be a hero. Their family was very poor and his mom had to figure out how to make do with what she had. He would tell me his mom was the greatest cook in the world. He’d say, “My mom can make the most delicious soup using only a gallon of water and a single bean,” My point is she rose to the challenges before her. My young friend viewed her as his hero because of her resilience. Her bravery in adversity made her shine in his estimation. She could have collapsed in despair and said, “I just can’t handle this - we are going to starve.” Her resilience kept her in the game, and she accomplished things that kept her moving forward.
As a character trait, resilience is a person’s ability to recover quickly from unfortunate circumstances. It’s an admiral characteristic, and worthy of our aspirations. So, what does all this have to do with trucking? I think it has a lot to do with our career. Especially those of us who are just getting started. I was sorely disappointed once when I saw a discussion online where a new driver was claiming, “My career in trucking is over before it even started!” This poor fellow had been sent home from orientation, and was already retreating in defeat. Here’s one of his statements I pulled from his post.
“For now I'm done. There is no point in applying for other jobs and wasting time and money to just run into the same issues.”
I’m dumbfounded at this response. I’m wanting to encourage and motivate this fellow and say, “Come on man! Are you giving up this easily?” The phrase that really got me was when he stated, “There is no point in applying for other jobs.”
Getting started in a trucking career is challenging. I know that well. Trucking is not an ordinary job. It is an extraordinary career that requires extraordinary people. It is as much a lifestyle change as it is a career change. The training is hurried, and requires a person to process a lot of information in a short time. It requires learning new skills quickly and efficiently. It’s no walk in the park. It’s a big challenge. How we respond to those challenges helps formulate our future in this career. Truckers bear a lot of responsibility. Some people consider them heroes.
One of the biggest challenges facing new truckers is the disturbing reality that truck driving school’s don’t magically transform us into real truckers. They allow us to obtain a CDL, but getting that CDL in our pocket is really just a single step in the process of becoming a trucker. The process requires resilience. There are seemingly insurmountable challenges that upset many a newbie’s efforts. Those tenacious spirited folks who conquer the various challenges go on to become some of the most critical players in our nation's economic machine.
The gentleman who inspired these thoughts failed his backing test and got sent home from his very first orientation. That’s no reason to declare, “There is no point in applying for other jobs.” Plenty of new truckers get sent home from orientation. I got sent home from three different orientations. I never gave up. When you start this process of becoming a trucker you need to want it badly. You need to persevere.
My dad used to tell me, “Quitters never win.” Some may think that’s a trite little saying, but it’s something that stuck with me all my life. I don’t quit. In high school I was a competitive tennis player. There were times when I’d find myself in a match with someone who was sure to beat me. That didn’t change my game or my approach. I’d hang in there and give it one hundred twenty percent no matter how badly they were humiliating me. I did the same thing as an adult in competitive skeet shooting. Anybody competing with me knew I was going to bring my “A” game. I wasn’t going to cave in to despair if I missed a target. The next 100 targets were sure to be crushed to dust - I’d make sure of it. In sport’s you have to be resilient. You aren’t going to win every game every season. It’s a contest. It’s a competition. Victory ebbs and flows, but resilience remains firm no matter the outcome.
Many folks don’t realize trucking is a competition. We compete against each other for loads and miles. As rookies we have the odds against us. We have to prove ourselves daily. We are going to have problems. We are going to struggle at times. Some of us are going to fall short and get sent home. It’s not the end of the world. We are going to feel very challenged. Resilience will be required.
I attended four orientations when trying to land my first trucking job. On that fourth attempt I finally made it to becoming an employee. I never looked back from that point. I always looked forward during those difficult times of being sent home. Determined to have my photo put in the dictionary, right there next to that word “resilience,” I never gave up.
Getting invited to an orientation does not guarantee rookie drivers a job. These orientations are basically like a job interview. If we get sent home it’s not the end of our careers. We failed an interview - that’s what it amounts to. We move on. We show our resilience. Never give up! That’s a trucker’s mantra. We face challenges daily. We rise to those challenges and conquer them.
