Fuel for Thought

Habitual Trucker

We are all creatures of habit. Our habits can be good or bad. We can choose to break bad habits and we can choose to develop good or better habits. The catalyst for changing your habits, good or bad, is entirely up to you. Whether conscious or not, based on your decisions, you choose which habits you will develop. 

Too many people fear change and consequently, they fall in a rut of bad habits coupled with bad decisions because of the uncomfortable nature many find with changes. Oftentimes, you must leave your comfort zone to effect positive change. 

It occurred to me that one of my decisions has led me down a path of creating better habits. Years ago I decided on a business plan that has worked well for me over the last few decades. One part of this plan is to keep newer equipment to help ensure reliability and reduce downtime. What occurred to me after all these years was that this one part of my business plan created another positive habit. Changing trucks at regular intervals changes my surroundings, changes my mindset and reinvigorates my will to create higher goals. When your surroundings do not change, neither do your goals or your willingness to change with the current market conditions. 

If you want to keep your equipment for your whole career, that’s your decision, but when you move into a new environment, you are forced, willing or unwilling, to make some changes. When I consider the truck I bought in the 1990s and compare it with my current 2025 model, the only comparison to be made is that they are both trucks. The technology, efficiency, reliability and comfort of this 35 year newer truck is leaps and bounds ahead of the other. Along the way from the first truck to this one, I have bought and sold 7 or 8 trucks, each one an upgrade from the previous model and each one giving me new surroundings to create new habits and improve my business. 

Truck drivers spend a lot of time inside their trucks, over time it can instill complacency as everything becomes a habit. If you have been in your truck for a while, you can probably flip any switch, reach the cupholder or turn any dial without even looking at it. While this is nice for keeping your eyes on the road, repetitive tasks can kill creativity. Creativity is one of the best ways to break habits. 

Over the years, I have been asked numerous times by other drivers why I don’t keep my current paid off truck and rebuild or repair as needed instead of buying another truck. My answer has always been the same, a new truck will have greater efficiency, less downtime and promote higher revenues. The first two are self explanatory but the third one usually gets more questions. How does buying a new truck promote higher revenue? The increased efficiency alone means less fuel cost (more revenue left over) Less downtime means more time producing revenue rather than shop time taking my revenue. The second one is really a wash, as the new truck cost offsets the repair shop bills that an older truck can generate more often. As for higher revenues specifically, new surroundings bring about new ideas and that leads to better business habits as well as positivity and determination.

Even as I write this, I realize that I have a habit of buying new trucks, but it is a good habit that has been a benefit to my business all these years. All habits are not bad, recognize and change those habits that are detrimental to your success.

If what you are doing is working well for you, by all means keep up the good work. If you are stuck in a rut of bad habits and worse decisions, make a positive change that will affect your habitual nature and force you out of your comfort zone. Small changes can lead to bigger goals, you just have to be willing to take the first step.

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude. 

- Colin Powell

See you down the road,

Greg