Truck Driving Career Success - 5 Secrets to Loving Your CDL Job in 2019

This post may contain affiliate links. You can read the full disclosure policy, which is pretty dull, but here it is.

If you drive professionally, success in your truck driving career is super important to you!

It will dictate how long you’ll stay with a professional driving career, your day to day mood and your stress level, to name a few.

The old saying goes,
“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Why a Truck Driving Career?

Many of us choose truck driving careers for different reasons.

But the common reasons to become a truck driver are:

Income – People are attracted to getting a good paying job. If you hunt around, there ARE good paying truck driving jobs. And well, who wouldn’t be attracted to a good paying job?
Skills – Many become CDL drivers, as they have a natural driving ability.
Passion – Many become professional drivers as they love to drive.

Many truckers really do love the work they do. And yet the trucking industry is plagued with depression.

But it does not need to be this way.

5 Secrets to Job Satisfaction in Your Truck Driving Career

I believe there are simple rules to follow in order to be successful and contented in your truck driving career.

I believe if you are spending your entire life working, you should have a job which you enjoy. That’s why I personally chose trucking.

I knew I wanted a job that I would never grown tired of. I knew I could look forward to driving each day when I was on the job as a professional driver. It was the type of work I loved.

I guess you could say I found my ‘happy place’ in my career and my ‘happy place’ within the trucking industry.

Why is trucking my happy place? Because I chose the right niche for me.

These 5 tips will help you find your happy place in trucking, so you can go back to enjoying the ride again.

Choose the Right Truck Driving Niche

There are a variety of niches within the trucking industry:

Flatbed
Reefer/Temperature Controlled
Tanker Work
General Freight
Dump Trailers
Car Haulers
Heavy Haul
Oversize Loads
Ice Road Trucking

Not to mention that you can choose between more styles of trucking that are ‘distance related’:

OTR – long haul
Regional -short haul trucking
Local

Choosing the right type of trucking boils down to how far away from home you want to be, and what type of trucking you like best.

Each comes with its own perks, challenges and demands and pay rate.

Eliminate Your Source of Stress

Stress is becoming a killer in our lives, particularly for those of us who drive professionally for a living.

Stress has crept into trucking.

But a trucking job does not have to be overly stressful.

If you are a competent professional truck driver, the driving should be easy to manage for you.

There will be those days that are a bit more hectic than others like when you must travel in bad weather or heavy traffic situations. That is to be expected when you drive professionally for a living.

Stress is a part of life but it shouldn’t be a daily part of life.

Most stress in your trucking life most likely originates from other people. It really isn’t the trucking that causes the stress.

Crappy dispatcher
Tight scheduling (from crappy dispatchers)
Low pay
Grumpy customers

The secret is to remove the source of your stress.

This may mean asking for a different dispatcher at your company.
It could mean you need to seek out another trucking company which pays better.
Or a company which doesn’t impose such tightly scheduled strict delivery times.
Or have miserable hard-to-deal with customers.
It may mean asking to only runny trips in areas you are comfortable driving in. For example, driving in the eastern seaboard states for me was extremely stressful. I started to turn down trips to the north eastern states, and that relieved a tremendous amount of stress for me.

Life is too short to be stressed out throughout the entire duration of your truck driving career.

Remember Your Passion For Driving – Get Back to Enjoying the Drive!

Find your happy place in your trucking lifestyle and get back to the driving you truly enjoy.

Years ago, driving for a living was not a stressful career. Stressed out truck drivers seem to be a product of the newer generation of drivers.

However, there is no need to be over stressed as a truck driver.

Isolate the source of your stress. Then eliminate these stressors in your job so you can go back to enjoy the trucking.

You’ll be glad you did.

Your body will thank you for it. You’ll sleep better. You’ll live longer.

Overall, you will be happier and more contented. THESE things will also make you a better, safer driver.

Find out what is bugging you about your present driving job and try to eliminate the source of your stress.

Get back to enjoying the driving.

That’s what a professional truck driving career is all about.

Your Happy Place in Trucking May Change – And THAT’S OK!

Personally, I enjoyed over the road trucking OTR the most for nearly my entire driving career. I did this for many years and for a long while it really suited my truck driving lifestyle.

As my life changed and I got older, I wanted to be closer to my home base at any given time.

I decided to start doing shorter distance runs within shorter radius of home. I like the shorter runs much better now that I’m older because they suit me better and I’m happier for it.

As life changes, your needs change. Your happy place in trucking may change too.

Finding Happiness in Your Truck Driving Lifestyle

I know you’re heard the saying, “Trucking isn’t just a career, it’s a lifestyle.”

It’s not a 9 to 5 job that you can brush off at the end of the day if you feel stressed or dissatisfied.

It can be 24/7 life on the road depending on your niche.

That’s why it is so crucial to choose a style of trucking driving job that suits you.

If OTR is wearing you down, then you don’t have to give up on your career. You just need to modify it. Forget the stress. Find a trucking company with routes that you are comfortable with.

Follow these simple rules to get the job satisfaction you’ve been wanting from your truck driving career.