Failure

I just wanted to say how I view failure. Without failure you will never truly know success. It is the same with happiness. How do you know what happiness is if you have never experienced sadness. When we screw up we learn and we become better at what we do. Perfect people are only a pain in the a**. Nobody likes them or can learn from them. My motto is always, " there are no mistakes, only opportunities.". Just wanted to put my thoughts out there. As a newbie that screws up on a regular basis, but who owns it and learns from it.

Agreed! from an experienced driver who screws up regularly lol

I hear ya Stephanie. Most of the best things I've learned in life were learned the hard way. I've had a lot of failures, but I've always determined to better myself by turning things around and getting it right.

Thank you. I am on a roll. I just think we need to accept that there is always room to grow.

First Attempt In Learning—-FAIL. Everyone has a failure. Those are what the smart ones learn from and proceed from there to the next step of success.

Screwing up is definitely on a regular basis. I own it and though not proud of it, as you said, how can we learn from it if we haven't failed at it. But I feel that if we can own up to our mistakes and failures we grow and are better for it. I would definitely be the first one to say that without them I wouldn't e who I am today. My mom told me when I was 5 or 6 that you can never be a person of character without first failing to strive harder. But that didn't sink in until I was 10 or so. I try to make things better in my life, and being able to come here on TT and ask of the forum and know I will get the honest truth is very helpful in gaining knowledge and as I progress I can also give back what I have been given.

So thanks to all who participate on here on a regular basis, and give your wisdom.

Stephanie, sorry I didn't mean to hijack your thread. But I will thank you also for bringing this topic up.

Raptor

No problem. I bring things up as they come to me. I have been a student most of my life mainly because I can't sit still. I enjoy learning new things, but I suffer from a high IQ, so I am constantly testing my boundaries. Hence, my familiarity with failure. And my acceptance of humility. Lol. I also enjoy the wisdom that is offered up on this site. I just feel the need to point it out when I see, which sometimes it does, sway towards being a b*** session for trainers. Not a learning experience for trainees. I always have viewed this as a no bulls*** site that gives a positive perspective of truck driving for newbies. Not a place for trainers to bash their trainees. That will definitely not draw new drivers to this site.

Not a place for trainers to bash their trainees.

Which trainers on this site are bashing their trainees? Trainees complaining about their trainers? Yup......quite a bit of that here.

I just feel the need to point it out when I see, which sometimes it does, sway towards being a b*** session for trainers. Not a learning experience for trainees. I always have viewed this as a no bulls*** site that gives a positive perspective of truck driving for newbies. Not a place for trainers to bash their trainees. That will definitely not draw new drivers to this site.

Yeah, I'd love to know where you're getting this from also. Where do you ever see trainers bashing their trainees here on this site?

Stephanie, I'm guessing you're feeling a bit frustrated right now because you're making a lot of mistakes, which is common of course for new drivers. But there seems to be more going on here and I'm not sure I necessarily share all of your views exactly.

For starters, the idea that this website is a place for trainers to bash trainees is absurd and I'm taking issue with you saying that. It sounds to me like you're frustrated with your situation right now and it's getting the better of you. You seem to be entering the "complain, blame, and criticize" phase that some students get into and it turns into a downward spiral for them in a hurry.

You also posted this on another thread:

[Subject: Don't think, just do as I say] I am hearing this alot from trainers lately. It really bothers me. You need to think as a trainee. You need to figure things out. You need to know why you are doing what you are doing. Just because we are ignorant when we first started out does not mean we are stupid. Why would a trainer threaten to throw you off the truck because you wanted to try following a different route instead of explaining why that would not be a great decision, and having an adult conversation about it. Maybe it's just me but lately I have been seeing alot of egos flying in the face of what is supposed to be called mentoring.

So let's break all of this down a little bit. First of all:

My motto is always, " there are no mistakes, only opportunities."

I disagree. There are definitely mistakes and they are not all acceptable. I see what you're getting at - we can learn and grow from our mistakes. But some mistakes are acceptable and to be expected, while others are not.

For instance, trying to back into a spot and veering off course is a normal mistake that everyone makes and is perfectly acceptable. You simply pull up and correct. However, failing to get out and look and then backing into something is not an acceptable mistake and is simply a matter of being careless.

There is no such thing as a driver who is so new that it's ok for them to run into something once in a while. You should never run into anything. If you're watching your mirrors properly while driving and getting out to look properly while backing you'll never hit anything. You might take a corner too sharp and have to correct your course to avoid hitting something, and that's fine. But taking a corner too sharp and hitting something is not fine, even for a brand new driver.

I want you to understand that it's not ok to take the approach that you're a new driver so all mistakes are ok and should be accepted and tolerated by your trainers. Some mistakes are perfectly fine, others are not. If you want to drive an 80,000 pound killing machine it takes a much higher level of responsibility and an awareness of your surroundings. There are tiny, harmless mistakes and there are bigger, harmful mistakes. They are not at all the same thing.

This is only one example of a difference between tolerable and intolerable mistakes. There are many. I just want to make sure you're aware of this fact and that you don't have the wrong expectations of your trainers and the safety department. They are not just going to consider all mistakes as acceptable.

Don't think, just do as I say] I am hearing this alot from trainers lately. It really bothers me. Why would a trainer threaten to throw you off the truck because you wanted to try following a different route instead of explaining why that would not be a great decision, and having an adult conversation about it. Maybe it's just me but lately I have been seeing alot of egos flying in the face of what is supposed to be called mentoring

When I was in training my trainer's #1 rule was simple: If I tell you to do something then just do it immediately without questioning me because I might see something that you don't. If you fail to do what I ask you could wind up getting in a wreck. So just do what I say immediately and then we'll have the rest of our lives to talk about what happened after the situation is resolved.

So there are times that "just do what I say without questioning me" is a perfectly reasonable request for a trainer to make.

If your trainer is threatening to throw you off the truck then there is something going on here beyond your implication that you were just innocently wondering about taking a different route. I don't know what it is because I'm not there but for your own sake I hope you figure it out before you do actually get thrown off of someone's truck.

There are certainly trainers who are lousy teachers, but there are also new drivers who are lousy students. Again, I'm not there so I don't know what's going on but I find it hard to believe that you asked a simple question about routing and without provocation were threatened with being thrown off the truck. There is a big difference between asking innocent questions in order to get a better understanding of things versus arguing about every single instruction you're being given. Make sure you understand where that line is.

You're going to have bad days from time to time and naturally you're going to make a lot of mistakes. But you took a shot at us, you're taking shots at your trainers, and you're being threatened with being removed from the truck. These are not good signs. Be aware of the fact that your job is to be a good student just as much as your trainer's job is to be a good teacher. Don't let your frustrations lead you down the road of blame, complain, and criticize like so many students have. It's a downward spiral that has ended badly for a lot of people.

There was one other thing I wanted to mention. It's perfectly fine to come here when you're frustrated and vent a little bit. We've all been there, we all know what you're going through, and we enjoy encouraging new drivers to keep their spirits up and stay the course. But be careful about the blame, complain, and criticize thing getting out of hand, especially the blame and criticize part. This happens to a lot of people. They get frustrated with their performance and they start pointing fingers. Before long every trainer is no good, the company is no good, the industry sucks, and even Trucking Truth somehow becomes the problem.

There's a big difference between simply venting your frustrations versus blaming others for your problems. Once the mind gets into a negative mode it can become hard to stop that cycle. Once you start thinking that everyone around you is to blame for your problems then you are no longer focused on what you need to do to get better.

If you're frustrated and you want to vent a little then go for it. But if you start firing shots at everyone around you indiscriminately you're going to start taking fire from everyone around you, and that's a battle you can't win.

I always have viewed this as a no bulls*** site that gives a positive perspective of truck driving for newbies. Not a place for trainers to bash their trainees. That will definitely not draw new drivers to this site.

That's exactly what this site is. Don't let your frustrations allow you to lose site of that. And just the same, remember that taking shots at the people who are trying to help you is not going to invite much help for you in the future. Right now you're taking shots at everyone who's trying to help you, both here and at your company. That's going to end badly for you if it continues.

Regroup and refocus. Today is a new day. Stay positive, make great things happen for yourself.