Can Trucking Be Your Superpower? How Trucking Improved My Creativity and Work Quality

Introduction

In the fast-paced world of the traditional American workplace, finding moments of tranquility and intellectual creativity can be a challenge. However, for those seeking an unconventional yet effective approach, a trucking sabbatical might just be the key to unlocking new levels of creativity and work quality. This blog explores the transformative journey of a professional who discovered an untapped potential through trucking.

Challenges and Limitations in Traditional Work Settings

Traditional work environments are inherently social affairs. Meetings and spontaneous interactions with co-workers can make the workplace gregarious and fun. Some people thrive in this environment, doing their best work in teams, with supervision, or collaboration. However, for others, who may need more autonomy to perform at their best, this environment may feel stifling. In my case, I came to realize that the traditional work environment was not conducive to my optimal performance. Before delving into how trucking has become a catalyst for unlocking heightened creativity and work quality, let’s examine the specific challenges I encountered within the confines of a traditional workplace.

Distractions Disrupted Deep Flow

Flow, in positive psychology, refers to the heightened mental state where an individual is completely absorbed and immersed in an activity. Commonly known as being “in the zone,” this state is characterized by a deep sense of energized focus, total involvement, and genuine enjoyment in the process of the activity at hand.

For me, any type of social interaction like a meeting or a spirited conversation takes me out of an intellectual creative flow state. It’s as if fast-paced workplace conversations would create a mental jumble that I would need to defrag before I could settle back into quiet work.

I think this challenge is partly because I prefer single-tasking over multitasking and prefer to process information like elementary teachers prefer their students–orderly and in single file. Any type of multitasking quickly feels overwhelming. It seems as if my mental processing is a winding country road, where each turn is deliberate and measured, while others get to navigate the express lanes of a mental freeway.

Playing Persistent Catch-up Rapidly Depleted My Energy

In the wake of these persistent distractions, a perpetual sense of playing catch-up pervaded my professional life. The struggle to keep pace left me feeling constantly overwhelmed, forever in a state of recovery and without the ability to tap into my full potential. This perpetual state of non-recovery and depleted energy levels significantly impacted the quality and efficiency of my work.

As a result of this ongoing struggle, sometimes I just would try to rest my brain by surfing the internet and of course my boss would decide to drop by just then. I would hate it when my boss saw me surfing the internet instead of writing and I wanted so much to tell them that I’m not slacking, I am just trying to recover a little bit of energy to be able to do a little more work.

Specialization Means No Way to Break Up the Monotony

Nevertheless, I had to keep pushing through even though I needed a break because, in a traditional work setting, since I had one primary job to do I was tethered to a single task. If I grew weary of it, I just had to persevere, working at a reduced capacity and at a reduced quality. This was the very definition of working harder, not smarter.

Trucking: The Unforeseen Panacea

Being a truck driver and business owner has completely altered this reality for me. Trucking provides solutions to each of these challenges while creating a superpower-like synergy that is way more than the sum of its parts.

Driving As a Catalyst for Creativity

Trucking As an Energy Engine

This next discovery was probably the most surprising and most beneficial. Instead of zapping my energy, the act of trucking that huge rig down the road has turned out to be an unexpected source of energy replenishment. I have discovered that an intentional and mindful driving style transforms the act of driving into an energy generator. To do this I do the following three steps:

• Set the cruise to a speed slower than the flow of traffic. (Go Slow, No Macho, No Uh-Oh: Finding Power and Safety in Slowing Down and Being Kind on the Road)
• Adopt a stress-free driving style by driving kind.(How I Increase My Car Karma by Driving Kind)
• Incorporate educational materials and audiobooks into the driving routine.

Unlike traditional work, where my energy was depleted, trucking produces a surplus of energy that can be redirected into various other pursuits when not driving.

Working Smarter, Not Harder: Diversified Peak Energy Activities Through Trucking Entrepreneurship

In contrast to struggling to push through intellectual work when energy levels for it were low, becoming a trucking business owner has given me the autonomy to do different types of work, all at peak energy levels.

When I am on the long haul, I stay productive by maintaining a balance between the following activities:

• Driving
• Health and Fitness
• Truck care
• Business Management/Bookkeeping
• Blogging
• My T.I.R.E. (Truck Independently Retire Early) Movement

This is a stark contrast from pushing through low-energy states while confined to writing at a computer. Now I have all types of activities that are still moving towards the ultimate productive goal of running my business. This newfound freedom gives me the flexibility to choose the task that I feel like doing the most. The times when I have zero intellectual blogging energy I may have 100% truck maintenance energy or workout energy or business management energy. 

I just transition to the thing that feels the most energized at that moment. Sometimes I will spend the first half of the day blogging and working out because that’s what feels right and then I’ll drive at night. Or occasionally, the thing that feels right is to do absolutely nothing. This happened recently. I was looking forward to completing a blog post and eagerly arrived at the library ready to write. However, my thoughts were scattered and the words didn’t flow. Instead of persisting, I opted for a 45-minute to an-hour meditation session. Afterward, the result was a remarkably productive four to five-hour writing session. Had I pushed through without the pause, the outcome would have likely been hours of unproductive effort. In a conventional workplace, I doubt they would look too favorably on me sitting quietly in a corner for an hour preparing to work even though I would ultimately get twice as much work done.

Yet this is the key. I don’t have to struggle with anything now. I do everything when it’s time to do it, when it’s a joy to do it. Doing work when you’re excited about it unlocks your creative capacities and improves the quality of what you are doing. The freedom to choose tasks based on excitement and energy levels means working smarter, not harder.

Unleashing the Trucking Superpower

Trucking is a vehicle that has unleashed a superpower within me. By combining these elements and traits–some of which may have been detrimental in a typical work setting–trucking makes them a magical combination, unveiling newfound strengths. 

1. Earning while preserving:  getting paid well while driving means making money without expending energy thus providing a surplus energy ready to be deployed.
2. Piddling to perfection: Long drives provide the ideal environment for a ‘piddling,’ curious personality—someone eager to constantly consume information, particularly if it is educational or productive. This facilitates a slow contemplation process, allowing for unhurried creation. The luxury of single-tasking enables the absorption of small sequential bits of information with ample time to connect the dots.
3. A business canvas: Trucking unfolds as a vast canvas for entrepreneurial pursuits, providing a dedicated space to channel energies and creativity. This canvas becomes the backdrop against which innovative ideas and plans can be cultivated and brought to fruition.
4. Unhurried creation at peak energy: Perhaps most crucially, the trucking lifestyle allows for the generation of innovative ideas and plans at will, and always at 100% peak energy. The ability to create without the pressure of time constraints or external demands empowers me to craft and innovate when inspiration strikes, ensuring the highest quality output.

In essence, trucking transforms what might have been perceived as limitations in a traditional work setting into powerful assets, creating a unique superpower that allows for sustained creativity, entrepreneurial pursuits, and the unhurried generation of innovative ideas.

Four Groups Most Likely to Become Trucking Superheros

Trucking Office Professionals — For trucking office professionals, a trucking sabbatical can be a transformative opportunity to enhance their trucking acumen. It can give them the creative space and time to work through innovative solutions for some of the trucking projects they’ve been working on or contemplating. This sabbatical becomes a strategic pause, fostering fresh perspectives and fueling the evolution of trucking expertise.

Introverts and Intuitives — Introverts and intuitives, who thrive in quiet, peaceful, and unhurried work environments, discover an ideal setting within the trucking lifestyle. The solitude of the open road becomes a canvas for their unique strengths, allowing them to navigate the trucking landscape at their own pace. This environment empowers introverts and intuitives to not only survive but thrive in a profession that aligns with their natural inclinations.

Aspiring Entrepreneurs — For those harboring entrepreneurial aspirations, the trucking profession offers a remarkable avenue. By meeting financial needs through driving, aspiring entrepreneurs gain the freedom to actively work towards their dreams and vision of launching their own business. The financial stability provided by trucking becomes a stepping stone towards entrepreneurial pursuits, offering a tangible pathway to turn aspirations into reality.

T.I.R.E. Movement Owner Operators — Potential owner-operators navigating the road to freedom need not be daunted by the additional responsibilities associated with running a trucking company. Contrary to intimidation, they may uncover, as I did, a different level within themselves that simplifies these tasks more than anticipated. The transition to ownership becomes a journey of self-discovery, unlocking hidden capacities and making the challenges associated with the back office and managerial roles more manageable than perceived.

In essence, the encouragement extends to individuals across various spectrums—trucking office personnel seeking a sabbatical, introverts and intuitives yearning for a conducive work environment, aspiring entrepreneurs with dreams of business ownership, and T.I.R.E. owner-operators navigating the road to freedom. Each of you can discover a unique pathway within the trucking profession, unveiling opportunities for growth, creativity, and the realization of personal and professional aspirations.