Failure, why? How to prevent it?

Trucking isn't a last chance effort to make money, get rich, and travel the country. It's WORK. While it's easier than most work, it's still work, and demands your undivided attention for hours at a time. It's more of mentally exhausting than physically. You chance of succeeding is going to depend on why you're coming into it. If your goal is to travel and see the country, you're going to be disappointed when you realize that almost every interstate looks exactly the same. If you're coming into it to work, and maybe take advantage of those little perks, like taking your hometime somewhere you'd like to take a vacation, then you might do great. But don't forget, you're driving. If you're not good at it in your car, if you hate driving your car at night, you're going to fail very quickly.

 

Unrealistic expectations...some expect ONLY the company to be responsible for their success.

 

Im still new so i dont meet your criteria. But from a lot of the seasoned truckers i keep hearing the same things over and over again being the culprit:
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Being away from home/family for long periods of time, being alone most of the time (and you are, and i know first hand that part is hard. But im somewhat of a lonewolf anyways so it didnt hit me as hard as it did the more social types lol), and to a lesser extent dui's/drug charges, accidents while operating cmv, etc etc...

 

How to prevent from failing is simple,do everything that is asked of you and don't complain about it.Alot of complainers in this industry and I am one of those complainers.Anymore its almost impossible not to complain about something.Companies do that to us.Alot of the ones that fail don't know theyre going to fail till it happens.Alaska76,you might very well be one of those that finds out trucking isn't for you.There will be things about your company and the industry you hate.But to succeed you have to suck it up because that's just how it is.Your first yr will determine if trucking is for you.It might get easier meaning you're use to how the industry is but better,that depends on you.

 

Define success. For a company driver? For a person whose business is trucking? Your questions have been asked and answered many times here at TTR. But anyway ... to better your chances ...

--Learn to operate the equipment (it starts there).
--Learn all applicable rules and regulations.
--Read everything about the industry that you can get your hands on: economics, business, culture, history, the technical side.
--Be a sponge. Recognize that you've put yourself in school and that only you can decide to be a good student. Recognize that you will make mistakes.
--Ask questions and weigh each answer--don't discount answers you don't like (seems to me that that's a common mistake); you are not entitled to answers that you like. "Negative" answers are often the true answers; experienced drivers know this.
--Do your homework about carriers.
--Don't waste people's time talking about yourself. You are not the topic.
--You cannot ensure success. Stuff happens--in this, trucking is no different than life off the road.
--No.

 

The most common mistake that gets people into trouble when new is turning a small mistake into a big one I think.

A common mistake most will make early on is making a wrong turn. The following is an extreme example of what not to do when you find yourself in a place you don't want to be. The point though is that you will make mistakes and how you react is what matters. People get into accidents of all types due to trying to rush things instead of keeping their head. The right attitude and perspective are the most important things.