Today was my first day ever driving a Tractor.

Be the tortoise. Slow and smooth.
Slow throttle
Slow steering
Smooth throttle
Smooth steering

Don’t get in a hurry. Take your time.
When it starts to not be right, STOP. Take a breath, count to 5. Look at the situation again, then ask yourself “what do I need to do different”
Then make those changes and try again. That’s the thing most people miss. If it didn’t work the first time, just doing the same thing is not going to change it. You have to make an adjustment of some kind. What that adjustment is depends on the situation.

The key to a good back is all setup. It starts long before the truck is in reverse.

One thing new drivers do, and even some of us that have been doing this for a few months. Getting impatient and start over steering. Slow down, let the trailer respond to the input. It’s gonna take a moment.

 

And please don't be jumping the clutch all you have to do is ease out on the clutch and the truck will move away from a stop smoothly...

 

Sometimes the "gets easier the more you do it" creates sloppiness as in "this ain't any problem", then slams into a YELLOW post.

Pup Trailers were the Most Challenging with a Road Tractor and much more elevating at Night, while raining. Day cab or Switcher Truck (6 and 10 wheel) made is easier to Jack-Knife therein creating sloppier (and hilarious for others watching) experiences. Glad I had the repetitive experiences, OTR, Local and Yard Hostler.

 

With all of the years of experience on this forum and still we all have days we can't hit a straight back in broad daylight and 100 Sq miles to setup perfect. Stop worrying about being perfect, master being safe, and efficiency will follow.

 

In the 90s l was working a 30mi run every day and only able to get 2 loads a day, and I saw an add in the newspaper for drivers to work 2 hours early in the am. but we had to meet the cargo plane every morning at 5 am and roll off the cargo and fill the box truck and go 3mi to the dock and roll em off,
, on the test drive you had back it up to the dock door and I was turning the steering the wrong way and the boss rideing on the ck run told me I was going to be driving the tractor pulling a 40ft trailer and it payed 10 more bucks a day and he picked off drivers that were used to pulling trailers that way, but a lot of days it takes 1 hour to get done and the pay was the same, So you can get it done and then get a job pulling any type things you like?

 

Yes pull up to fix that mistake!
Be carefully however of how you pull up. Many people have a tendency to try to steer the wrong way for their pull up and actually make thong worse for themselves.
If you had a good set up and line of sight when you started and just turned too soon or too late, most times you can bring the trailer right back to that start point and then pinpointing your mistake and correcting it will become easier.

Everyone is correct about it getting easier the more you do it but what I feel most needs to be pointed out is you actually need to pay attention to your mistake and learn what not to do as much as you pay attention to your succeses.