Hear I go

Whenever I have someone in the truck with me it seemed that I did grind gears more often than I should but when I am by myself it does not bother me. It is the feeling that someone is watching me and it gets me more freaked out. I get nervous and can't seem to do anything right but when I am by myself I am more relaxed because of not being judged and it all works out good. When you are by yourself maybe you will be more relaxed and it wont happen.

 

Everyone misses gears. The important part is how you recover from it. Just relax and stop worrying about trying to impress anyone. Everyone, including your trainer, has been in your shoes. IMO, you're better off not having any clutch experience since you won't have developed any bad habits. Just take your time. You're not graded on anything, it is a go/no-go decision made by your trainer at the end of your training.

As a trainer, I have no expectations of my students besides knowing they passed the CDL drive test. Every student is different and I don't compare one student to another.

When I was a student, I had a terrible time down-shifting and yet, here I am now training students.

You can do this.

 

Shifting is a matter of rhythm. Just count to yourself: 1 clutch, 2 shift, 3 clutch, 4 shift.

 

It's all a learning curve bigbear at first trying to take it all into perspective...driving, road position, watching out for the dimwits in the 4 wheelers is quite a bit to juggle when new. And get your shifting done smoothly on top of all that
It will all come together in time with hours and experience under your belt. Don't be too hard on yourself mate, think positive and hey, we've all been there grinding gears in the early days...it will get easier

 

I was the same way, what helped me get over the fear was picturing myself flipping burgers at McDonald's.