photo credit: Ryan Holst
One of the smartest people I know, is of all things, a truck driver named Jim. He’s been driving for over 30 years, long enough that people jokingly say he bleeds diesel fuel. I’ve taken the time to listen to his advice from time to time, and here are some of most important things I’ve learned:
1. Use the right tool for the job
One of Jim’s oft-repeated precepts is “use the right tool for the job.” That means if you need a screwdriver, don’t try to use a knife.
How many times have you heard, “oh, we’ll just use Google alerts to monitor conversations about our brand.” We all know what a bad idea that is. Or maybe you’ve heard, “we’d like to try Basecamp but we have this other [horribly outdated] project management software.” According to Seth Godin, also a bad idea: “Do not approve any project that isn’t run on Basecamp.”
Pony up, find the tools you need, and pay for them. If you need a screwdriver, don’t use a knife just because it’s free.
2. Get some sleep
Truck drivers are required by law to log how many hours they drive and how many hours they rest. This means that legally, they have to take a break.
I wonder what my life would be like if I had to do the same.
3. When money’s tight, run harder
As a truck driver, the amount of money you earn is almost directly proportional to how hard you work. Sometimes when money’s been tight, Jim hasn’t come home for over a month-and-a-half straight.
Although most of us don’t have the same type of wage structure, we can take a lesson from the practice: when times get hard, work harder and make sacrifices. It seems like a simple enough concept, but those people I know who have landed jobs in this miserable economy are those who have made finding a job their 60-hour a week project (with at least half of that time spent off-line networking, honing resumes, etc).
4. Coffee is not a food group
This, I think is self-explanatory. However, considering the number of times I’ve skipped lunch in the last two weeks, I need to remember this more often.
5. Technology can never replace human decisions
Jim refuses to use a GPS. He looks up a route once and remembers. The man is a walking version of Google Maps, complete with street view.
Although technology (like web analysis software) can inform our decision-making, it shouldn’t replace it. Meaning isn’t found in data, it’s found in our analysis of it. For example, Jason Falls recently posted a great explanation of the implications of social sharing data collected by ShareThis. Falls takes a technology-enabled conclusion and makes it meaningful by adding human analysis.
6. If you can’t be present, then you have to work extra hard at communicating
Jim has been happily married for over 25 years, but he talks to his wife for at least an hour every day.
If your job takes you away from your loved ones, make sure they know you care by picking up the phone and letting them know.
7. Sometimes work can be vacation
Jim used to take a few weeks off from truck driving every spring and fall to help a local farmer plant and harvest his crops. He said it was relaxing.
At first I thought he was crazy, but now I get it. For me, this blog is a ton of work, but it’s relaxing in a way that my day job isn’t.
8. Ingenuity is sometimes born out of necessity
In a huge money-saving endeavor, Jim created a system so he could fold down his loading ramps and keep them under his trailer with just a few pieces of steel, an arc welder, and a tap and die set.
Sometimes when the money’s not there, it pays to look around and see what you can invent with what you have (which, for us includes the Google Suite, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress…). This does not mean, however, that you should use the wrong tool for the job.
9. Toughness is a mental virtue
I once saw Jim shred his hand up, then walk calmy, bleeding, to the sink, wash it off and bandage it without flinching. He then went right back to work.
There are times during projects when I want to give up. When people aren’t cooperating, when I’m not feeling the creative flow. Those are the times I need to suck it up and get over it.
10. Be generous and available to your family and friends
Jim never turns his phone off, and he’s always been there at 3 a.m. when someone needed to talk to him. He doesn’t let his job define who he is to his wife and kids—to them he’s just “husband” and “dad.”
He isn’t always present, but he is always there with an encouraging word and a loving heart.
Thanks Dad, for everything.
-Andrew
Image Credit: Ryan Holst on Flickr; original here
