Now that you have your CDL license and an exciting new career on the road, you will want to learn some time management techniques so that you can do your best job and be as safe and efficient as possible. Like any job, there is a learning curve to driving trucks. You will learn little tricks as you gain more experience, but here are a few time-saving tips that may help you out quite a bit as you hit the road!
Traffic
Traffic is out of your control, but you can plan your route with the intention of avoiding the biggest cities and roads when they will be the most densely populated and traffic will be at it’s worst. We all know that rush hour is the worst time to be driving in and around any large city. The best thing you can do to manage your time is to work your routes around this knowledge and make sure you aren’t driving into LA, Houston, Atlanta, etc. during the peak traffic hours. This will save you a lot of time sitting in your truck.
Load and Unload
A part of route planning is loading and unloading your cargo. If you can plan your routes with the intention of dropping off and loading your cargo as early as possible, you will save time and make your customers very very happy. The more consistent you are in pleasing customers, suppliers, dispatchers in this way, the more likely they are to give you better jobs in the future and it can lead to more money earned for you.
Rest
Just because you are trying to work ahead of schedule does not mean that you get to forget about rest. You need to sleep every night in order to provide the best service and be the most efficient driver that you can be. The key to time management is planning. Plan your sleep times and rest periods as stringently as you plan your routes and your load and unload times.
Planning is the key to time management, there are apps like Apple’s calendar on iOS and Google calendars that are great organizers. These apps will buzz and make a noise like an alarm clock if you set them. Ultimately, you need to be in control of yourself. Calendar tools will help you stay organized and remind you when to stop resting or driving etc, but at the end of the day, you will be as organized as you want to be. Planning and organization are the cornerstones of time management.
What time management tips do you have for truck drivers? At Advanced Career Institute, we don’t just prepare students for CDL Training, but all aspects of trucking. Interested in entering this in-demand industry? Contact us to learn more about our training programs.
