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5 Powerful Quotes to Inspire You to Greater Success in Expedited Trucking

Whether you’re an expedite driver, owner-operator or fleet owner, so much about success in this business hinges on your ability to keep your thoughts in check, focused on achieving the results you want.

Otherwise, when you encounter frustrations and setbacks―slow freight, extended wait times, a family emergency, illness, or whatever it may be―you’ll be thrown off balance and tempted to respond in ways that could sabotage your success.

So, here are five powerful quotes to help inspire you to stay on track toward your business goals, no matter what challenges you might face along the way.

#1. Make the best of any situation.
“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”
~ Coach John Wooden

Lesson: You can’t control the market, your carrier, regulations, the pandemic, and so many other external forces that impact your success.

But you CAN control how you respond to those forces―to channel whatever energy comes your way to position your business for explosive growth.

Think about it. A 20-ft wave terrifies the average beachgoer but THRILLs a professional surfer who transforms that wave’s overwhelming power into a stage for performing amazingly beautiful maneuvers―like an artist on the water.

Application: So, resist the temptation to complain about external forces that you have no control over.

Instead, learn how to ride that wave and harness its energy to build momentum for breakthrough growth.

Bottom Line: When you deal with things as they are, not as you WISH they would be, you’ll be in the right mindset, as Coach Wooden put it, to “make the best of the way things turn out.”

#2. Don’t fear or avoid criticism; learn from it.
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”
~ David Brinkley

Lesson: The bricks—or criticisms meant to discourage us from our goals—are the essential building material for a successful business and life.

That’s because critics bring us three valuable benefits:

First, they expose our vulnerabilities: Is there a grain of truth in what they’re saying that I should work on?

Second, they reinforce our path: I must be doing something right if I’m worthy of their time and attention.

And third, they build our resilience: I become a stronger leader as I become more accustomed to criticism and fear it less and less.

Application: So, don’t fear criticism; embrace it as a rite of passage to becoming the CEO worthy of the business you want to build.

Bottom Line: When you learn to reframe criticism, you convert negativity into a constructive force that propels you toward your goals.

#3. View negotiation as collaboration.
“Negotiation is not an act of battle; it’s a process of discovery. The goal is to uncover as much information as possible.”
~ Chris Voss, author of “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.”

Lesson: View negotiation as collaboration, not confrontation.

The problem with a battle mindset, Voss says, is that it blinds you to a broad range of possible outcomes that could be much more attractive to BOTH parties.

After all, you have goals you want to achieve with an agreement. And the other party has theirs.

Application: So, facilitate a conversation where you both can get those objectives out onto the table.

Now, the question becomes: “Where can we find alignment between your goals and mine?”

As Zig Ziglar once put it: “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”

Bottom Line: When you negotiate in a way to discover what your counterpart really wants, you gain insight into how to structure a deal that makes both parties happy.

#4. Plan your work; work your plan.
“Hope is not a strategy.”
~ Vince Lombardi, NFL Hall of Fame coach of the Green Bay Packers

Lesson: When it comes to how you approach your business each day, don’t wing it.

Otherwise, you find yourself in chronic reaction mode, overwhelmed by a flood of emails, texts and social media notifications that require a response RIGHT NOW.

You’re super busy and exhausted, but what do you have to show for it?

Your most important tasks that would make the biggest impact on your expedite business or career growth and long-term success―well, they stayed on the back burner once again.

Application: So, instead of hoping for a highly productive day, be more intentional.

Plan for success - for THAT day. Then execute your plan to the best of your ability.

Block out uninterrupted time each day to work on your most important strategic tasks―and guard that time zealously―even if it’s just 30 minutes.

Bottom Line: When you seize control of your day before it begins, you’ll improve the odds that your day won’t control you.

#5. Look for the good in people - and they’ll find it in you.
“If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you."
~ Mary Lou Retton, Olympic gymnastics great

Lesson: Think about the negative people in your life. Do you enjoy spending time with them? Or, do you try to avoid them because they suck the energy out of you?

While most of us want to steer clear of negative people, we’re often blind to our own negativity that pushes people away from us.

Application: So, be brutally honest with yourself with these questions:

Do I complain a lot?

Do I gossip?

Do I engage in social media arguments about politics?

Do I tell jokes and make snarky comments at the expense of others?

And If you’re surrounded by negative people, it’s likely because, as the cliche goes, “misery loves company.”

Bottom Line: When you practice the habit of looking for the good in people, you’ll discover how more and more people will find the good in you, be drawn to you, and want to HELP you be successful.