Time management? Me Management!

                I’m disgusted with myself this week.  I pride myself on being detail-oriented.  It makes me a better driver; not better than anyone else, just better than I used to be.  It never fails though; every time I go thinking I’m better than I am, God shows me the error of my ways.

                I picked up a multi-stop load last Thursday in California that finaled out in Illinois on Monday.  I thought I had enough time to make it but I miscalculated.  I thought I would start picking up hours Sunday night at midnight but I didn’t start picking up hours until Monday night.  I was 4 hours away from the last stop when I realized I only had 3 hours left on my 70.  I sent a message in to dispatch and thankfully there was another driver coming south who could swap out with me in time so that the appointment could still be made.  After the swap was done, I sent in another message apologizing for the screw up.  Clyde didn’t sound angry with me.  In fact, when I first spoke with him, he laughed at me.  I think it was because I was being so hard on myself and because this isn’t the type of thing I do very often.  I’m pretty sure this is only the 3^rd time I’ve done something like this and the other times were early in my Freymiller career when I was still trying to figure out the HOS rules that had changed since my last driving job.

                I know exactly what I did wrong.  While I tried to blame the fact that I had routed myself to the 1^st stop so I didn’t have the exact calculations to the final and then I tried to blame the fact that I’d had the cruise set at 63… facts are facts.  What really happened is I rushed and assumed.  I rushed through the calculations and assumed I would be fine.  Rushing and assuming almost always gets me in trouble.

                Trust me, no one knows better than I that I am not perfect.  I’ve never striven for perfection but I do strive for excellence.  This week, I was definitely less than excellent.  I cannot manage time.  I can only manage the way I behave in any given amount of time.  I think it’s still safe to say I haven’t arrived yet.