Episode 116: Gratitude Under Pressure: A Roadside Reminder

What happens when the person preaching calm under pressure gets tested in real time? In this episode of the Keep Trucking Personal podcast, Tyler Kivi shares a recent experience behind the wheel when a blown coolant line brought an oversized load to an unexpected stop on the side of the road. Instead of focusing on frustration, delays, or blame, Tyler walks through how staying disciplined, following the process, and leaning on the support of others changed his perspective. The breakdown became a powerful reminder that none of us do this alone.

Tyler explores the role gratitude plays in trucking, leadership, and everyday life. He discusses how focusing on what's going right, rather than what's going wrong, can shift your outlook, reduce stress, and strengthen relationships. From the behind-the-scenes teams that keep trucks moving to the drivers who freely share knowledge and mentor others, this episode is a reminder that gratitude is more than a feeling. It's a mindset and a choice. Tyler closes with a challenge to help someone this week with no expectation of anything in return and reflects on why life gets easier when we appreciate who's standing beside us. 

Transcript

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Welcome to Keep Trucking Personal. I'm Tyler TV, a third generation trucker. My purpose is simple. Make sure the definition of trucking doesn't get lost in the culture this industry is driven toward. This podcast is about real stories, the hard lessons, and the standards that built this business long before apps and algorithms. If you believe trucking is more than freight and it's responsibility, you're in the right place. Let's get into it. Hey guys, welcome back to Keep Trucking Personal. My name is Tyler and I'm your host. Today I want to talk about something that doesn't get discussed enough in trucking, honestly, hardly ever discussed in leadership or just in life in general, right? It's gratitude. And this has hit me a few different ways this past week. And now I know when some people hear that word, they immediately think it's going to be soft and squishy and feel good, but that's not where we're going today. Because gratitude isn't about ignoring problems, right? It's not just putting a pair of shades on and graying it out or changing your view on it, but recognizing what's good even when things aren't going according to plan. And this week, I had the opportunity to practice exactly what I've been preaching, right? So it really set in for me. I got to go trucking this week and it felt great. I got the load ready, I got ready to go. I put my banners and flags on this was an oversized load. I was bringing an excavator up into northern Minnesota, got on the road, you know, had my just getting situated with the truck. And then I made it about an hour into the trip. And as I made a turn, I pulled over just so I could check my phone. Uh, had some I could tell there were some things coming in. So I pulled over on the shoulder, checked my phone, made sure everything was good, answered some emails, texts, whatever it was, took care of all that. Then got back on the road and I made it about half a mile, and all of a sudden there was smoke coming from underneath the hood. And check engine light starts flashing, shut down immediately. So I, you know, pull over the shoulder, shut the truck off, get my hazards on, start to figure out okay, you know, what's going on here. So I and with our trucks with the big bumpers on the front, you know, it's a little bit of a process. You you all know what it's like. A little bit of process. Pull my banner off, undo the bolts and the big herd bumper, tip the bumper down, open the hood, and then start to do some investigating, find out what went wrong. And I was concerned for a minute because I'm like, you know, something major happened here because it was so quick, it didn't really even give me a warning. And then I found it. It was a coolant line. It had been rubbing on another coolant line, and there was kind of a little plastic housing, if you can picture this, like a little piece around a tube or a hose, excuse me, and it was rubbing on the other hose, and it just was my lucky day. It had rubbed through and blew the coolant line. And so for me, it was almost like I get to talk about all this stuff all the time. Stay calm under pressure, right? Keep a level head, follow the process, stay disciplined, do everything right, you know, and all of this. And for me, it got to come right to a head right there, right? That's the I was already from you know, this is my perspective, right? I was already uh just having one of those mornings, right? I'd get rid of get the kids all ready and bring them, and that took me longer than expected in the morning, and then I got to the yard and I had to get everything flagged and bannered, and it took me a little bit longer than expected. And so I was already kind of seeing that cascade of delays come together. And then, you know, like I said, on the way, I'd let the customer know where I'm at, and he was well aware. They were sending a special guy out to meet me just to get unloaded, and so done all of this, right? My head's feeling good. Okay, now we're back on track, we're doing all this. Boof, like I said, smoke coming out of the hood. Okay, so I'm back to I got the hood open, find the coolant line. And so for me, then I got to practice the process. So now it was okay, what do we do first, right? Let's make sure the situation's secure. You know, hazards are on. I put my triangles out. Uh, I honestly I don't know when the last time I put my triangles out, it's been that long. And so I got to, you know, the little things, right? Let's make sure I do this right. Then I got on the phone with Fleet, and in this case, I was talking to Dean, and then I went through and he took care of his processes and procedures and you know, back and forth. This is the stuff we always tell drivers we need pictures, right? So I got up in there, got the best picture I could, even took a couple videos. I wanted to be descriptive for their team. I know how important it is when you're trying to, I mean, there was coolant lines all over on the passenger side of the engine. And so I wanted to make sure they had the right one so they knew what they were getting. So then I went through, got on their pictures, got them their videos, then shortly after, you know, a follow-up, can you confirm? You know, obviously they have GPS on the truck, but I still sent a pin just because it's you know how they share information in certain manners. And so I went through that and then got an update. Okay, tech's on his way, he'll be there. And you know, I was, like I said, just about an hour north. So fine and dandy. I even got lucky and got to see one of my cousins as I was sitting on the shoulder of the road. He was driving dump truck, he pulled over. We actually chatted for a little bit, so really cool. Uh took some pictures of the truck. You know, I got to kind of sit in it and just sit in it, right? Like it was important to me. Like, I wanted to just understand like this is the frustration that every truck driver goes through when it happens. You know, I you can call my case special if you will, because I was so close to the terminal that I had resources right there. Now, I still got to go through it, right? The frustration, what immediately starts to set in is you want to start complaining. You want to find the negative, like who didn't do their job, who didn't do this. I mean, I see it all day long. You want to pin this on somebody right away. I even had this slight feeling of guilty. Like, what did I do wrong? Could I have prevented it myself? Is this something that I could have found and discovered prior to leaving? And so went through all of that, sat in it, kind of like, you know, started to see like where those emotions can set in. You know, I updated the customer, I let him know cool and line blue, I'm running behind schedule, I'll update you once I get this fixed. And then I just let the process happen. Tech showed up. I had obviously had the engine off already for at that point an hour and some time, so that it was already cooled down. He popped the hose off, fixed it, even put some preventative wrapping around it just in case you know they want to get it back to the shop and fix it. Put some more coolant in there, had some spare jugs of coolant. We tested it on the roadside there, all looked good. Shut the hood, put my banner back on, called the customer, let him know I was rolling again and new ETA, and then back on the road. And so it really got it got to set in with me. Once I got back on the road, I went through all the questions like you know, plans changed, ETA's changed, did we make sure everybody knew as far as the customer, right? That's super important. We always talk about that, and I wanted to practice what I preached, made sure the customer wasn't going like, haven't heard anything. Where, where is this, you know, where's your where's your shipment at? And so, man, it felt good. And that was something negative happening to me. Felt good. I got to walk through it, I got to stay calm, I got to work the problem, I got back on the road, and all of it worked out just fine. And what struck me the most wasn't the breakdown because equipment is going to break. Now, like I said, you could point fingers and say preventative, you could have changed this sooner, you could have done this. Something's bound to happen. It could be tires, coolant line, it could be many things, right? You can imagine how many things could go wrong when it's mechanical. That's trucking. But what struck me the most after all of that was the gratitude. I was super grateful for the team that I had around me and the people who answered the phone and took my text messages of information and videos. Then I had one point of contact, but the number of people that had touched sequentially, right after that, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, to get from the fleet side, the maintenance in the shop, they want pictures of this, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. It's back there. They jumped into action, the operations making sure everything was kept cool. The people behind the scenes that drivers never see. And it reminded me that none of us do this job alone. I didn't have any tools with me. I wish that I had a tool bag with me. I obviously would not have had a coolant line, but I could have prepped it and got it off. And that's just how I think, right? I was, what can I do with this idle time? But man, none of us do this alone. You don't realize how many people put in effort to help you. That does not matter if it's this company, Kiwi Brothers, or you're at a different company, even a Mompa, they're putting effort in behind the scene. And it gave me so much gratitude and gratefulness that set in, and it I've been reminded of it all weekend. It's just kept coming at me like a shower, and I was like, okay, this is this is definitely where I'm headed because there's so much to be grateful for, and it's more than just your back office and operations, right? And safety and fleet and all that. I'm not even really emphasizing just on trucking. I mean that holistically, as a human being, being more grateful or displaying and having that gratitude, it changes your perspective overall because the situation did not change with the coolant line. It was still blown, it was still a hole in the side of that coolant line. I was still broke down on the side of the road, but my perspective changed. Instead of focusing on what went wrong, I started focusing on what was going right. Okay, so let's frame it up this way. I started focusing on what was going right. I had support, I had resources, I had people willing to help me, and that changed my whole perspective. Too often we spend our lives focusing on what's missing instead of appreciating what's already there. And it really set in with that example. I got to practice what I preach, and I just love it. It was perfect. And I'm so glad that it happened to me. And you know what also why I'm so glad it happened to me? Because now the driver that's going to go into that truck, I was the one that took the breakdown. I'm so happy that it happened to me instead of him or her. And we as the trucking community have so much to be grateful for. But we know this job isn't easy because it has those long days and the weather that's crazy, and the traffic, and the construction now. Don't even get me started on that. Just in that short run, there was construction. The hood, the construction that's everywhere, and the breakdowns that are bound to happen, which happened to me in the time that you're away from your family. But if we're not careful, we're going to become experts on finding what's wrong. That's so important to see. We start to find everything that's wrong every time. We start to complain about dispatch and the customers and the traffic and the fuel prices and the weather and the equipment, and they all have their part in the game. But before long, negativity becomes our default. And that's hard to overcome. Meanwhile, we forget all the things that are going right. The family that is at home waiting for us, the paycheck that provides for our loved ones, the freedom of the open road that we all love so much and that I got to experience this week, the friendships we've built. Think about it. The opportunities this industry has given us are so vast. And one of the most interesting things that researchers have found is helping other people often improves your own happiness and well-being. I know I've talked about this before, but you just don't get to feel it unless you do it. And when people regularly help others, whether you're volunteering or you're just supporting coworkers or performing acts of kindness, they start to report lower stress levels, stronger relationships, greater life satisfaction, improved mental well-being. Who doesn't want all of that? Who doesn't want all of that? And we're often seeking it from other people, we're seeking it from outside counsel and ways to get help, medication, you name it. There's ways that we're trying to find those things. Here's the catch with helping others to get that sense of gratitude and gratefulness. It has to be genuine. You can't help somebody because you're expecting something back. It's unfortunate because it happens so much in the trucking industry. There's almost a book where if you help someone, you're noting it down, hey, I remember this, right? You owe me. And that person's doing that to the next person, they're doing favors, and you start keeping score, who's helping others become better and who's got, you know, it's the right thing to do, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you encourage someone because they need it. And you start to you need to start to answer the phone because you know what it's like to need help. You give without expecting anything in return. That's when it becomes authentic. That last part, if you can give and help others without expecting anything in return, it pays dividends. And the best drivers I know, I mean, I even look at my family, the best ones that know this, they all have something in common. They're willing to help and they're willing to answer questions, they're willing to mentor new drivers, they're willing to share knowledge. They're willing to share knowledge. There's a few drivers I know that they pour their heart out sharing knowledge, and it goes so far. I mean, people learn so much and they become so valuable, and they don't get paid anything extra. And they do it to do it, they don't do it for recognition. And they did it because someone probably helped them once like that, and now they're passing it forward. That's the gratitude in action, that's the flywheel. Once it gets turning, you can't stop it. But I want to make sure that this is clear because gratitude or being grateful doesn't mean pretending everything is perfect, and it doesn't mean you're never going to get frustrated. It doesn't mean bad things don't happen. It simply means you choose not to let those things define your outlook. For me, the coolant line's still blue. This day the day still got disrupted, but I always walk away grateful. Grateful for the support system, grateful that a bad day didn't become a worse day. And that's a lesson that I'll carry with me all the time. And I'm so grateful that I got reminded of that this week. And so here's my challenge for you this week. Find one person and help them with no agenda, no expectation, no keeping score, just help them out. And just whatever it is, it might be just answering a question that you would maybe breeze off or pass not today, or maybe it's helping a new driver. I talk about that all the time. You can do so much with a new driver that's asking for help. Maybe it's simply picking up the phone because it's the right thing to do and see how it changes your perspective. And at the end of the day, you guys, gratitude isn't about having everything go your way, it's about recognizing the good that's already around you, being grateful for the things that you have. Remember that you don't want to let negativity take over. This week, like I said, that blown coolant line reminded me of so many things and something specifically important when I think about it. Life gets a lot easier when you stop focusing on what happened to you and start appreciating who's standing beside you. And so thanks for listening to Keep Trucking Personal. And until next time, be safe. Appreciate you tuning in. If you got value out of this, subscribe and send it to someone who takes pride in the job. We're not just moving freight, we're shaping the culture. Catch you on the next one.