The transport industry is fast and furious, as those who work in it know only too well. Working hard every day tendering to get lucrative haulage contracts can leave you jaded or burned out, and if you fail to manage that daily stress, you might just give up altogether. Here are three often overlooked ways to cope and even flourish under the most demanding situations in this frenetic industry.

Add Variation and Innovate

The very notable Benjamin Franklin once said, “The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” This certainly applies to the transport and delivery industry. If you’ve been doing your job for quite some time it’s your responsibility to keep the company ticking along with good haulage contracts, then you’re a prime candidate for ‘insanity’! Of course, our point really is that doing the same thing for long periods-weeks, months, even years-can be boring, and that boredom can spread to people around you – your colleagues, customers, clients. Always keep your mind active and always be on the lookout for ways to do things smarter, faster and more cost-effectively. The familiarity f the task at hand should not breed contempt, but instead should be a breeding ground for innovation. Keep moving forward all the time and your business will do likewise.

Ensure You Have the Right Work Environment

An important, if often overlooked, source of stress is a poor work environment: if your working conditions are noisy, smelly, riven with distractions and basically have a layout that is not conducive to productivity, how can you be expected to stay focused and successfully bid for new haulage contracts? Even if you have a corner in a busy transport depot, it should be comfortable, clean, tidy and well-organised. A tidy desk is a tidy mind and while being surrounded by noisy trucks and truckers can be distraction, in fact it should also be your inspiration and motivation to succeed – for your employees as well as yourself.

Downtime Should Mean Total Disconnection

Most transport managers-especially those whose job it is to win those highly competitive haulage contracts-stay connected at all times: they’re constantly checking emails on their smartphones or Blackberry, communicating with a secretary or an assistant, or even conducting an important conference. But if you do all this during your designated ‘downtime’, aka your annual holiday, it’s all for nothing.

When you go on holiday, you need to totally disconnect from your devices and inform your colleagues not disturb you (except in an emergency, of course). The same goes for not taking any work-related documents with you. Leave the laptop at home and set up an auto-response message on your email. One important note, however: going off the radar like this requires giving notice to customers and business contacts: you can’t just surprise them by suddenly disappearing. Inform them ahead of time and pass on their next point of contact to the company, so that you’ll be able to manage their expectations and not damage your business.