While exploring bad meetings a few episodes ago, Rodney and Sam hit on something that doesn’t often get a lot of air time: the power of good habits and the discipline to care about the small things. Because when we’re trying to change companies on an atomic level, it can feel like small potatoes to focus on check-in rounds, or writing Slack messages, or how we compose to-do lists.

But you can’t run toward the future of work at full speed when your shoes aren’t properly tied. Here’s what we know: High-performing teams—from ice hockey to symphony orchestras—all prioritize the fundamentals. So why don’t we do that in the workplace?

In this episode of At Work With The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dig into why building strong work habits are more important than you might think and the mundane but fundamental practices they start with.

(Producer’s note: We had a tech mishap during recording, so this week’s episode might sound a little different. We blame Rodney’s lake house ghost (more on that in the SXSW episode). We’ll be back to our usual sound next episode.)

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Mentioned references:

• "op rhythm": BNW EP. 118
• "all work is now meetings": White-Collar Work Is Just Meetings Now, from The Atlantic, 2024
• John Madden (the hockey one)
• John Madden (the football one)
• John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach
• Atomic Habits, book by James Clear
• Sunsama
• 80/20 rule
• "5:1 praise to criticism": The Ideal Praise-to-Criticism Ratio, HBR, 2013
• action meeting: BNW Ep. 80 with Sam Spurlin
• retrospective meeting: BNW Ep. 10 with Jordan Husney
• check-in rounds
• "don't say hey website": https://nohello.net/en/ inspired by https://www.nohello.com/
• "Amazon memo meeting"
• "silent meeting"