Why Routines Matter

"The number of articles about successful people's habits are innumerable. Dating back to The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey, we've been obsessed with what it takes to do well. But for most people who work in large organizations, it is not that easy. Their lives are not defined by the ability to design their own habits, or routines; their work lives emerge from the environment that they work in, and the forces—operational, hierarchical, and functional—that exert themselves on their daily lives. Successful people in these environments, we've found, have routines that are distinct to their social systems, and these routines differentiate their performance."