Use Your Blinker in the Empty Parking Lot: Why Small Habits Make Big Impacts in Construction

Let me ask you a weirdly specific question: have you ever caught yourself using your blinker in an empty parking lot?  If so, what were you thinking about?  It wasn’t about the importance of using your blinkers, it was about something else, wasn’t it?  When you caught yourself, you then told yourself to stop being silly.  Well, today’s post is about why I think it is important to CHOOSE to use your blinker in an empty parking lot.

You used your blinker not because you have to. Odds are, nobody’s behind you. There isn't a traffic cop hiding behind the shopping cart (or buggy to you Southerners) return. It’s just habit. Muscle memory. You didn’t even think about it - you just did it.

And that’s what I’m getting at. That we should strive to develop that level of absent minded muscle memory in our basic construction project management tasks.

See, I believe that success - whether it’s in life or in construction project management - isn’t the result of heroic one-off moments. It’s not the big, dramatic moves that define you. It’s the small, mundane, consistent actions you take every day that build toward something exceptional.

Let’s talk about that.

Mundane Tasks Matter (Even If It Doesn't Feel Like It)

In construction, there are a million things competing for your attention. The big stuff always finds its way to the top of your list: critical path milestones, major safety briefings, change orders, client meetings, procurement delays. That stuff feels important because, well - it is.

But here’s the catch: when the pressure is on, your brain doesn't reach for the big checklist. It falls back on habit. That’s why the small, repetitive tasks—the ones that feel boring or inconsequential - are often the ones that quietly make or break your project.

Take daily reports, for example.

I know - logging a daily report after walking a site visit can feel like busywork, especially when everything’s going smoothly. No issues to report, no wild discoveries. It’s tempting to think, “Eh, I’ll skip it today.” But here’s what I’ve seen over and over again: the one day you don’t log that visit is the day something happens that you’ll need to reference later.

Maybe a trade partner skipped a scope item. Maybe weather conditions delayed excavation. Maybe a neighboring property started work and you noticed it for the first time. You don’t know what small detail will become critical later on, and that’s the point - logging your dailies should be as automatic as taking your hardhat off when you sit down at your desk. You just do it. Every time.  Because it feels weird if you don’t.

The Dig Ticket You Didn’t Think You Needed

Here’s another one: calling in a dig ticket before you break ground. We all know the drill—10 minutes on the phone, maybe an online form. Doesn’t seem like a big deal, especially if the area has already been surveyed. But calling 811 becomes really important the one time you don’t do it, and there’s a utility line you didn’t know about.

In the best-case scenario, skipping the call means you eat a day’s delay fixing a preventable problem. Worst case? Someone gets hurt. Or worse.

The point isn’t that you’ll always hit a gas main if you skip the ticket. The point is that the cost of being inconsistent is way higher than the cost of doing the task every time. Build the habit before the stress hits, so your default response - even under pressure - is the right one.

Habits Under Stress

If you’ve ever worked on a jobsite during a critical pour, with two inspectors, a late concrete truck, and the GC breathing down your neck, then you know what pressure feels like.

That’s not the moment when you want to be deciding whether to write your daily or call in the dig ticket. Your brain is fried. You’re reactive, not reflective. So if the right behavior isn’t already baked into your routine, odds are it’s not happening.

But if you’ve built those habits into your daily rhythm, they don’t require willpower. They’re just part of how you operate.  

It’s like athletes running drills. Not because they’ll use that exact drill on game day, but because the repetition builds automaticity. You want your good habits to be muscle memory - something you do without thinking.  There’s a reason the military spends so much time drilling and practicing - when things get real, you don’t want to have to remember what you’re supposed to do - you just do it.

Little Actions, Big Outcomes

Here’s the truth: exceptional quality, safety, and production on a jobsite doesn’t come from flashy gestures. It comes from a thousand small, aligned, consistent actions that reinforce each other. You build trust. You document progress. You create predictability. You reduce risk.

It’s not glamorous, but it works.

The superintendents I respect the most aren’t the ones giving pep talks every morning. They’re the ones who quietly make sure every "t" is crossed and every "i" is dotted - every day, no matter how busy or chaotic things get. Their sites run smoothly not because they chase down every fire, but because they build systems and habits that prevent the fires from starting in the first place.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Here’s a short list of “blinkers in the parking lot” habits that can quietly elevate your performance:

• Log a daily report, with photos, even if nothing major happened.

• Call in that dig ticket every single time, no exceptions.

• Check in with your foreman at the start and end of every day, even if it’s just a 2-minute conversation.

• Walk the site before leaving, even if you’re late for a meeting.

• File your photos in the correct folder, not “misc docs” or “to sort later.”

• Follow up in writing after verbal commitments - especially with clients or vendors.

These aren’t revolutionary steps. But taken together, day after day, they build a culture of discipline, accountability, and excellence.

Consistency Builds Credibility

I’ll end with this: people notice consistency. Your team sees it. The GC sees it. The client sees it. When you do the little things right every time, people trust you more with the big things. That credibility? It’s earned in the quiet moments, not the showy ones.

So yeah - use your blinker in the empty parking lot. Write a Daily Report. Take Progress Photos. Not because you have to. But because you want to do it when you’re not thinking about it.  

And in construction, like in life, that might just make all the difference.

What's one of the tasks that you complete without even thinking about it? Or what's one that you'd like to make that automatic?