{"id":5076,"date":"2025-06-21T08:18:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T13:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/?p=5076"},"modified":"2025-06-21T08:19:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T13:19:19","slug":"slow-productivity-in-school-part-3-work-at-a-natural-pace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/06\/21\/slow-productivity-in-school-part-3-work-at-a-natural-pace\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow Productivity in School: Part 3, Work at a Natural Pace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In this series, I am taking my cue from Cal Newport’s helpful book Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout<\/a><\/em> and applying his insights to our expectations for student work in classical Christian schools. Like the modern office, forms of pseudo-productivity<\/a> dominate the modern school system\u2013a fact that explains how children can spend more time on school and edutainment than ever before and yet scores and cultural literacy continue to decline.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is that the quantity of easy assignments, like worksheets or entertaining presentations or videos, has crowded out the quality of learning. We have sacrificed depth to a shallow breadth and traded long term learning for an easy-to-teach, easy-to-grade hamster wheel of activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our last article we explored Cal Newport’s first principle for slow productivity: do fewer things<\/a>. Resonating with the Latin saying, multum non multa <\/em>(much not many), this principle is best interpreted as calling for fewer assignments of higher quality rather than fewer subjects in a day. We supported this classical application of the principle from no less revered a source than the Roman oratorical teacher Quintilian, who argued for, not against, wide reading across many subjects. But this doesn’t mean we can’t cut down on busy work and focus on the highest value activities for deep learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the point of this assertion is that there may actually be an inverse relationship between the sheer number of assignments in school (or projects at work) and the real production of value or quality. As Newport explained near the beginning of the book, \u201cThe relentless overload that\u2019s wearing us down is generated by a belief that \u2018good\u2019 work requires increasing busyness\u2013faster responses to email and chats, more meetings, more tasks, more hours\u201d (7). But this busyness itself becomes a drag on true productivity because of the \u201coverhead cost\u201d as Newport has called it, of each new project or assignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This overhead cost leads to a waste of labor in the hurry through activities that are not effective in creating value, which in our case would be the durable learning and cultivation of intellectual virtues in a student. Busywork does not develop the mind of a scholar.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These considerations lead us naturally in to Cal Newport’s second principle: work at a natural pace. The connection is obvious because the important work that does transform a student into a scholar requires a certain slowness of pace to be effective. Focusing too much on efficiency may cause us to short-circuit the process, leaving the student no better off than when she started. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day. True achievement takes time. You can’t rush greatness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newport unpacks his second principle of slow productivity for knowledge workers by calling for a sustainable and almost luxurious approach:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cDon\u2019t rush your most important work. Allow it instead to unfold along a sustainable timeline, with variations in intensity, in settings conducive to brilliance.\u201d (116)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

His encouragement not to rush is made possible because crucial time has been preserved by doing fewer things. This move enables our work to be of higher importance. Students likewise will experience increased motivation when they sense that assignments are more naturally significant or meaningful. Busywork, on the other hand, demotivates a student, since he can feel its intrinsic pointlessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We should pause to note that just because a project takes a long time does not ensure it is important or meaningful. Teachers seeking to apply this principle in their classical school should consider what skills of hand and eye will be honed, what intellectual virtues like wisdom and understanding, will be developed before launching a time-consuming project that is ancillary to their curriculum. One litmus test might be whether it integrates the liberal arts with the common arts, while solidifying meaningful knowledge, as Chris Hall advocates for in his book Common Arts Education<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cal Newport draws from the examples of ground breaking scientists to make the point of what a \u201csustainable timeline, with variations in intensity\u201d ought to look like. He explains,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThese great scientists of times past were clearly \u2018productive\u2019 by any reasonable definition of the term. What else can you call it when someone literally changes our understanding of the universe? At the same time, however, the pace<\/em> at which they toiled on their momentous discoveries seemed, by modern standards, to be uneven, and in some cases almost leisurely.\u201d (111)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Newport’s use of the word \u201cleisurely\u201d resonates remarkably with an emphasis of the classical Christian education movement: recovering school as leisure. The Greek word from which school is derived, schol\u00e9<\/em>, meant something like \u201cleisure.\u201d Christopher Perrin of Classical Academic Press has helpfully advocated for a recovery of schol\u00e9<\/em> in school, drawing from Josef Pieper’s Leisure: The Basis of Culture<\/a><\/em>. Perrin defines schol\u00e9<\/em> as \u201cundistracted time\u2026\u201d in his book The Schol\u00e9 Way<\/a><\/em>. Likewise, Newport’s description of \u201csettings conducive to brilliance\u201d resonates with the classical education movement\u2019s emphasis on beauty and aesthetics for the school environment. What could be more inspiring than the idea of restful learning at a natural pace in a beautiful and uplifting atmosphere!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newport and Perrin are both quick to clarify that the feeling of intensity for work should vary. Productive school work, like scientific discovery, will have periods of intense effort, as well as restful or leisurely contemplation. Working at a natural pace means that we as teachers are attentive to these ups and downs. We don\u2019t try to force an unnatural sameness, either of rigor or rest. There is a natural rhythm to quality accomplishment and genuine learning that God has built into the fabric of existence. Just as the Sabbath principle governs work in general, so too must peaceful learning and restful contemplation balance out more strenuous learning activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might initially feel like a cop out to give more time in class to a challenging activity like writing. But it may be that it ultimately pays itself back in the genuine progress made by the student. After all, their minds are likely freshest for that type of focused effort during the school day. And teachers can actively assist in the process of coaching when they are present. Are we really surprised that students turn in poorly written essays, when they are forced to do it in the energy trough of the afternoon or the mental haze of the late evening? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still some will decry the loss of productivity. But the secret is opening out our vision of student productivity to a longer time horizon. As Newport discerns from the case of those leisurely scientists,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cTimescale matters<\/em>. When viewed at the fast scale of days and weeks, the efforts of historic thinkers like Copernicus and Newton can seem uneven and delayed. When instead viewed at the slow scale of years, their efforts suddenly seem undeniably and impressively fruitful.\u201d (113)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This perspective shift undergirds another influential Latin saying, festina lente<\/em> (\u201chasten slowly\u201d), which calls for a paradox of slow hurry. There must be a purposeful movement in a meaningful direction at the same time as a willingness to delay over the details to ensure quality and a student’s developing mastery. Great teachers can discern when to slow down and when to hasten on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Part of this is because skill development benefits naturally from providing activities with the proper challenge. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyiy, the famous positive psychologist called this the flow channel, which is characterized by an avoidance of boredom because of the challenge being too low on the one hand, but also by preventing the anxiety caused by too high a level of challenge. Within this channel we are much more likely to experience the flow state, where time passes in effortless focus as we are absorbed in a meaningful activity. This modern discovery is part and parcel of the joy of learning as I have written extensively elsewhere<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For our purposes, we can note that flow comes in many forms, both vigorous and contemplative, but more recent discoveries have shown it to be only one step in the flow cycle, which includes both a struggle phase beforehand while getting into flow and a recovery phase after which allows the mind needed rest for entering the flow cycle again (see Rian Doris, flowstate.com<\/a>). One cannot be \u201con\u201d all the time, so there should varying types and levels of focused effort throughout the school day and throughout the weeks and months of a school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he may not personally connect flow state with his ideas of deep work or slow productivity, Newport does connect his thoughts back to Aristotle’s vision of eudaimonia<\/em> (\u201cflourishing or happiness\u201d) and the contemplative life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIn the Nicomachean Ethics<\/em>, which would have been familiar to any serious thinker from the time of Copernicus onward, Aristotle identified deep contemplation as the most human and worthy of all activities. The general lifestyle of the scientist, by this logic, had a worthiness of its own, independent of any specific accomplishments in the moment. Little value was to be gained in rushing, as the work itself provided reward. This mindset supported a Renaissance-style understanding of professional efforts as one element among many that combine to create a flourishing existence.\u201d (115)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What this masterful quote adds to our discussion so far is the intrinsic value of meaningful work. In addition to its practical value in transforming the student, learning should be done for its own sake and as its own reward. The hustle and bustle of modern schooling necessities against this more natural and humane approach. Meanwhile it fosters grade grubbing and the worst type of pragmatism in education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next and final installment, we’ll explore Cal Newport’s final principle of slow productivity, \u201cobsess over quality\u201d and wrap up the series with a summary of practical applications from all three principles. Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Barney","author_link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/author\/jasonmbarney\/"},"uagb_comment_info":2,"uagb_excerpt":"In this series, I am taking my cue from Cal Newport’s helpful book Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout and applying his insights to our expectations for student work in classical Christian schools. Like the modern office, forms of pseudo-productivity dominate the modern school system\u2013a fact that explains how children can spend…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa7K1D-1jS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4490,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/01\/04\/slow-productivity-in-school-part-1-the-problem-of-pseudo-productivity\/","url_meta":{"origin":5076,"position":0},"title":"Slow Productivity in School, Part 1: The Problem of Pseudo-Productivity","author":"Jason Barney","date":"January 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Classical educators can often be found touting the Latin phrase multum, non multa, in favor of various revolutionary proposals to adopt quality over quantity, depth over breadth, much over many things. (See for instance this article on Memoria Press by Andrew Campbell, or Christopher Perron\u2019s lecture on Classical Academic Press.)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Modern Research"","block_context":{"text":"Modern Research","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/modern-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5129,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/07\/12\/slow-productivity-in-school-part-4-obsess-over-quality\/","url_meta":{"origin":5076,"position":1},"title":"Slow Productivity in School: Part 4, Obsess Over Quality","author":"Jason Barney","date":"July 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In this series on Slow Productivity in School, we\u2019ve been exploring the paradox of festina lente (\u201chasten slowly\u201d). When it comes to the work of learning, sometimes you must go slow to go fast. Or, perhaps more accurately, you must slow down to be truly productive. Taking our cues from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Modern Research"","block_context":{"text":"Modern Research","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/modern-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4508,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/01\/25\/slow-productivity-in-school-part-2-do-fewer-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":5076,"position":2},"title":"Slow Productivity in School, Part 2: Do Fewer Things","author":"Jason Barney","date":"January 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In my last article we discussed the problem of pseudo-productivity in school. Popularly called busywork, this pseudo-productivity of the factory model of education presents a fairly straightforward analogy to the pseudo-productivity of the office. In his book Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout, Cal Newport diagnosed the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Modern Research"","block_context":{"text":"Modern Research","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/modern-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5344,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/09\/27\/mastery-over-speed-the-lost-art-of-cultivating-virtue\/","url_meta":{"origin":5076,"position":3},"title":"Mastery over Speed: The Lost Art of Cultivating Virtue","author":"Kolby Atchison","date":"September 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It has become a truism that we live in a fast-paced world. In less than a century, modern technology has enabled us to convert a planet with a surface area of 197 million square miles into a global neighborhood.\u00a0 In 1750, for example, it took 4-6 weeks to sail by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Classical Tradition"","block_context":{"text":"Classical Tradition","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/classical-tradition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hiker-.jpg?fit=612%2C408&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hiker-.jpg?fit=612%2C408&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hiker-.jpg?fit=612%2C408&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":276,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2019\/02\/24\/review-of-recovering-the-lost-tools-of-learning-by-douglas-wilson\/","url_meta":{"origin":5076,"position":4},"title":"Review of Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning by Douglas Wilson","author":"Patrick Egan","date":"February 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Most people in the classical Christian school movement look upon Dorothy Sayer\u2019s 1947 essay \u201cThe Lost Tools of Learning\u201d as something of a founding document. However, the movement as it currently exists in North America stems from the implementation of that essay in the late 1980s, and is best represented\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Canva-Landscape-Photography-of-Columns.jpg?fit=1200%2C933&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Canva-Landscape-Photography-of-Columns.jpg?fit=1200%2C933&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Canva-Landscape-Photography-of-Columns.jpg?fit=1200%2C933&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Canva-Landscape-Photography-of-Columns.jpg?fit=1200%2C933&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Canva-Landscape-Photography-of-Columns.jpg?fit=1200%2C933&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3219,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2022\/08\/20\/7-notable-schools-educational-renewal-across-the-globe\/","url_meta":{"origin":5076,"position":5},"title":"7 Notable Schools: Educational Renewal across the Globe","author":"Patrick Egan","date":"August 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I visited Ireland a few weeks ago and met with a group of homeschool parents just outside Dublin. As I was presenting on Charlotte Mason\u2019s method of narration, it struck me that the principles and values of our educational renewal movement are not beholden to one single culture. Across the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Educational Leadership"","block_context":{"text":"Educational Leadership","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/educational-leadership\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/globe-gb2dac1473_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/globe-gb2dac1473_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/globe-gb2dac1473_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/globe-gb2dac1473_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/globe-gb2dac1473_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5076"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5081,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5076\/revisions\/5081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}