Cal Newport's ideas - especially from Slow Productivity - for Pastors
Here are some of productivity
guru Cal Newport’s ideas as they might be applicable to pastors, together with
some of my own reflections.
Dr Cal(vin) Newport writes mainly for knowledge
works. He does sometimes mention pastors (Slow Productivity, p15) and he says he hears from them a lot. He is
a computer scien
Pastors are of course concerned with the
knowledge of God. And they have the opportunity to implement some productivity
ideas because they normally have a relatively high degree of autonomy about how
they structure their efforts.
Perhaps one area that Newport doesn’t
particularly address is the central importance of relationships for the pastor.
Pastors are in the people business. They are not just about knowledge but about
people knowing God. The pastor’s work is rather different from
that of the guy who builds websites or writes financial reports. But nevertheless
the pastor’s vocation is still work. It is essential for the pastor to know his
people, to spend time with them. Some of this might be structured, but there
may also be some intentional hanging about. Attending the coffee morning could
be really productive work, even if its not like digging the road. Some people
can be hard work, of course, and some of us may find exhausting things which
other people might not think of as real work. We should seek to know ourselves
and what we will find energising or draining and plan accordingly.
Newport’s warnings against pseudo-productivity
and the quick fix are well made. Pastors, who can be conscious of their low
worldly status and lack of economic value, can feel the need to justify their existence
by activity. The wise pastor might adopt the time-frame of a shepherd or a
farmer who cultivates the seed of the Word looking, ultimately, for an eternal
harvest and the growth given he knows not how by God while he sleeps.
Newport has written, podcasted and YouTubed about
‘The Deep Life’ in which meaningful work is aligned with our values, which of course
ought to be of interest to pastors.
He has advocated Deep Work (2016 book) seeking
focus in a distracted world. Deep Work is the specific activity of focusing for
a session on something cognitively demanding without distraction (no switching /
shifting to different activities / contexts). What could be more relevant to
this than prayer and sermon preparation? Newport thinks it is best to have
blocks of two or three hours without distraction. Turn off those notifications
and avoid social media! He advocates ‘time block planning’ in the diary /
calendar and trying to reduce the number of projects one is actively working
on. Seeking to multi-task is normally a mistake.
Pastors can have so many demands on their
time. They could do so many good things. What do they think of as their real
core business which they are determined to make quality time for without distraction?
When and how could you aim to do the more shallow and necessary tasks with the
minimum effort? As Steve Jobs said: “Deciding what not to do is as important as
deciding what to do.” (Slow Productivity, p176 quoted from Jason Fell, ‘How
Steve Jobs Saved Apple’ Entrepreneur, October 27, 2011.)
Maybe you could have habits and rituals around
your deep work that help you: sermon prep on a Wednesday afternoon with a latte,
or whatever! The location in which you study and pray could make a real difference.
Newport is also interested in Digital
Minimalism (Penguin, 2019) and with the elimination of email (2021 book).
Maybe pastors would do well to tame their relationship with technology. Perhaps
email could be confined to a slot in the morning and a slot in the afternoon to
provide more uninterrupted focused time with the Bible or with people?
Pastors often work six days a week with a
number of evening commitments, so it behoves them to think carefully about work-life
balance. Pastors of course want to serve. And feeling needed gives a boost. We
can invest much of our sense of self in our calling but we need to remember
that the position of Messiah is taken! No one wants a busy, exhausted, frazzled
pastor and it is probably a mistake for us to think of ourselves as endlessly
available 24x6, unless someone really is dying. Which often they are not. Many
things can wait. Some things even sort themselves out without us doing
anything, even though it seemed like an urgent crisis at the time.
Some of us often need to be reminded to slow
down and listen to the Scriptures and our people better than we might naturally
do.
In his latest book, Slow Productivity:
The lost art of productivity without burnout (
(1) Do fewer things. Focus on the couple of core activities that really make a difference. Deliberately strategize to do what matters most, ignoring or eliminating what gets in the way as best you can. Limit missions, projects and daily goals. Try to work on one big thing each day.
(2) Work at a natural pace. Here Newport claims to draw on ideas from humanity’s hunter gatherer past. He advocates some periods of intensity but also some quieter periods, perhaps a quieter month – some element of seasonality. And some space carved out in the week. Maybe a harder Monday than Friday. Perhaps avoiding scheduling big stuff for Monday AM so that you can enjoy Sunday more. The goal is to avoid rushing our most important work, to give it the time and space it needs. Be deliberate about rest and refreshment after busy periods.
(3) Obsess over quality whilst avoiding a crippling perfectionism. The sermon could always be better and more fully prepared and rehearsed. We might do well to take some more time on it, but we also need to have confidence when it is ready – we mustn’t give infinite time or nothing will ever get done. The aim is progress not perfection (cf. 1 Timothy 4:15). Study to build craft and skill over time and keep growing. If we preach thoughtfully most weeks for maybe twenty or thirty years, we ought to be quite good at it by our eighties! Perhaps we need some feedback and help or different approaches if we feel we’re not making progress.
Newport also gives some particular suggestions for rules, habits and ploys towards implementing these principles, and much of the book draws lessons from those he sees as having exemplified some aspect of his philosophy (Isaac Newton, Jane Austin, contemporary musicians, authors and business people).
It seems to me it is worth the pastor thinking
about these things.
Even if we aim to obsess over quality, we must
also recognise there is lots of stuff we need to do which is not sermon
preparation (or whatever core activity we particularly love or value). There is
also truth in the principle of ‘The Godliness of Mediocrity’: if a thing is
worth doing, it is worth doing badly. Or at least adequately. Good enough is
good enough. Of course it could always be better. But if you decide to become a
famous concert pianist, you are not likely to get much else done. You are not
just a preacher but also a pastor and a leader – and, you know, family, friends
etc.
There is a treadmill of weekly sermon and bible
study preparation etc., but there is value in thinking of these things as
longer projects over a more extended timescale. How can I plan and prepare for
a sermon series rather than just getting ready for this Sunday? And how can I
work in such a way that the preparation I do now will be most useful when I preach
or teach this book again in ten years’ time?
Personally I think I would do well to
sometimes take some time out to think about potential plans for two- or
five-years’ times. How do I see the big picture of church life and our long
term needs?
Maybe it is good for pastors to think about
having a big slow project: a bible book or theologian they want to get to know really
well. Or to be encouraged to keep up their biblical languages by giving them
twenty minutes most days because of the long-term benefits. Much can be
achieved by plodding.
Newport also has ideas on cultivating taste
and creativity through a hobby not directly related to your work, in his case,
cinema. Church and family life can be demanding, there’s lots to be said for
ministers who know how to relax, play, have fun, have friends and ideally have
some kind of hinterland. Perhaps some of us are driven beyond the call of God
to see immediate results in terms of church finances or bums on pews and could
do with lightening up and trusting God.
Newport refers to C. S. Lewis’ Inklings as a
group of friends who provide criticism and encouragement. Some diocese
encourage Reflective Practice circles for this sort of purpose. And many
pastors will belong to prayer triplets or preaching groups. Where do we plan to
get our constructive criticism or a bit of help and advice?
* * *
I’ve made some other notes about some of Cal
Newport’s (other) core ideas from YouTube videos here:
https://marclloyd.blogspot.com/2024/03/some-of-cal-newports-ideas.html
* * *
If you’re interested in these ideas, you may also enjoy Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (Virgin Books, 2024, 288pp). See: https://marclloyd.blogspot.com/2024/02/essentialism-one-necessary-thing.html
* * *
Here are some other resources, not all of which I've read or used:
Reagan Rose offers Christian perspectives on productivity here: https://redeemingproductivity.com/
He considers the Pastor and personal productivity in this You Tube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a39wztWlIs also an article for Focus on the Family which draws on Newport's Deep Work.
He suggests:
Keep a consistent bed time and morning routine.
Pray and plan your day.
Schedule the most important thing and get it done even if an emergency pushes out other stuff. Guard your time.
Have a regular normal pattern of day off, sermon prep etc. even if sometimes there are emergencies.
* * *
Effective faith - a Christian website that seeks to help with effectiveness whilst warning against idolatrous / toxic approaches to 'productivity': https://effectivefaith.org/
* * *
Matt Perman is the author of What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done (Zondervan, 2014) and How to Get Unstuck: Breaking Free from Barriers to Your Productivity (Zondervan, 2018)
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