Rethinking Productivity for School Practitioners
8 ways to improve well-being while doing your best work in schools

In schools today, productivity is often measured by how much you can get done in a day—lesson plans, meetings, emails, student support, documentation. But this “produce more” mindset comes at a cost. For educators, administrators, and support staff, that cost often shows up as burnout, fatigue, and reduced capacity to be present with students and with our families when we return home.

This begs the question, what if the way we look at productivity is wrong? Instead, what if we looked at productivity not as about doing more—but about doing what matters, given the energy and responsibilities we have daily?

Inspired by the ideas from Cal Newport’s book “Slow Productivity,” I would argue that it’s time to rethink productivity and how we work in school environments so that health and well-being feels possible. To that end, here are eight practical strategies to help:

1. Focus on 1–3 Priority Areas
Instead of juggling everything at once, identify 1–3 top priorities/intentions for the week (e.g., literacy improvement, finishing the current unit, or closing out exam season). This helps reduce cognitive overload and allows you to manage your energy as you work towards meaningful progress where it counts most.

Action: Start each week by naming your top three priorities and align your time and energy accordingly.

2. Shift Your Time Horizon
Not every outcome needs to happen immediately. Student growth, culture change, and program success take time. Sometimes this even takes years. 

Action: Set realistic timelines for initiatives (e.g., term-based or year-long goals) and communicate these clearly with your team(s).

3. Embrace Seasonality in Schools
The school year already has natural rhythms—busy reporting periods, quieter planning windows. Use these seasons intentionally.

Action: Protect slower seasons (e.g., early term or post-reporting windows) for planning, reflection, and deepening your practice rather than filling them with extra tasks.

4. Pull, Don’t Push Work
Constantly saying “yes” as practitioners leads to overload and burnout. I know because I’ve been there. Instead, create space both mentally and emotionally before taking on new responsibilities.

Action: Before agreeing to new work or responsibilities, ask: What can come off my plate to make room for this? Do I have the energy for this?

5. Make Task Clarity a Non-Negotiable
Unclear expectations waste time and zap your energy.

Action: When assigned a task or responsibility, clarify: What does success look like? What energy will this require from me? What’s the timeline? What resources are available that I or my team can leverage?

6. Double Your Time Estimates
Education work is complex and often interrupted. Underestimating time leads to stress as we scramble to complete our work.

Action: When scheduling tasks like report writing or planning, try to give yourself twice the time you think you’ll need. This creates space for deeper thinking and reduces pressure to get things done.

7. Set Clear Boundaries
We need to be well to lead well and teach well. To foster this, we need to remember that boundaries are essential, not optional.

Action: Define a clear end to your workday when possible. Avoid habitual after-hours emails and model this behavior for colleagues and students, especially on the weekends and during Holiday seasons.

8. Balance Meetings with Focus Time (1:1 Rule)
Too many meetings reduce your ability to do meaningful work.

Action: If your role requires frequent meetings, try scheduling an hour of uninterrupted time for every hour of meetings you have. Use this time to reflect, plan, or further develop your programming.

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At the heart of education is human connection. When practitioners are overwhelmed, that connection suffers. By rethinking productivity through a well-being lens, schools can create environments where educators, leaders and students all thrive together.

The goal isn’t to do less—it’s to do what matters, better, and in a way that is sustainable for long term growth, well-being and a healthy school culture.

This microblog post was a featured post in #slowchathealth’s #microblogmonth event. You can search for all of the featured posts here. Please do follow each of the outstanding contributors on social media (including, Ryan Fahey, 2x Canadian Best-Selling Author, Professional Speaker , Educator and the author of this post) and consider writing a microblog post of your own to be shared with the global audience of slowchathealth.com

Pair this post with the following books from Ryan:

Your Best Decade by Ryan Fahey

How to Thrive in Remote Working Environments by Ryan Fahey

Listen: How To Be You In A World When You Can Be Anything by Ryan Fahey