The ancient Greeks had two words to represent time: Kairos and Chronos. And they meant very different things. Chronos refers to the chronological and sequential passage of time, it’s about quantity. It’s like the order of facts when you tell a story.

Kairos, on the other hand, is a very different and much more intriguing concept. It refers to a period or season — a particular moment in indefinite time when something meaningful happens. It’s about quality and significance. In fact, when the term was used, it often implied that it was the right time.

Authors Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy explore this concept in their book 10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less, an insightful guide on how to choose the right projects, aka how to spend your time wisely.

The concept of kairos is truly fascinating. When you’re in that kind of qualitative time, you can access deeper meaning, greater inspiration, and a more profound way of living.

It’s reminiscent of the concept of flow. It was popularized by the famous book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, written by Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (You can read an article I wrote about it here).

This is a theme we often talk about these days, because in a world that pushes us to move faster and do more, embracing kairos invites us to slow down. And to be fully present.

Whether we are choosing a project, starting a new chapter, or simply trying to live more intentionally, recognizing the right time can make all the difference. Kairos makes us question about time and whether we’re aligned with that deeper sense of purpose we really need.

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PS: The picture is a shot taken in Paris time ago.