May 30, 2025 • 11 mins
The ancient Greeks recognized two types of time that we need for balance—chronos (clock time) and kairos (flow state where time disappears)—but modern society has devalued the latter despite its importance for creativity, fulfillment, and connection.
• Chronos is measured, ticking time built around clocks and efficiency
• Kairos is deep time or flow state where time collapses and we're fully present
• When we emerge from kairos, we always feel great regardless of duration
• Society has mistakenly deemed chronos more important, making us feel guilty about kairos time
• Hustle culture considers kairos unproductive despite being essential for creativity and connection
• As AI increases efficiency, consciously building our "kairos muscle" becomes crucial
• Women who only live by chronos without kairos tend to burn out faster
• There's a distinction between wasting time (scrolling) and genuine kairos experiences
• Intentionally scheduling kairos time (massage, reading, unrushed meals with friends) is necessary
• Giving yourself permission is the key mindset shift needed to welcome kairos back into your life
If this resonated, share it with a friend who needs to hear it today, and don't forget to subscribe to Balance and Beyond for full episodes and more of these bite-sized breakthroughs.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Balance and Beyond Moments.
Your weekly dose of insight,wisdom and mindset shifts, all
in 10 minutes or less, whetherit's a powerful truth, a fresh
perspective or a spark ofinspiration, this is your space
to pause, reflect and reset.
Let's dive in Time, the greatleveler, the thing that we can
(00:25):
never get more of, and yet wespend our lives chasing it.
Today, I want to share somewisdom from the ancient Greeks
that we all need to grasp andembed into our being.
The ancient Greeks actually hadtwo words for time.
One was chronos, which maysound familiar as the root of
(00:46):
what we now call chronological,and they also had another word
for time, which is called kairos.
This is the type of time thatwe have forgotten and completely
devalued.
So today I'm going to sharewith you a little bit about
these two types of time, sharewhy we've forgotten what should
be our most important and,importantly, how can we now get
(01:08):
into both of these types of timeand have better balance?
Because that's what this is allabout.
Kronos, according to the ancientGreeks, was measured ticking,
quantitative time that is builtaround clocks.
We spend a lot of our lifetalking about saving it,
efficiency, being betterorganized, all with this type of
(01:30):
time in mind.
We live our lives by it.
We spend our days watching theclock.
This is how we are spendingmost of our time in today's
world.
Time in today's world, theother type of time kairos is
what the ancient Greeks used tocall deep time, or maybe you've
heard it as flow time, and thisis where time actually collapses
(01:54):
and the world outside of whatyou're doing stops.
Some people call this being inthe zone.
When you're in kairos time, youare in the present moment and
you are not at all worried aboutyesterday or tomorrow.
It's literally the time whentime stops, and for many people,
(02:15):
that might be a moment of joywith the kids, maybe it's a walk
in nature, maybe it's thosenights you occasionally have out
with your girlfriends where yousit down with a glass of
bubbles and click your fingersand suddenly four hours have
gone by and you've completelylost track of time.
What's really interesting isthat when you lift your head up
from being in Kairos time,whether you've been in it for 10
(02:38):
seconds or four hours, youalways feel great, you feel
fabulous, and it's what we needto feel whole.
You must have both.
Yes, we live by a society thatis dictated by a clock.
However, if you never get anyKairos time, you are always left
(03:01):
wanting.
So what I find fascinating isnot just to understand these two
types of time, but, in fact,what stops us getting in to
Kairos time then.
If it's the time that weactually need, well, to be
honest, it's the belief thatit's less important.
We as a society have decidedthat Kos time matters more, and
(03:25):
if we get into kairos, we mightwaste chronos.
Oh my gosh.
We might waste time, and whenyou're a woman who lives in my
world, you're probably going tofeel guilty for wasting time,
because you've got so much to doand we can't possibly take any
time for ourselves, we can'tpossibly get into flow because
we don't have time for that.
It's this hustle driven culturewe have, where it's all about
(03:50):
better, faster, more andefficiency, where we've
completely diminished Kairostime and considered it
unproductive, considered it weak, superfluous.
That's only for I don't knowwhether you call them hippies or
that's only for artists, sothat's only for creative people
who have time to get in the flow.
I've got too much stuff to getdone.
(04:10):
I definitely don't have timefor that.
But what's ironic is that whenwe get into Kairos, that is
actually where we find ourcreativity, it's where we find
our fulfillment and it's alsowhere we deeply connect to
others.
As we move into this new era ofAI, where Kronos is going to
(04:33):
continue to collapse, where thetime it takes to do something
Now we might, you know, have toformat a PowerPoint presentation
.
Well, soon we're just going togive an AI a prompt and it's
going to make it look beautiful.
Now you don't have to come upwith a lot of things, you can
just type a prompt in and out itcomes.
So there's this.
Quest for efficiency is goingto continue.
Who remembers back in the daywhen we thought, oh my gosh, I
(04:56):
remember when I first got myBlackberry.
I'm going to be so much faster,the internet will save us so
much time.
I don't have to go through allthose encyclopedias to find that
information.
It's at the tip of myfingertips.
Well, we all know that now,having 20,000 things at our
fingertips just means we can get20,000 more things done.
What is going to become crucialto your fulfillment and success
(05:18):
in future is going to beconsciously activating and
building your kairos muscle,getting into creativity, finding
those ideas, finding theprompts or asking the right
questions of others, lookingthrough other humans, finding
the humanness in all of us.
As we are going to perhaps moveinto a world that is a bit more
robotic, a bit more stale, howdo you find inspiration that's
(05:43):
going to be so crucial?
Not to mention ensuring thatyou don't burn out, because I
have seen a trend, if you thinkabout these two types of time,
where women, who are only everliving by Kronos and never give
themselves permission for anytype of Kairos time, for any
type of flow time, burn outfaster, and it's in the mistaken
(06:06):
belief that they don't havetime for Kairos.
And yet the ancient Greeks,many of our great philosophers,
saw both as equal.
As you start to think about allright, well, let me get into
some Kairos time.
The first thing that's going tocome up is this is going to
give you an idea of what blocksyou have in your mindset, what
(06:30):
limiting beliefs, as I call them, or weeds in your garden are
going to stop you doing this.
The first thing that's going tocome up is you're going to say
I don't have time for this, I'vegot too much stuff to get done.
We say hello guilt, hello shame, hello frustration.
And, ironically, if you evergive yourself permission for
Kairos time, then you're goingto feel guilty for getting into
(06:51):
it because you think, oh, Ispent too much time on that, I
got lost.
But really all that's happeninghere is that your muscle isn't
built and you're not placingequal footing on both of these
types of time.
I want to make a key distinctionhere.
There is a difference betweenwasting Kronos and getting in to
(07:12):
Kairos time.
By that I mean when you arefeeling so overwhelmed by the
ticking of the clock and by howmuch you have to do and all the
things on your list.
Very often we will end upprocrastinating.
We will find solace in thesolidarity of the scroll or
whatever platform.
It is of choice whether you'replaying Candy Crush or whether
(07:35):
you're scrolling socials.
That is actually just anavoidance of Kronos, because
that is not deep fulfilling.
Fill up your cup time, which iswhat Kairos is Usually.
As we become older, kairos hasto be something that we
intentionally step into.
Because our lives are dictatedby so much chronos, we have to
(07:57):
actually use our chronos time tomake space for the kairos.
So, booking in that massage andnot feeling guilty about it,
giving yourself time to go tobed early and get lost in that
book, going out with friends andnot having a return time.
Whether it's breakfast, lunchor dinner or going out for that
coffee, that is what matters.
(08:20):
That is true Kairos time.
So I want to make sure you'reaware of the distinction here,
because some people will saythings like oh, I've got time,
when I get in flow, when I'mscrolling.
No, that's called numbing youremotions.
There is a very, very bigdifference.
It's pretty rare that somebodycomes off spending 20 minutes
scrolling feeling better aboutthemselves or feeling like their
(08:42):
cup is full.
Usually, they just feel evenmore numb and they feel
frustrated and angry becausethey haven't done what it was
that they needed to do.
Everything I do is aboutmindset and strategy.
You always have to have both.
You can't just have the mindsetand go I'm going to think
positive and then never have anytools to back it up.
(09:04):
And likewise, so many peoplehave tools and yet they don't
have the right mindset and sothey're not going to land.
Perhaps the case for you is,maybe you've even forgotten how
to actually get into Kairos inthe first place.
I have so many women I talk towho say Jo, I don't even exist
in my life.
(09:24):
I'm an Uber driver, I'm a chef,I'm a laundromat person.
I take care of everybody else.
I work, I'm a chef, I'm alaundromat person, you know.
I take care of everybody else.
I work, I'm manager, I'm miss,I'm a daughter, I'm a friend, I
look after everybody else.
I have got no idea how toactually get in flow for me.
What does that look like?
And perhaps some of theactivities that you used to get
(09:46):
in flow with as a child or as ateenager aren't available to you
anymore.
Perhaps the body doesn't allowit, or perhaps your
circumstances have changed.
Maybe you don't now live on afarm and that's what you used to
do as a kid, but that doesn'tmean that you can't do it.
And I will say that, when itcomes to getting into Kairos
(10:06):
time, it is actually way moreabout mindset than it is about
strategy, because as soon as yougive yourself permission to get
into Kairos and you decide thatit matters, you decide that
it's important, even if you haveto block it out of Kronos time,
and not say it's a waste oftime.
Say you know what, for myhealth, for my mental health,
(10:28):
for my wellness, for myfinancial freedom, my health,
for my mental health, for mywellness, for my financial
freedom.
I have to do this.
It matters.
When you start to give yourselfpermission, it will naturally
come in and fill the space.
Thanks for taking this momentfor yourself.
If this resonated, share itwith a friend who needs to hear
it today, and don't forget tosubscribe to Balance and Beyond
(10:51):
for full episodes and more ofthese bite-sized breakthroughs.
See you next time.
Welcome to Balance and Beyond Moments.
Your weekly dose of insight,wisdom and mindset shifts, all
in 10 minutes or less, whetherit's a powerful truth, a fresh
perspective or a spark ofinspiration, this is your space
to pause, reflect and reset.
Let's dive in Time, the greatleveler, the thing that we can
(00:25):
never get more of, and yet wespend our lives chasing it.
Today, I want to share somewisdom from the ancient Greeks
that we all need to grasp andembed into our being.
The ancient Greeks actually hadtwo words for time.
One was chronos, which maysound familiar as the root of
(00:46):
what we now call chronological,and they also had another word
for time, which is called kairos.
This is the type of time thatwe have forgotten and completely
devalued.
So today I'm going to sharewith you a little bit about
these two types of time, sharewhy we've forgotten what should
be our most important and,importantly, how can we now get
(01:08):
into both of these types of timeand have better balance?
Because that's what this is allabout.
Kronos, according to the ancientGreeks, was measured ticking,
quantitative time that is builtaround clocks.
We spend a lot of our lifetalking about saving it,
efficiency, being betterorganized, all with this type of
(01:30):
time in mind.
We live our lives by it.
We spend our days watching theclock.
This is how we are spendingmost of our time in today's
world.
Time in today's world, theother type of time kairos is
what the ancient Greeks used tocall deep time, or maybe you've
heard it as flow time, and thisis where time actually collapses
(01:54):
and the world outside of whatyou're doing stops.
Some people call this being inthe zone.
When you're in kairos time, youare in the present moment and
you are not at all worried aboutyesterday or tomorrow.
It's literally the time whentime stops, and for many people,
(02:15):
that might be a moment of joywith the kids, maybe it's a walk
in nature, maybe it's thosenights you occasionally have out
with your girlfriends where yousit down with a glass of
bubbles and click your fingersand suddenly four hours have
gone by and you've completelylost track of time.
What's really interesting isthat when you lift your head up
from being in Kairos time,whether you've been in it for 10
(02:38):
seconds or four hours, youalways feel great, you feel
fabulous, and it's what we needto feel whole.
You must have both.
Yes, we live by a society thatis dictated by a clock.
However, if you never get anyKairos time, you are always left
(03:01):
wanting.
So what I find fascinating isnot just to understand these two
types of time, but, in fact,what stops us getting in to
Kairos time then.
If it's the time that weactually need, well, to be
honest, it's the belief thatit's less important.
We as a society have decidedthat Kos time matters more, and
(03:25):
if we get into kairos, we mightwaste chronos.
Oh my gosh.
We might waste time, and whenyou're a woman who lives in my
world, you're probably going tofeel guilty for wasting time,
because you've got so much to doand we can't possibly take any
time for ourselves, we can'tpossibly get into flow because
we don't have time for that.
It's this hustle driven culturewe have, where it's all about
(03:50):
better, faster, more andefficiency, where we've
completely diminished Kairostime and considered it
unproductive, considered it weak, superfluous.
That's only for I don't knowwhether you call them hippies or
that's only for artists, sothat's only for creative people
who have time to get in the flow.
I've got too much stuff to getdone.
(04:10):
I definitely don't have timefor that.
But what's ironic is that whenwe get into Kairos, that is
actually where we find ourcreativity, it's where we find
our fulfillment and it's alsowhere we deeply connect to
others.
As we move into this new era ofAI, where Kronos is going to
(04:33):
continue to collapse, where thetime it takes to do something
Now we might, you know, have toformat a PowerPoint presentation
.
Well, soon we're just going togive an AI a prompt and it's
going to make it look beautiful.
Now you don't have to come upwith a lot of things, you can
just type a prompt in and out itcomes.
So there's this.
Quest for efficiency is goingto continue.
Who remembers back in the daywhen we thought, oh my gosh, I
(04:56):
remember when I first got myBlackberry.
I'm going to be so much faster,the internet will save us so
much time.
I don't have to go through allthose encyclopedias to find that
information.
It's at the tip of myfingertips.
Well, we all know that now,having 20,000 things at our
fingertips just means we can get20,000 more things done.
What is going to become crucialto your fulfillment and success
(05:18):
in future is going to beconsciously activating and
building your kairos muscle,getting into creativity, finding
those ideas, finding theprompts or asking the right
questions of others, lookingthrough other humans, finding
the humanness in all of us.
As we are going to perhaps moveinto a world that is a bit more
robotic, a bit more stale, howdo you find inspiration that's
(05:43):
going to be so crucial?
Not to mention ensuring thatyou don't burn out, because I
have seen a trend, if you thinkabout these two types of time,
where women, who are only everliving by Kronos and never give
themselves permission for anytype of Kairos time, for any
type of flow time, burn outfaster, and it's in the mistaken
(06:06):
belief that they don't havetime for Kairos.
And yet the ancient Greeks,many of our great philosophers,
saw both as equal.
As you start to think about allright, well, let me get into
some Kairos time.
The first thing that's going tocome up is this is going to
give you an idea of what blocksyou have in your mindset, what
(06:30):
limiting beliefs, as I call them, or weeds in your garden are
going to stop you doing this.
The first thing that's going tocome up is you're going to say
I don't have time for this, I'vegot too much stuff to get done.
We say hello guilt, hello shame, hello frustration.
And, ironically, if you evergive yourself permission for
Kairos time, then you're goingto feel guilty for getting into
(06:51):
it because you think, oh, Ispent too much time on that, I
got lost.
But really all that's happeninghere is that your muscle isn't
built and you're not placingequal footing on both of these
types of time.
I want to make a key distinctionhere.
There is a difference betweenwasting Kronos and getting in to
(07:12):
Kairos time.
By that I mean when you arefeeling so overwhelmed by the
ticking of the clock and by howmuch you have to do and all the
things on your list.
Very often we will end upprocrastinating.
We will find solace in thesolidarity of the scroll or
whatever platform.
It is of choice whether you'replaying Candy Crush or whether
(07:35):
you're scrolling socials.
That is actually just anavoidance of Kronos, because
that is not deep fulfilling.
Fill up your cup time, which iswhat Kairos is Usually.
As we become older, kairos hasto be something that we
intentionally step into.
Because our lives are dictatedby so much chronos, we have to
(07:57):
actually use our chronos time tomake space for the kairos.
So, booking in that massage andnot feeling guilty about it,
giving yourself time to go tobed early and get lost in that
book, going out with friends andnot having a return time.
Whether it's breakfast, lunchor dinner or going out for that
coffee, that is what matters.
(08:20):
That is true Kairos time.
So I want to make sure you'reaware of the distinction here,
because some people will saythings like oh, I've got time,
when I get in flow, when I'mscrolling.
No, that's called numbing youremotions.
There is a very, very bigdifference.
It's pretty rare that somebodycomes off spending 20 minutes
scrolling feeling better aboutthemselves or feeling like their
(08:42):
cup is full.
Usually, they just feel evenmore numb and they feel
frustrated and angry becausethey haven't done what it was
that they needed to do.
Everything I do is aboutmindset and strategy.
You always have to have both.
You can't just have the mindsetand go I'm going to think
positive and then never have anytools to back it up.
(09:04):
And likewise, so many peoplehave tools and yet they don't
have the right mindset and sothey're not going to land.
Perhaps the case for you is,maybe you've even forgotten how
to actually get into Kairos inthe first place.
I have so many women I talk towho say Jo, I don't even exist
in my life.
(09:24):
I'm an Uber driver, I'm a chef,I'm a laundromat person.
I take care of everybody else.
I work, I'm a chef, I'm alaundromat person, you know.
I take care of everybody else.
I work, I'm manager, I'm miss,I'm a daughter, I'm a friend, I
look after everybody else.
I have got no idea how toactually get in flow for me.
What does that look like?
And perhaps some of theactivities that you used to get
(09:46):
in flow with as a child or as ateenager aren't available to you
anymore.
Perhaps the body doesn't allowit, or perhaps your
circumstances have changed.
Maybe you don't now live on afarm and that's what you used to
do as a kid, but that doesn'tmean that you can't do it.
And I will say that, when itcomes to getting into Kairos
(10:06):
time, it is actually way moreabout mindset than it is about
strategy, because as soon as yougive yourself permission to get
into Kairos and you decide thatit matters, you decide that
it's important, even if you haveto block it out of Kronos time,
and not say it's a waste oftime.
Say you know what, for myhealth, for my mental health,
(10:28):
for my wellness, for myfinancial freedom, my health,
for my mental health, for mywellness, for my financial
freedom.
I have to do this.
It matters.
When you start to give yourselfpermission, it will naturally
come in and fill the space.
Thanks for taking this momentfor yourself.
If this resonated, share itwith a friend who needs to hear
it today, and don't forget tosubscribe to Balance and Beyond
(10:51):
for full episodes and more ofthese bite-sized breakthroughs.
See you next time.
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