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Ancient Greeks knew a time management secret that could save your sanity

Welcome to the philosophical world of ‘Kairos.’

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Thinking man statue with a timer.

Picture this: you're downing your third espresso of the morning, frantically toggling between seventeen browser tabs, when your kid tugs on your sleeve and whispers, "Mom, look: there's a rainbow outside." Your mind comes to a standstill, and for a brief moment, life's priorities seem perfectly aligned as you let yourself be drawn to the window. Were you "productive" in this moment? Not in the modern sense, no. But in ancient Greece, wise elders would be proud of you.

While we furiously chase deadlines and optimize our days for "maximum efficiency," we lose something profound that the people of Ancient Greece understood intimately: all time is not considered equal. The Greeks distinguished between Chronos—the relentless tick of the clock, represented by the many alarms and calendar alerts that make up modern life—and Kairos. These rich, meaningful moments give life its emotional depth.


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Why your relationship to time is probably toxic

We've lost the plot on productivity. It's not our fault, necessarily. If your timeline is anything like mine, it's flooded with bullet journal inspiration, exploitative side hustles masquerading as "creative" outputs, and bros boasting about how they've "hacked" sleep, as if a person's worth can be measured by their output per hour. It's exhausting. And to be honest, a little weird.

The statistics are even more sobering. The World Health Organization reports that over 700,000 people died from overwork in 2016 alone. We are killing ourselves to reach an unachievable, unsustainable, inhumane ideal of "productivity," while simultaneously missing the moments that make life worth living. A cruel joke, surely?

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Research shows that constant productivity isn't beneficial for us, with the risk of burnout doubling when employees work 60-hour workweeks, rather than the already inflated 40-hour work week. Hustle mentality has infested too many corners of our lives. Self-care has shifted from a priority to just another bullet point on our to-do lists. We feel guilty for resting, anxious during downtime, and put constant pressure on ourselves to be "productive." "Lazy" has become a dirty word.

Two types of time that change everything

For the Greeks, there was a different way. They had Chronos (represented in schedules, planning, and other concepts and descriptions that are used to describe robots, not humans), and Kairos.

Chronos transforms days into spreadsheets and precious lives into productivity metrics and LinkedIn posts. Its focus is quantitative, measurable, and indifferent to the very human desire for in-person experiences.

calendar, overwhelming, chronos, time, management Personal calendar.Photo credit: Canva

However, Kairos, which translates into "the right or critical moment," is where the magic happens. It's described as a "qualitative time," moments where time seems to expand and a greater force—meaning—seeps in. In Greek mythology, Kairos was depicted as a beautiful youth with wings on his heels, running swiftly while a single lock of hair fell over his forehead. The symbolism was clear: these moments are fleeting, and once they pass, there's nothing left to grab onto.

Could you reflect on your most treasured memories? What arises? Was it the workday when you perfectly adhered to a Pomodoro timer? Or the spontaneous dinner with an old friend, when the conversation flowed like wine and time seemed to disappear? The latter is a "Kairos moment," or a moment when "time slows down or even stands still as we become acutely aware of the richness and depth of the experience."

Or as one philosopher puts it, "Chronos time management is obsessed with saving time. Kairos is about savoring it."

How to reclaim your relationship with time

The ancient Greeks understood what we've forgotten: both types of time are necessary for a whole life. Chronos provides much-needed structure, helping us meet commitments and enabling civilization to function. Without it, we couldn't coordinate with others or accomplish meaningful goals. But without Kairos to balance it, we lose our humanity and turn into machines—efficient, perhaps, but utterly empty.

Friends, time, management, joy, secret Friends enjoying each others' company.Photo credit: Canva

The secret lies in learning to dance between them. Individuals who regularly experience Kairos moments tend to report higher life satisfaction, stronger relationships, and greater resilience. These are more than feel-good platitudes, but represent measurable benefits that stem from understanding the true nature of time.

Luckily, we can use Chronos strategically to create opportunities for Kairos moments:

  • Schedule unstructured time. It seems ironic, but book calendar space for spontaneity. Embrace the paradox.
  • Silence notifications during meals. Create protected spaces for presence.
  • Choose depth over efficiency when someone needs you. Remember that not every moment calls for optimization or problem-solving.
  • Practice "sacred pausing"—moments of intention when you opt for meaningful depth, at the cost of "efficiency." This practice is personal and can take many forms. It may mean truly listening instead of waiting to speak. Experiencing a sunset, watching intently as the warm, golden hues fade into blues, purples, and indigos. Tasting food, concentrating on flavors, sensations, and textures, rather than screens or even conversation. Choosing to spend time with loved ones. Feeling gratitude for being alive.

A radical act of resistance

In our hyperconnected world, Kairos offers resistance to the tyranny of the clock. It suggests that our lives exceed our accomplishments, our worth transcends our output, and life's most important experiences cannot be captured in productivity apps.

sundial, clock, tyranny, time, mangement A sundial. Photo credit: Canva

So, the next time you find yourself mindlessly rushing from task to task, take a moment to pause. Look around. Notice small details, like the light streaming through the window, the chatter of neighbors nearby, the fact that you are alive and breathing and sharing this precious moment with billions of other humans on a spinning rock in space. Kairos is calling—inviting you to step out of the relentless march of measured time and into the eternal now, where real life resides.

Your to-do list can wait. But this moment won't come again. If you're open to hearing it, the wisdom of ancient Greeks is still alive, and they're willing to teach anyone willing to slow down and listen.

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Science

Why time seems to speed up as we age and how you can slow it down

You can't stop time but there are some hacks to slow down your perception of it.

via Jordan Benton/Canva

An hour glass and a pithy tweet.

You're going along, minding your own business on the internet, when suddenly, this little gem comes across your timeline: "1980 and 2023 are as far apart as 1937 and 1980. Sleep tight, old fogies."

Your first reaction is, "Nuh-uh, no way," so you pull out the calculator to do the math yourself—several times because you're sure you must've missed a number somewhere. You remember how long ago 1937 seemed in 1980, and there's no possible way that much time has passed between 1980 and now. Then, as the warped reality of time washes over you, you sit and stare in stunned silence, contemplating the existential crisis.

Why does time work this way? Why does it seem to get faster and faster and condense to make decades seem shorter and shorter as we age? And perhaps more importantly, how the heck do we stop time from feeling like a runaway freight train?

Here are a few theories about what creates the freight train phenomenon.

time, time perception, science of time, hour glass, aging, neural processing, youth, lifespans, oceanA hand holding an hour glass by the ocean.via Canva/Photos

Time perception is relative—and kids perceive it differently

"Time flies when you're having fun" is a saying for a reason. Time also drags when you're doing drudgery work and feels like it stands still in moments of significance. And yet the ticking of seconds as they go by doesn't change tempo. We measure it with steady, unchanging beats, but how it feels changes constantly.

This relativity exists in every passing moment, but it also exists in the bigger picture as well. The years felt like they passed by much more slowly when we were children, and by middle age, they feel like they pass in the blink of an eye. The pandemic gave us an even greater sense of this relativity as disruptions to our normal routines and the stress associated with the COVID-19 years messed with our sense of time. (On an odd side note, surveys show that our time perception during the pandemic varied a lot from place to place—people in some parts of the world felt that time moved more slowly, while others felt time moved more quickly.)

According to a 2023 Hungarian study published in Nature Scientific Reports, very young children perceive time differently than older children and adults. Researchers split 138 people into three age groups—pre-kindergarten, school-age and adults 18 and over—and showed them two videos of the same duration, one that was "eventful" and one that was "uneventful." Interestingly, the pre-K group perceived the eventful video to be longer, while the older children and adults saw the uneventful video as longer.

The way the study participants described the length of the videos in gestures was also telling. Young children were much more likely to use vertical hand gestures, connoting volume or magnitude, to indicate a length of time than the other two age groups. School-aged kids and adults tended to use horizontal gestures, indicating time as linear, increasing with age.

time, time perception, science of time, aging, neural processing, youth, lifespans, female aging, woman's face over the yearsA woman slowly ages over about 15 years.via Canva/Photos

Our neural processing slows down as we age

Professor Adrian Bejan has a theory based on how neurons process signals. As we age, our neural networks increase in size and complexity and, as a result, process visual information at a slower rate. That slower processing means we create fewer mental images each second than we did when we were younger, thereby making time seem to slow down.

“People are often amazed at how much they remember from days that seemed to last forever in their youth, Bejan shared with Harvard University. "It’s not that their experiences were much deeper or more meaningful; it’s just that they were being processed in rapid fire.”

In other words, processing the same number of mental images we did in our youth takes longer now, somewhat counterintuitively making time seem to pass more quickly. So goes the theory, anyway.

It might simply be about time-to-life ratios

Another popular theory about why time feels different as a child than it does as an adult is the ratio of any given day, week or year to the amount of time we've been alive. To a 5-year-old, a year is 20% of their entire life. For a 50-year-old, a year only is 0.2% of their life, so it feels like it went by much more quickly.

It's also a matter of how much change has happened in that year. A year in the life of a 5-year-old is full of rapid growth and change and learning and development. A year in the life of a 50-year-old probably isn't a whole lot different than when they were 48 or 49. Even if there are major life changes, the middle-aged brain isn't evolving at nearly the same rate as a child. A 50-year-old looking back at the past year will have a lot fewer changes to process than a 5-year-old, therefore the year will seems like it went by a lot faster.

“Our perception of days, weeks, years and that kind of time seems to be especially influenced by our perspective: Are we in the moment experiencing it, or are we looking backward on time?” psychology professor Cindy Lustig told the University of Michigan.

hands, clocks, passage of time, age aging, old age, time perception, time fliesAn elderly person's hands holding a small clock.via Canva/Photos

The key to slowing it all down? Be mindful of the present moment.

Lustig has a point. When we are in the moment, our perception of time is much different than when we look back. So, being fully conscious in the present moment can help us rein in the freight train effect.

One way to do that is to be mindful of your physical existence in this moment. Feel your heart beating. Feel your breath going in and out. Cornell University psychology professor Adam Anderson, Ph.D., conducted a study that found our perception of time may be linked with the length of our heartbeats. (Study participants were fitted with electrocardiograms and asked to listen to a brief audio tone. They perceived the tone as longer after a longer heartbeat and shorter after a shorter one.) He suggests starting a stopwatch, closing your eyes and focusing on your breathing for what you think feels like a minute. Then, check your time to see how accurate your estimation was.

“This can give you a sense of how much your experience of your body is related to your experience of time,” Anderson told WebMD. “It will help teach you to enjoy the pure experience of time.”

You can also use focused breathing to purposely slow down your heart rate, and thus slow down your time perception. “We show that slow heart rates—that is, a longer duration between heartbeats—dilates time, slowing it down," Anderson said.

We can also alter our perception of time by taking in novel experiences, such as traveling to new places. According to Steve Taylor, author of Making Time: Why Time Seems To Pass at Different Speeds and How to Control It, people who go on adventurous trips report that their vacations feel longer than those who choose a predictable destination. You can also make small changes to your daily routine, such as trying new foods or taking a new route home from work to take in some new stimuli and slow your perception of time.

Finally, try to take in the world the way you did as a small child. Take note of life's wonders. Engage fully in whatever you're doing. Notice details and take mental pictures as much as you can. Time goes by fast when we're distracted, so training our attention on the here and now can help. Ultimately, we can strive to perceive time more like we did when we were little, in its full depth and magnitude instead of a narrow, straight line.


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

This article originally appeared last year.

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Non-Americans reveal the fascinating ways they count 'One Mississippi' in their country

Yes, many people around the world count "Mississippilessly."

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People who live nowhere near Mississippi have their own unique ways of counting seconds.

Imagine you're nine years old. You're playing hide and go seek with your friends, and it's your turn to seek. You lean against a tree and cover your eyes and begin to count. How do you do it? If you were born in the USA, there is only one way:

"One Mississippi...two Mississippi...three Mississippi..."

Counting by "Mississippis" is the gold standard for people growing up in America. Though there are other ways to count out estimated seconds, Mississippi has the perfect length, correct number of syllables, and just the right sing-song rhythm that makes it such a catchy way for kids to learn to count. For many of us, the habit follows us into adulthood. We may not count out loud during backyard games as often anymore, but secretly many of us still do it in our heads.

counting, numbers, counting mississippi, american, english, usa, cultural differences, learning, education, kids Counting is fun! Giphy

Mississippi, though, is a very American word because it's a very American place. So recently a curious social media user posed the question: How do non-Americans count seconds instead of using One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, etc.?

The Reddit thread got over a thousand comments from people wanting to chime in. In fact, it's such a good question that the topic has come up on social media many times over the years, in several Reddit threads, YouTube videos, and more.

Seems we just can't get enough of this fascinating topic! Here are the best responses from people around the globe.

counting, numbers, counting mississippi, american, english, usa, cultural differences, learning, education, kids As Ross from 'Friends' would say, "Mississippilessly?!" Giphy

For starters, let's briefly recognize that not everyone in the USA counts "One Mississippi." There is another popular, though far inferior, method of counting.

"As an American, I rarely use Mississippi to count seconds. I normally use 'one thousand,'" a user wrote on Reddit.

Yes, One One Thousand, Two One Thousand, Three One Thousand, etc. Effective, but boring!

In the UK, there are a few popular options. Some people there even say Mississippi, even though it's thousands of miles away and they probably know almost nothing about the place! That's how catchy it is.

In a YouTube video on the subject posted by Numberphile, an American woman living in England, she shares that people she knows use "1 Piccadilly, 2 Piccadilly..." or "1 Elephant, 2 Elephant..."

One user on Reddit said, "'One silly second, two silly seconds' - in my part of the UK (in the 80s)"

Another user mentioned they were familiar with "One steamboat, two steamboats..." but mostly during football matches.

People who live in France or speak French Canadian seem to have a lot of different options:

"In french we say '''un bateau, deux bateaux'' (one boat, to boats)' one user wrote.

"un sucre, deux sucres, trois sucres... (one sugar, two...)" said another.

Another person added, "in French I grew up with « un crocodile, deux crocodiles » or « un hippopotame, deux hippopotames »"

"French canadian, we count hippopotamuses ... Un hippopotame, deux hippopotames..." someone else agreed.


counting, numbers, counting mississippi, american, english, usa, cultural differences, learning, education, kids One hippopotamus, two hippopotamus... Giphy

Animal names for counting seconds seem to be a popular choice all over the world, in fact, with elephants, crocodiles, and the mighty hippopotamus ruling the day.

"In South Africa we used to say 'one crocodile', 'two crocodiles', etc."

"Australia: one cat-and-dog, two cat-and-dog, three cat-and-dog"

"Egy elefánt, két elefánt, három elefánt, ... Hungarian: one elephant, two elephant, the elephant"

Some countries have a creative and interesting technique. Instead of using a filler word, they start counting at later numbers that have more syllables.

"In Dutch, we start counting at 21, which has four syllables. The pace is a bit slower than the Mississippis. Eenentwintig tweeëntwintig, drieëntwintig.." a user wrote.

A German speaking user echoed the sentiment: "The actual way I‘ve been taught to count seconds in German is by saying twenty one, twenty two, etc.. in German. So: Einundzwanzig, zweiundzwanzig, dreiundzwanzig, vierundzwanzig,…"

Other countries have their own version of "One One Thousand..."

"The only ones I've heard people use here in Sweden is saying ettusenett, ettusentvå, ettusentre etc. which means 'onethousandone, onethousandtwo...'" a user wrote.

"Czech: jednadvacet, dvaadvacet... (one-and-twenty, two-and-twenty...)" another added.

And others were just completely unique:

"In Denmark we use 'en kasse øl, to kasser øl ....'. Basically counting cases of beer"

"In India we say 'Tick tick one', 'tick tick two' sort of like ticking of the clock."

counting, numbers, counting mississippi, american, english, usa, cultural differences, learning, education, kids Tick tick one, tick tick two, tick tick three... Giphy

Finally, because the Internet, social media users had some excellent jokes:

"In Canada, we just apologize after every number. 'One, I'm sorry; two, I'm sorry...'"

"One Transylvania, ah, ha, ha, Two Transylvania, ah, ha, ha..... I obviously live on Sesame Street."

"One Maple Syrup, Two Maple Syrup…."

"In Wales, they say ONE llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, TWO llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, THREE llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoc."

(You may recognize that word as the longest village name in Britain and the subject of an incredible viral TV weather forecast moment.)

How did Mississippi become the standard method of counting seconds in the United States? It's hard to say for sure, but one of the earliest references comes from a book titled How to Use Psychology in Business from 1936.

The passage in question discusses the most efficient method of climbing stairs to conserve energy (for some reason), and recommends counting Mississippis on each stair to achieve the optimal pacing of about one step per second.

From there, the fun, catchy, sing-songiness of the method made it a go-to choice for kids counting in schoolyard games, and the rest was history.

While Mississippi is definitely the most fun and effective method in American English for estimating seconds, some of the international options are fascinating and super creative. All in all, Sesame Street's The Count would be incredibly proud of us.


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Golden Years

I spent a week chatting with people over 80. Here are 4 pieces of wisdom they shared.

"No one warns you how many of your new friends will pass on."

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Two hands of different ages grasp one another.

There are only a few things in this life we can't evade. One of them is aging. Sure, there's Botox and facelifts and all that jazz to help us look younger. But in the end, our cells simply insist on keeping score, and no matter how hard some might fight it, our DNA is bombarded with hits that will eventually take us down.

The good news is that with years often comes wisdom. I like to think of our minds as though they were hiking trails. Each trail has a sign, but instead of telling us which way to go, the signs remind us who we are. This past week, I was honored to read some of those signs at the senior home where my mom resides. Nearly every conversation, at least for me, yielded little sage sachets of advice that are truly invaluable.

Know someone before you marry them.

A woman in her early 80s shared that it takes about a year for someone's "true nature" to be revealed, even in the most intimate of relationships. (This, at least according to a professor she had in graduate school.) In other words, she says, "A person can hide their psychological pathologies, on average, for about a year."

So, she wishes younger people would wait at least that long before moving in or getting married. "Slow down," she said. "Really take your time before you take the leap. Everyone puts their best foot forward at first and then sometimes that mask can slip. Don't get stuck."

elderly man, elderly woman, relationship, honeymoon phase A man kissing a woman near the ocean. Photo by Esther Ann on Unsplash

Some research shows that the "honeymoon phase" can, of course, vary in length. Brides.com shares, "The honeymoon phase is an early part of a couple's relationship where everything seems carefree and happy. It usually lasts from six months to two years and can be marked with lots of laughs, intimacy, and fun dates."

No matter how long that phase lasts, her advice to slow down and really get to know someone before fully committing seems like (mostly) a good idea.

Listen to your doctors

elderly man, doctor's office, health, blood pressure A doctor examining a patient's wrist with a stethoscope Photo by CDC on Unsplash

I met a woman who was a retired OBGYN. We talked at length about perimenopause, hormones, and life after 50. She urges, "Do the research, but also (for the most part) listen to your doctors. Most of them know what they're doing."

We both kind of laughed, and then she leaned in and said, "No. Really." She added, "Nothing wrong with getting a second, or even third opinion. But listen and read all you can before it's too late."

Understand that time is precious

elderly, aging, friendship, time, Two men play chess. Photo by Vlad Sargu on Unsplash

One thing my mom rather casually mentioned really stuck with me. This was how difficult it is to make new friends—and not for reasons one might think. Sure, senior living facilities can be just as cliquey as groups were in middle school. But for my mother, it was less about fitting in and more about fearing she would lose people as she grew to love them.

"No one warns you how many of your new friends will pass on. When I first moved here, I befriended a brilliantly funny woman and within six months she was gone. This happens more and more and you never get used to it. You're never prepared."

If you don't want to eat dinner at 4:30, you don't have to.

On a simpler note, this one might be obvious to some, but it was certainly a common topic among the people with whom I spoke. Even though they serve dinner at 5:00 in many senior homes, it doesn't mean you can't put it in Tupperware and save it for later. To that point, just because people age, doesn't mean they have to go to bed at 8:00 p.m. (Though for many, that timeline is just perfect.)

One man noted, "Just because we all live in one place doesn't mean we all become one person. We've got night owls and early birds and every other kind of bird you could imagine. Eat and sleep when you want to. It's still your life."

His friend added, "If you want to play Mahjong at midnight, do it!"

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