From classical Greek rhetoric, where the sophists taught kairos as the opportune moment, revived by John E. Smith (1969) and James L. Kinneavy (1986).
Separates the calendar signal (the schedule says act) from the moment signal (conditions, the counterparty, and the actor are ready) and forces a deliberate choice when they disagree.
When to reach for it
Before a launch, negotiation, or confrontation when the deadline says now and judgment says not yet, or the reverse.
How it runs
- State the action under consideration.
- State what the calendar or deadline says.
- Ask whether conditions, the other party, and you are ready.
- If the signals disagree, weigh which is costlier to ignore.
- Decide, and record which signal you followed and why.
- Later, check which signal was right.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Time, Times, and the Right Time: Chronos and Kairos, The Monist 53(1), 1969
- Kairos: A Neglected Concept in Classical Rhetoric, Rhetoric and Praxis (Jean Dietz Moss, ed.), 1986