Some personal challenges recently reminded me of an acronym a work colleague uses. It describes a core issue that can hold you hostage, preventing you from achieving your business and life goals.
For example, do you:
>Try hard to fit in?
>Commit to people and/or tasks you really don’t enjoy?
>Buy the latest “shiny-object” because it’s trendy (or because it’s a substitute for personal effort)?
>Sacrifice your goals because achieving them takes you out-of-the-loop?
If you can relate to those and tons of other mostly obsessive behaviors you have what my friend calls – FOMO. It stands for Fear Of Missing Out.
And here’s the core reality of FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out is really fear of failure and perhaps even success.
Your greatest enemy to living a productive and rewarded life isn’t always outside forces. In fact, it’s rarely nothing from the outside that you can’t push through.
What keeps most of us locked into mediocrity, failing to achieve our goals, and realizing our potential is between our ears.
It’s resistance – FOMO’s most strategic weapon.
When you fear missing out you’re more likely to delay work on your top goals, building your business to the next level, and facing the next challenge with courage.
How to defeat FOMO:
1) Be resourceful.
The viral impact of FOMO is believing there’s something else out there. And once you obtain it you’ll have everything you need.
For example, if you give into FOMO you’ll make the pursuit of the next-new-thing your goal in the moment. Before long it’s eaten up all your productive moments and you have nothing but the shiny-thing to show for you efforts.
This fear is insatiable. You’ll never satisfy the craving if you depend on the attainment of something “out there” to be the answer you’ve been searching for.
Diligent, focused action creates results. You have all the resources you need to start and finish the task at hand.
Your unique ability and the compulsion to act defeats resistance. It doesn’t know what to do with momentum.
2) Be content.
Contentedness is sometimes confused with laziness. Misunderstanding what it means to be content can lead to inactivity and unfulfilled desire.
Being content is about owning who you are, what you have, and your plans to change it.
The content person, like the content business owner, is so in tune with their own sense of purpose that they’ll go-it-alone, if necessary, to achieve their goals.
You achieve success by courageously pursuing your mission. You’ll attract others when your contented resolve is crystal clear and it appears you’d do it whether no one else chooses to do so.
3) Be yourself.
Many people aren’t comfortable with who they are. So, they live according to FOMO.
After all, who decides who’s “out” and who’s “in?” Though it’s a much deeper matter than this post can address, bullies put themselves in this judgmental role.
The root of bullying behavior is that bullies aren’t comfortable in their own “skin.” Expose them and you strip them of their power.
Stand up for who you are, what you can do, and how you can uniquely make a difference. Why fear not standing where the “crowd” gathers?
Start your own “crowd!” Better yet – celebrate another’s right to have a “crowd.”
Whatever you do, “own” where you stand.
In your business or personal life, where does FOMO impact you? How have you been resourceful, content, and comfortable with who you are?
