According to the Urban Dictionary, “FOMO” is the Fear Of Missing Out as in a party, event, etc.
Sounds innocent enough and maybe even something that you can easily dismiss as something that has little to do with your world.
Think again dude . . . its actually a rather serious obsession that is infecting the very ranks of our existence.
When you have to immediately check your blackberry . . . that’s a form of FOMO!
How about all those pop ups you have like outlook and Tweetdeck . . . FOMO!
Continually putting the person you’re on the phone with on hold to take other calls . . . FOMO!
The need to continually scan your social networking sites to the point of obsession . . . Please allow me to break things up by rapping the answer . . .
F to the O to the M to the O . . . word to your mutha!
Apparently there’s some FOMO going on in public restrooms because people are making and receiving calls . . . or is that just some sort of acute loneliness or straight up multitasking?
According to Dr John Grohol “It’s an impulse control problem — we cannot easily control our impulse to “check” the technology to ensure something “more important” isn’t waiting our immediate attention.”
Dr Grohol suggests that we make a mental note of how many times we check our email and our smart phones for status updates, texts etc because the number might surprise us.
I would offer the following 4 tips to help you with your FOMO
1) When you catch yourself knee deep in a “FOMO Moment”, ask yourself “Is this the best use of my time?” Important: You had better ask this question when you consider allowing your FOMO to interrupt your time with family, friends etc.
2) Instead of checking your email the moment it hits your inbox, check it periodically. You might want to consider shutting off outlook, your cell, etc whenever you are trying to get things done.
3) Don’t take inbound calls when you are in the middle of an activity. Duh . . . right? Easier said than done dude, that’s why you have to be relentless about your time. Make a habit of checking all messages (emails too) hourly. Note: Anyone who is unreasonable with you because you got back to them within an hour deserves a call from you in the bathroom.
4) Have a designated time (or times) for social networking. Set the handy dandy timer on your phone and be done with it once your funky ring tone plays. When I say “done” I mean “done” as in none of this minimizing the screen stuff you screen minimizing FOMO MOFO!
So here’s the irony folks . . .
Perhaps its our Fear Of Missing Out that might in fact create a world for us where we totally miss out . . . one interrupted moment at a time!
So fess up Sales Playbook community . . . how ya doing in the FOMO department?
Paul Castain trains individuals and teams to be lethal. For more information on how you can work with this Jedi, by all means click here
I am learning that I don’t need to reply to every email or comment at once.
It is a tough shift, you feel as though you need to do it, now!
But often these minor tasks can wait, really they are unimportant and many times even a waste of time.
Always go back to your daily and weekly plan, it will tell you what you should be doing.
Sound advice Daniel!
I am learning that I don’t need to reply to every email or comment at once.
It is a tough shift, you feel as though you need to do it, now!
But often these minor tasks can wait, really they are unimportant and many times even a waste of time.
Always go back to your daily and weekly plan, it will tell you what you should be doing.
I read a tip in Sales Playbook sometime last year, which was to reduce the frequency in which my emails came into my Inbox. Just reducing it to every 15 minutes improved my productivity…gee….how good could I get, if I shut my Outlook off completely? (I’m afraid…..help me Uncle Paul….I’m afraid!!) lol
I remember that tip LA and I think its spot on.
I think there must be a support group out there someone for folks like us who get challenged from time to time by FOMO so I’ll check each email the moment it comes in today in case the info is there 🙂
Paul, Just turned off my Outlook popup notification. Have been needing to do that for a long time. Thanks, Dude!!
That’s the spirit Joan 🙂
OK confession first. I am usually very good about staying present. (Pat myself on the back) However, I did check my BB during a big luncheon and saw that I had an e-mail for tickets to see American Idol. Responded and got the voucher! True story.
One of my other mentors, who isn’t Uncle Paul, is Leo Babauta at Zen Habits. http://zenhabits.net/He speaks to this in his blog posts quite a bit. Safe to say for me that I don’t always do what I know is best.
I will check out this site Lisa . . . Thanks 🙂
PS Anything American Idol related isn’t FOMO 🙂
I hope you do. I think you’ll really appreciate him.
I hope you do. I think you’ll really appreciate him.
I keep visualizing an event similar to the abrupt end of transmissions in “The Truman Show,” where everyone’s cell phones go dead at once. Even though I, too, would suffer from withdrawal, it would be somewhat asuaged by the sheer hilarity of some of the reactions of others.
I went to the grocery store the other night without my phone, what a terrible half hour! But I don’t have a problem, I can quit any time I want…. I’ll just go into hootsuite and tell everyone that I quit, and then write a blog about it…. yeah! thats the ticket.
Seriously, great reminder about keeping it real Paul, as you can see I don’t miss an opportunity to be a smartass, in reality I do have rules for myself to keep from going over the top. I like the email frequency tip below, doing it right away.
Thanks,
Lorne
Ha . . . good one Lorne! 🙂
The other thing (that I hate to admit) was that I was sitting outside on my patio having my thinking time when I noticed this comment.
I guess I was guilty of some FOMO my friend!
Thanks for stopping by and feel free to bring the smartass with you any time my friend!
I went to the grocery store the other night without my phone, what a terrible half hour! But I don’t have a problem, I can quit any time I want…. I’ll just go into hootsuite and tell everyone that I quit, and then write a blog about it…. yeah! thats the ticket.
Seriously, great reminder about keeping it real Paul, as you can see I don’t miss an opportunity to be a smartass, in reality I do have rules for myself to keep from going over the top. I like the email frequency tip below, doing it right away.
Thanks,
Lorne
Ha . . . good one Lorne! 🙂
The other thing (that I hate to admit) was that I was sitting outside on my patio having my thinking time when I noticed this comment.
I guess I was guilty of some FOMO my friend!
Thanks for stopping by and feel free to bring the smartass with you any time my friend!