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  . . . its actually a rather serious obsession that is infecting our existence.

When you have to immediately check your smartphone the millisecond an email hits . . . that’s a form of FOMO!

How about all those pop ups you have like outlook and Tweetdeck . . . FOMO!

Continually checking your smartphone when you’re at the table with someone or even in a meeting with others . . . FOMO!

Checking your email the moment you wake up . . . FOMO!

The need to continually scan your social networking sites to the point of obsession . . .

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.

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?

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