Most people recognize the acronym FOMO which stands for Fear of Missing Out. I recently learned a new term (for me anyway) JOMO; which is the joy of getting lost. I immediately fell in love with JOMO and started using it (some may say that I overused it).
I wasn’t sure why JOMO struck a chord with me, but I assumed it was because it was something I had experienced many times before, but I never had a name for it. As I continued to ponder this question, I soon realized that it was much deeper than just my previous experiences with those feelings.
It turns out that JOMO is also something that many of my most successful clients experience on a regular basis. I first noticed this in my athletic clients, but soon began to see it in my more successful coaches and business clients as well.
On the other hand, I began to notice that there was an abundance of FOMO and a lack of JOMO in many of my clients over the years who were struggling to find happiness. This was despite the fact that they had often achieved great financial and professional success.
As I began to pay more and more attention to what I was observing in my clients, I began to see patterns in their development directly related to the way JOMO and FOMO manifested in their lives. My clients with a stronger sense of JOMO rarely missed or rescheduled their appointments with me (although this may be partly due to my strict cancellation policy). While those with more FOMO cancel at a higher frequency.
I used to say, only half jokingly, that the worst day of every year for me was the day the new Madden football video game came out because most of my NFL football clients were obsessed with it. Not only because they loved to play and wanted to be the first to play it (FOMO), but they were also looking for validation to see how they measured themselves in the game. By the way, no one I worked with felt that he was as good at the video game as he was in the NFL, the programmers always had them a slower pace, with less skills, etc. In your opinion.
While my FOMO clients tend to be consumed by the need to say yes to every invitation, my JOMO clients would by far see the lack of parties, events, or not having to travel as opportunities to improve and gain a head start. your competition. Their rewards were intrinsic and they didn’t feel the need for most of the extrinsic rewards that more FOMO-motivated personalities are addicted to.
My clients’ drive with JOMO also seems to be more purpose-driven, making the work they do more productive. I have had several FOMO-powered clients who worked very hard at their craft and maybe even put in as many hours, but they didn’t get the same return for their money as my JOMO-powered clients.
I even learned recently that JOMO can be retroactively experienced when the news broke on March 12, 2019 about a college admissions scandal (codenamed Varsity Blues by the FBI) through various high-profile allegations. . You see, I was supposed to meet with the man who was the ringleader (Rick Singer) in August 2012 to possibly help some of your company’s high-end clients with their performance. By chance, his flight was delayed out of San Francisco and our attempts to reschedule were unsuccessful, so we never met. Needless to say, I experienced a great JOMO when that news broke.
That whole episode reminded me of an old piece of advice I often heard as a kid: Be careful what you wish for, as you can get it. So the next time you have to ‘miss’ something, remember that sometimes missing something can be better.
You can follow Sam on Twitter @SuperTaoInc
