Have you ever awaken in the middle of the night or from a power nap in the daytime (!!), and a word leaps to the center of your thinking, and you cannot put it aside?
It happens to me often! Suddenly, sound asleep, a thought, a word, an idea, leaps out of the subconscious mind and burns itself into the “wide-awake world” of not easily going back to sleep. It may be from something undone on your daily calendar from yesterday, last week, or even last year! Perhaps you have a brand new thought! I had it happen to me very recently. What was the thought?
FOMO. Fear Of Missing Out.
It’s a Symptom
Suddenly, a lot of things I’ve been thinking about make a lot of sense. There is an innate desire to be a part of something, and we hang on until the last moment, trying to decide if we should be involved.
We want to be involved,
but money, time, and talent keep us out of the game.
We want to be included,
but our personality keeps us at arm’s length.
We desperately need to be involved,
but our fear of commitment prevents us from freely joining in.
So… we wait until the deadline is ticking down to the last second…
Just as the opportunity is saying Goodbye…
Then we jump, leap, scramble, and scrape to make the moment ours.
It could be we are an adrenalin junkie, or, we struggle with making our up our minds about what we want to be involved with. We have no clue about where we should be going, what we should be doing, and where we want to wind up at!
The Ultimate Marketers Tool
Marketers (email, tele-, and just about every other kind of online personality) know that they can promote their product, and people who want to be the “first” at everything will jump in even if they don’t know if it’s right for them. Others hang on until the very last second, wanting to “maybe” commit, but they struggle with doubt, fear, and worry, and then before the deadline hits, they step over the line! Wow! Made it! Just in time!
These same marketers understand the human dynamics of adding to the prize pool of “freebies” that you’ll get will be the thing that will pull you in at the very last moment. Maybe there’s a Money Back Guarantee if you back out within a certain time period. Maybe there’s a secret sauce you’ll learn if you only step up and sign on.
Regardless. It will be like pulling the saddle cinch tighter and tighter until, at last, our resistance crumbles, and we become trapped with their latest scheme to hook us to their wagon. Our will crumbles, our plan of “Just say no” fails, and before you know it, you are reeled in, even kicking and screaming!
Buyers Remorse
Why do we struggle like this? It is a problem! Some call it “buyers remorse,” and you never get out of it what you possibly could if only you felt like it was a Good Deal!
We’ve all been there. The product sounds legit, but the pressure to buy or join is extreme. Through the years of hearing these “pitches,” the one thing that rings truer than true …
… if you have to sign on the dotted line while you are in the presence of a promotion, and the deal cannot be given to you tomorrow, then the deal is not worth the recrimination you are certainly going to feel just minutes later.
Buyers Remorse affects all of us at one time or another, or maybe even all the time. From Relationships to Opportunities, we want to be seen as needed, desired, and we fear that we will be missing out on the greatest of all things since sliced bread by not committing.
It’s the FOMO Bug!
We fear someone or something saying Goodbye to us forever. Daily my emails and social contacts know that the way to get you to buy is to make you feel like you will miss out!
It’s like the stock market. If only we had invested that $100.00 10 years ago in that stock that has blown out all records of earnings! If only…
We do not realize that thousands of stocks could have been the “next big thing,” and investors want you to think they have the right stock for great rewards! Like a carnival barker, they pound the podium and tell you, “Buy now, before it’s too late!”
Solution!
Let me point you to a clear and concise article from Psychology Today that gives 10 salient points to think your way through the FOMO Bug. [Click Here] Here are the points if you choose not to read the article, although I suspect you will need the meat and not just the headlines. Go ahead. Read. Or maybe you’ll be missing out!
- Slow Down
- Practice Discernment
- Go for the experience, not the status symbol
- Be willing to not have it all
- One Thing At A Time
- Practice Mindfulness
- Prioritize relationships over acquisitions
- Savor the moment
- Cultivate an attitude of gratitude
- Enjoy the process
When you feel the pressure to jump in with both feet, step back, analyze, think it through, study it thoroughly, be rational when you decide and not living in an emotional moment… and quit worrying about the FOMO bug. There are plenty of opportunities in the sea!