Most people recognize the acronym FOMO, which stands for Fear of Missing Out. I recently learned a new term (at least for me) JOMO; which is the Joy of Getting Lost. I immediately fell in love with JOMO and started using it (some may say 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 never had a name for it. As I continued to reflect on this question, I soon realized that it went far beyond my previous experiences with those feelings.
As it turns out, JOMO is also something many of my most successful clients experience on a regular basis. I first noticed this in my athlete clients, but soon began to see it in my most 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 how 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 canceled more frequently.
I used to say, 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 playing it and wanted to be the first to play it (FOMO), but they were also looking for validation by seeing how they stacked up in the game. By the way, nobody I worked with felt as good in the video game as in the NFL, the programmers always had them a step slower, less skilled, etc. In your opinion.
While my FOMO clients tend to be consumed by the need to say yes to every invitation, my highly JOMO clients would view missing parties, events, or not having to travel as opportunities to improve and gain an advantage. your competition. Their rewards were intrinsic and they did not feel the need for most of the extrinsic rewards that the most FOMO-motivated personalities are addicted to.
My clients’ drive with JOMO also seems to be more purpose-oriented, making the work they do more productive. I have had several FOMO driven clients who worked very hard on their craft and maybe even put in as many hours but did not get the same value for their money as my JOMO driven clients.
I even recently learned 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 his company’s high-level clients with his 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 huge JOMO when that news broke.
That whole episode reminded me of an old piece of advice I often heard growing up: be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. So the next time you have to ‘miss’ something, remember that sometimes getting lost can be better.
You can follow Sam on Twitter @SuperTaoInc