Killing FOMO
or how to enjoy every moment like it’s the peak of your life
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It’s summer in California.
Beaches and redwood forests are minutes from my home — and I’m in the middle of fixing a broken stove. This is me living my best life :-)
The stove an interesting challenge — something I’ve never done before.
I could be fretting about missing the beach, woods, or even work — and fretting would slow down my efforts to fix the stove. Ultimately I want to get that stove fixed correctly and rapidly — two things I can’t do while my head is somewhere else.
(Yes, the stove is fixed and we are looking at a delicious roast chicken for dinner)
I didn’t miss anything by fixing the stove.
There will always be more waves, more forest, more work for me to do.
None of that is scarce and even if it’s a “once in a lifetime” event — those aren’t scarce either.
You can have a stack of amazing adventures — but only if you become fully focused on that one thing.
Racing cars came easy because I ignored new surf gear, swells, and friends invitations to the beach. Working at Google was easy because I focused on the problems to solve and not my co-workers vacations. Building a great relationship became easy when I focused on improving this one and quit thinking about all the other possible partners. Parenting was easy because I focused on raising confident kids and ignored looking stupid.
I’ve had a bunch of great adventures — and completely missed a bunch more.
The ones I’ve had took time, focus, and initiative — and they required being 100% in the moment to succeed. Missing adventures is a good thing, it let me focus on where I was and optimize my results.
When you succumb to FOMO, you miss out on the life that’s right in front of you. The life that someone else sees as amazing and wishes they could have. When you take your life for granted, you will never be satisfied and happy.
JOMO — every day I experience the Joy Of Missing Out.
Because it means I’m fully immersed in this experience now.
Living my best life is about being all in for whatever is happening, not thinking about 100 other possible activities.
Kill FOMO, enjoy JOMO — and live.
Raised on islands and diversely educated with more varied adventures than most consider “normal”. Signup for more career (and life) content at https://careerfreedom.substack.com/
