When you’re running a business, keeping track of your peers’ achievements becomes unavoidable. However, it’s important to not let this derail or demotivate you. If you find yourself making comparisons and feeling insecure, take a moment to examine how far you’ve come. Although it’s easy to lose track of your achievements and focus on another’s, try to remember that everyone’s journey comes with its own risks and rewards. Their success doesn’t imply your failure and you still have an amazing journey ahead of you.
Making choices is hard when you don't know where you're going, so it's crucial that you're clear on the purpose of your business. If you want to run a lifestyle business that gives you a lot of free time, you'll make different choices than when you scale up an agency, for example. Get clear on your goals and whenever an opportunity presents itself, ask yourself: "Is this in line with my goals?" If it isn't but you're still feeling pulled to say yes, follow up with: "Would this be a lot of fun/enrich my life?" If then the answer is yes, you might still want to go for it, but always keep your goals in mins and consider whether saying "yes" leads you toward those goals, or means getting side-tracked.
I have trained myself to cherish professional JOMO, the joy of missing out, in order to counteract business FOMO. More specifically, I develop short-, medium-, and long-term goals that professional decisions must fulfill. While entrepreneurs face many great opportunities in the market, the best practice is to discipline yourself to only enter business agreements that advance business goals. I like to support partners and acquaintances, celebrating their successes when they host events, but I’ve learned to minimize commitments that don’t serve the greater mission of my organization.
The best cure for business FOMO is to be the creative and active company that others envy. Keep your eye out for great opportunities for your business to engage in, and allow your employees to express their creativity when it comes to generating their own ideas. Sometimes being an exciting company requires some risk-taking, but that doesn’t mean your business model has to be precarious. Simply seeking out good opportunities as they arise and being open to saying “yes” will allow your business to be the envy of others.
One way to avoid business FOMO is to remember that modern entrepreneurship involves a significant amount of pivoting. Your industry, product, or operations are unlikely to remain unchanged for the duration of your career. If you are a smart and adaptable founder then you will not be running your business the exact same way forever. Knowing that change is inevitable can help you let go of the fear of monotony and restriction and can help you make smart choices for your business rather than latching on to every passing trend.
All opportunities are not created equal. As a business leader, you will avoid FOMO if you stay in your lane. Stick to what you are good at, what you know really well. Anything outside of that will potentially have a negative effect on you and your business. You will lose credibility if you try to take advantage of something that you are not actually good at. You will lose credibility and that in and of itself is very hard to recover from.
Digital Marketing & Asst. HR Manager at Great People Search
Answered 4 years ago
Recognize whether you're constantly hopping from one craze to the next because you lack the ability to see things through. It's a problem I've had in my company for a long time. Consistent and reliable service is my goal when working for others. Consistency isn't something I have to worry about when making my own products. I've decided to stick with a plan until it's completed rather than abandoning it and moving on to the next one.
It's important to accept you may not be available for all extracurricular activities. But instead, you're putting in work to a business you care about, and without it, that in itself is FOMO. While it may require missing a night out with friends or an occasional event, you're putting in the time to make your business better and improve the company long term. The FOMO experienced is only temporary.
Focus gives you the best results. We are constantly bombarded with new and exciting information, but jumping every new opportunity that appeals to you can split your focus at the cost of your current business. Focusing on the current mission of your business and why you got into it can help you decide whether these new choices are relevant or if you truly aren’t missing out on anything. Be flexible with your business coals but always have a clear target to focus on.
Remind yourself of your true business goals. New opportunities will always present themselves, but as appealing as they are, they may not always be compatible with the inspiration behind your business. Always remind yourself of the goals and priorities of the business. Staying focused on that initial inspiration can give you the clarity you need to determine if these new choices are fruitful or a bad fit for you. Staying focused on your goals will keep you from losing sight and following the wrong opportunities.
Sometimes, businesses get caught thinking they operate an island, when there are ample opportunities to partner with other companies. If there is a business that you respect, it’s certainly worth reaching out and discussing opportunities for collaboration. Very few businesses can be classified as true competitors, so there’s no reason not to build your business’ network, as well as your own.
Revisiting your mission and vision statements regularly can keep your business moving in the right direction. Chasing shifting trends in the marketplace can cause your business to go off course. But reviewing your mission and your vision with key team members ensures your sticking to your company's raison d'être and its goals. But should you find that your mission and vision no longer apply, then it's time to consider adjusting them to fit how your business has evolved and how it now relates to your industry.
Create a fulfilling business. If you build a business that fulfills you and that you are constantly striving to improve and expand upon, you will avoid falling into FOMO. FOMO is the fear of missing out, but if you make your business the place where it’s all happening, you won’t feel you’re missing out on anything that you aren’t already doing. If you’re challenging yourself to bring in new and stimulating business practices, create a thriving work environment, build teamwork exercises and plan out-of-office team excursions, that’s going to be incredibly rewarding. When you feel completely fulfilled in your work both professionally and personally, FOMO won’t even occur to you, because what could you possibly be missing out on that would top what you’re already doing?
MD at Jae Pak MD Medical
Answered 4 years ago
In entrepreneurship, it's easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you're not doing enough. That is, of course, when you compare yourself to others. Knowing your limitations as a human being — and the fact that you can't be everywhere all the time — is so important. Otherwise, you'll start to feel like a dog chasing its own tail. When I'm truly focused on my own goals, I'm not worried about meeting the status quo or being squirreled away by every distraction that comes my way.
The business marketplace is continuously evolving in today’s fast-paced digital environment, so to prevent FOMO it is important to keep up with industry trends while still being consistent in the work you produce for customers. While social and digital fads are constantly evolving, customers still want to find tried and true products/services. So, create a strategy that will demonstrate your credibility and reliability, but that is flexible enough to incorporate new trends where they are relevant.
Assessing the highest current priorities for my business focuses me on the best choices at the time. Maybe I need to drum up some new business and network. Then that swanky cocktail party might be the right choice. But if it’s more important right now to learn about best practices for entrepreneurs I should attend that conference instead. By assessing what my company needs most at a particular moment, I’m able to not worry about missing out.
One solid tip for avoiding FOMO when running a business is to make everything user-friendly and efficient. When something is user-friendly, the possibilities are doubled because of the ease of access. Sorting tasks and priorities can help one cut through the noise quicker and choose the best option with no choice struggle. Anything faster is more efficient too, and productivity and efficiency go hand in hand.
FOMO is the fear that you miss some experience, event, or information. From my own experience, I know this feeling occurs not only for things I value in life but also for things that don't matter. The simple fact that I could experience something but overlook it makes me sad, but then I often realize that I wouldn't go there because it doesn't fit my taste. So to avoid FOMO, I keep my priorities in mind. Thanks to that, I can distinguish if something is relevant for me and if it's really worth missing.
In business, there are tons of avenues you can take to generate revenue. But too many choices causes analysis paralysis. You end up not moving forward on anything OR you try to do too much at once. I solve both of these issues by looking at the potential value a decision can bring to my business. I think about whether something is already serving me well or whether it can be improved. I explore whether this new opportunity will improve things or if it will be more trouble than it's worth. Being a solopreneur, I have limited time and resources to reinvent the wheel or try new things. If I can't see immediate value in something, and if that value is too hard to obtain, then FOMO takes care of itself.
The fear of missing out on great opportunities in your business' field is a worrying one that, more often than not, leads to poor decision-making. It is worth noting that opportunities will always linger over your business if it is run well. However, a business that fails to adapt its blueprint to the current times may be susceptible to FOMO. I advise entrepreneurs to revisit their business plans each time they are under pressure. Reaffirm your goals and tweak things as needed without jumping to a conclusion on any opportunity.