42: Handling Professional FOMO

"Comparison is the thief of joy." In this episode we tackle a topic suggested by one of our listeners – how to handle professional FOMO (the Fear Of Missing Out). FOMO arises when we look around at our colleagues, friends, and even our families and see that they have things that we want. They may be getting promoted faster, paid more, recognized more publicly, or taking on assignments we desire. FOMO may lead us to feel as though we are not doing enough, or not doing it quickly enough (or both), and may have us experiencing a sense of inadequacy. Throughout our conversation we unpack FOMO, reminding our listeners (and ourselves) that the picture we are viewing is only a fraction of what's happening in the lives of others. Nayla talks about why we have to be careful comparing our "middle chapters" to other people's "ending chapters", and Eric discusses the importance of noticing if we are using norms or outliers as our benchmarks. More importantly we recognize that FOMO and envy are related, and rather than to be avoided they are both to be explored. We believe envy can be an important source of information, and that it holds clues that our values need to be revisited and possibly updated. FOMO and envy also serve as an invitation to create personal research questions to further identify information that might help us make better decisions about future roles and opportunities. And because we are who we are, we talk about the role hummus can play in career advancement and what Matthew McConaughey would say about FOMO.   Inside Job is brought to you by Nayla Bahri and Eric Johnson.   To learn more about us and our work, visit www.insidejobthepodcast.com or email us at [email protected].   To learn more about the ideas and resources discussed in this episode, check out our show notes.   Let's connect! Instagram Facebook   We'd love to hear from you.