Curiosity or FOMO?
I’ve always had a curious mind, liking to know how things work. Is that the same as FOMO – fear of missing out? I don’t think so. If we’ve been presented with an opportunity, and had a chance to make a decision whether or not to participate or try something, the FOMO comes before the decision is made, not after. If we didn’t know about an opportunity and find out after when it’s too late, that’s not FOMO. You missed out not because you had a choice.
Listen to this new, 7-minute episode for some thoughts on how you can view your own curiosity versus FOMO.
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– Curiosity or FOMO? Huh, listen to this episode to see what I’m talking about. Hi, it’s Alan Berg, welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions Podcast. I was talking to someone the other day, and the concept of being curious came up, and I started wondering what’s the difference between curiosity and fear of missing out or FOMO as it’s as it’s known more popularly with the acronym, and for me, FOMO is not as much of an issue as curiosity. I’ve always been curious. My mother said when I was a little boy, I used to take my toys apart to see how they worked. You know those little cars you pulled back and then they’d go forward by themselves? I wanted to see how that worked. I asked her if I put them back together again and she said, “Nope, not usually,” So I was curious but maybe not always too adept at mechanically things the way I am now.
Now I would take them apart and put them back together and hope there were no parts left over, but curiosity I think is a good thing. Curiosity makes us try new things, it leaves us open to other opinions, makes us want to know how the world works, how other people think, whereas FOMO is I need to know what else is going on or I’m missing out on it. See, I’m curious, but if I don’t figure out how something works, that’s okay. I mean, today with the internet and all kinds of things, it’s pretty easy to see how things work, but with FOMO, I think it comes down to a choice. If you choose not to go for a particular opportunity or not to go on at a particular event or whatever it is that you’ve been given the opportunity for, then you shouldn’t have FOMO because you chose not to go.
If you really fear of missing out, then you should have done it. You should do it. Like, I’m curious how hang gliding works. I don’t have any desire to do it, but I’m curious about how it works. I don’t have any FOMO for not doing it. My wife has always said that she wanted to go hot air ballooning, and the one time we were closest to being able to go when I told her we needed to be there at six in the morning because they need to get lift when it’s cooler, and she said, “Not happening,” because, you know, when we’re on vacation, we don’t get up that early. We don’t get up that early normally anyway, so I don’t really have FOMO. I’m curious though, you know, what makes the balloon rise and how do they bring it back down again and all those kind of things, but I don’t have FOMO.
If I never do it, it’s okay, and I think there’s the difference. You know, FOMO is you always have to know what else is going on. You always have to be interested in knowing that that was that thing that I’m not doing now, and that’s the fear of missing out. It’s the missing out part there. Curiosity I don’t think has that missing out part. You’re curious and if you don’t get the answer, it’s okay. There’s no fear, you know, what happens if you don’t? Nothing, and I think that’s a personal perspective on it is the difference between curiosity and FOMO. Like, I’m curious if an event was going to be a certain way, but if I choose not to go, okay, so I chose not to go, and if people tell me, “Hey, it was a great time,” I can accept the fact that, “You know what? Maybe next time I’ll choose to go,” or “Hey, that was great for you.” I don’t have any fear of missing out. I don’t feel like I missed out by not going, because I chose to do something instead.
So the next time you’re having FOMO, you’re having that fear of missing out, just ask yourself, well what happens if you don’t do it? What happens if you don’t go to that thing or don’t find that out? What’s the worst that’s going to happen, which was another podcast episode I did on specifically that. What’s the worst that would happen? So curiosity I think is good. Curiosity makes us help ourselves and our customers have better results. I think curiosity is good, because the fear of failure stops people from trying, so the curiosity to try something new and then not be worried that if it doesn’t work, because you’re no worse off than you were most likely, and if you listen to the episode I did on what’s the worst that could happen, in most cases, you lost some to some time, maybe some money, but that’s it. It wasn’t like, you know, you lost your life right? I don’t think those are the kind of crazy things, like, I don’t want to walk a tightrope between the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, you know, a hundred and something stories above the ground. No, I don’t want to walk a tightrope five feet off the ground, so I’m not going to do that. I have no FOMO on that.
Am I curious, you know, why does somebody want to do that or how does that work? Sure, but no FOMO whatsoever on that one, so when you’re presented with an opportunity or you’re feeling like, “Oh wow, I’m missing out on something,” think back. Did you have the opportunity to go? Did you have the opportunity to make a different decision or is it you found out about it too late and now, you know, you’re missing out on that, that thing. Well, you didn’t have that chance. So when you’re given the chance, I think it’s important to make the decision. I think it’s important to be curious, you know, what would happen if I do go? What might I learn? Who might I meet? What experience might I have that I wouldn’t have had otherwise? And it’s also okay to say no. When I went skydiving, my good friend went with me, and then his wife decided last minute to go, and my wife said, “Nope, not doing it,” and she’s got no FOMO, zero, and she doesn’t want to do it now, didn’t want to do it then. That was a personal choice, and I think that’s the important thing is that we should make our choices, not let other people make them for us. I think it’s good to be curious.
I think FOMO, I think there’s a place in it, because it might make us make a different decision the next time, but if you have a lot of FOMO, if you have a lot of that fear of missing out, if you have that fearing pressure to do something because of that’s why you’re doing it, right? You’re missing out because people, other people are telling you about it. Think again, it should be your choice, and when it’s your choice, you can own that choice, and when you own that choice, you can feel better about the outcome. So next time just say to yourself, are you curious or are you having FOMO, and make a decision one way or another. Own that decision and then move forward. I hope that helps you the next time. Thanks.
I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is [email protected]. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:
- Apple Podcast:
- YouTube: www.WeddingBusinessSolutionsPodcast.tv
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3sGsuB8
- Stitcher:
- Google Podcast:
- iHeart Radio: https://ihr.fm/31C9Mic
- Pandora:
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