JOMO â The Joy of Missing Out
Recently, I discovered a neat new acronym, JOMO, which stands for the âJoy Of Missing Out.â
While FOMO is an endless part of all things technology, entrepreneurship, and investing, Iâve actively tried to ignore and avoid FOMO across all dimensions of my life. On balance, Iâm more successful than not on this dimension, but itâs an endless challenge.
I find it entertaining to turn FOMO upside down, backward, and inside out and actively experience JOMO instead.
When Iâm depressed, I describe the feeling as âthe complete absence of joy.â In general, I self-identify as a âjoyfulâ person. I smile, a laugh, Iâm entertained, Iâm playful, and Iâm generally happy. Even whenever Iâm under incredible stress, I still feel, at my core, joyful.
When I think about missing out on things, my joy meter goes to 10. One of my favorite things in the world is reading on a couch in the same room as Amy. For hours. And hours. Or running, alone in the mountains, for hours. Or sitting in front of my computer and writing. For hours. And on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, if I can get in a 90-minute nap, thatâs extra joyful.
When Iâm doing these things, Iâm missing out on a lot of other stuff. And thatâs just fine with me since Iâm getting enormous joy from the things Iâm doing.
I realize that by this description Iâve made JOMO apply to me. I imagine others can apply JOMO in many different ways, depending on what they do that brings them joy. Ponder this for a while.
Not surprisingly, thereâs a book on JOMO titled The Joy of Missing Out: Finding Balance in a Wired World. As is my way, Iâve bought a copy, if only to support the author, but I expect Iâll read it soonish.