Elephant on his way!A case of FOMO
What is more important, your career or your life? I ask this question because a lot of us get lost in chasing things; Chasing success, chasing money, chasing twitter, chasing Facebook. This morning I sought some solace from a good friend and fellow photographer, Shalom Ormsby (www.shalomormsby.com). I explained that to him that I was starting to feel a little frantic about not keeping up with all the tweets from twitter, and all the writing on the wall (Facebook). “You got FOMO!” he exclaimed, “You have Fear of Missing Out.” And it is true. My obsession with Social Media is starting to adversely affect the quality of my life! And that is what got me thinking about how important it is to put your life in front of your career. I already knew that, but a reminder now and then is necessary.
Don’t get me wrong, I have certainly enjoyed whatever success I have had, and not having to worry about paying my bills rates right up there at the top. But life does fly by all too quickly and it is important to enjoy every minute that you can. Whey young people come to me for advice on their photography careers, among other things, I advise them not to forget to plan their life as well as their career. Where do you want to live?
How do you want to live? What do you want your LIFE to look like five years from now, ten years from now? Build your career on those determinations, not the other way around. There is room for both a rich life and a satisfying career, but life needs to be nurtured as well as your career.
I am a huge proponent of visualizing what you want and then writing it down. There is some magic to that. Making your vision of what you want as real as you can, as detailed as you can make it, will propel you in that direction. I do not know if there is a metaphysical component, or if it is just because the more you want something the more likely you are to take the necessary steps to get it…but the process does work. A lot of experts have written on this subject and my favorite is Brian Tracy. I highly recommend anything Brian has written; give him a Google!
So while you visualize your life, I have to get back to my twitter account. I might be missing something!
2 comments:
Well said, John - great balance of wisdom and humor!
One of the things I've noticed is that when I feel FOMO, I always AM actually missing something... just not what I think I'm missing. The significant thing that I'm actually missing isn't something happening Out There (on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Adobe forums, LinkedIn... or even in the real world). What I'm really missing are a whole host of things and opportunities that are happening in my immediate surroundings. So I use FOMO as a reminder that it's time to get back into present time and to explore the infinite possibilities of our unlimited creative potential.
Well Said Shalom, thanks!
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