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The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. – Lau Tzu, Chinese Philospher
FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out has become a popular phrase that expresses our desire to be engaged with life and what is happening around us or on social media. It sometimes causes people to do stupid stuff. It can sometimes make people feel worse about their lot in life.
As one who tends towards perfectionism, I try to tackle FOMO with a “perfect” plan. The problem is that reality kills perfect plans every time. Perfect plans are an illusion.
As a leader, I want the right people in the right places at the right time, so that my organization hums along with speed and efficiency. But, once again, reality trumps plans. We discover that people are human. They make mistakes. We misjudge their capabilities, setting them up for failure and things come to a screeching halt. All of this failure gives us pause before we start again. We can become so paralyzed that we never get around to starting again.
Funny thing, the longer we wait to start, the further behind we get. Not taking action becomes inefficient. Not taking action means we are missing out.
Today is the day to start. Today is the day to tackle FOMO with a single step. Once we give up our perfect plans, we are free to figure it out as we go. I’ve discovered that the more I think I have it figured out, the more closed I am to suggestions and better ways of doing things.
We all have things we say we are going to start “someday.” What if someday were today?
What project, activity or relationship do you want to take one step towards in order to get momentum started?
It won’t be perfect, but neither will we be missing out on making our unique contribution to the world.
We need you to take that one small step…today.
