Fear of Missing Out, Opportunity Cost and How to Deal With Them.
This is usually where people put a deep and meaningful quote. I am sorry if you were looking for one. — Karim Bel Hadj (2017)
Fear of Missing Out and Opportunity Cost are two extremely common concepts. Yet it seems like most people still haven’t learned how to deal with them and constantly complain about what they “could” have done or could be doing “if they did or didn’t do this and that”. This article is not a tutorial nor does it hide links to anti-FOMO pills or Opportunity Cost app. This is 99% personal opinion and 1% dad jokes.
What is the difference between FOMO and OC?
The way I see it, FOMO (or Fear Of Missing Out) is when you assume something better than your original plan might come along the way.
Opportunity cost on the other hand is when you know the options available to you but you don’t know which one(s) to choose and which one(s) to discard.
Let’s explore the impact of those two concepts in the following sections.
FOMO as opposed to Faux Leather is Not a Fake Moustache.
You have probably experienced this Fear of Missing Out at least once in your life. One of its many forms looks like that:
Friend A: “Hey! Will you be free this Friday night? It’s (Another nice friend)’s birthday”
You: “Yeah of course! Count me in!”
Friend B, 15min later: “Alright this is gonna blow your mind. I found those SUPER cheap flight tickets to *Awesome destination* and the offer is for this weekend only!!”
Now, would you stick with the birthday or drop it for this once in a whiletime opportunity? (I know this word doesn’t exist but you get the point)
Opportunity Cost: Where Are We Going for Lunch?
We experience opportunity cost every single day of our life.
- Nice blue jacket or my super cool white coat?
- Sushi or pizza?
- Cross now or wait for the little green guy to light up?
- Scroll for ages on Facebook or Instagram?
You get it. For each situation your are presented with an array of options but you are limited in your choices (i.e. Option 1: Check if there is no car and then cross -> Faster but riskier/ Option 2: Wait for the green light -> Slower but safer).
Overcoming the fear
The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel. — Steve Furtick
Alright alright you’ve got your quote now. Happy?
So what was your answer to the first birthday vs weekend abroad scenario?
I would personally stick with the birthday for several reasons:
- Commitment is rare these days. Everything has a shorter lifespan, from mobile phones to furniture and we get used to it. I often wonder if getting used to things that don’t last is related to the higher divorce and breakup rates. Being a (wo)man of your word will make you earn the respect of others and even Friend B will see you as a reliable person.
- You will always have better opportunities. Whether they come the next day, month or year, opportunities are infinite. Imagine all the good things that can still happen: An even better travel offer shows up for the following week, you meet incredibly interesting people at the party, your friend is so happy you made it and so on.
- Sometimes missing an opportunity also means avoiding a disaster. On the flip side what if this offer was a scam? What if the arrival airport ends up being 3 hours away from the main attractions and you can only access them with 2 trains and 3 buses? What if the weather is so bad you can’t make the most of your trip? Risks are like opportunities: everywhere and it’s fine!
My latest FOMO / Opportunity cost story
I am currently learning how to code to be able to build websites, mobile apps and who knows maybe I’ll try out software one day.
In the coding world there is a sea of programming languages to choose from, all with a different purpose in mind and different capabilities.
My issue was that I was following the following vicious cycle:
- Discover this new language or framework that does all this amazing stuff
- Get the basics, build a couple of bad projects
- Forget what my goal is and get bored
As a result I was just scraping the surface for every new tool I tried to use. I even created this illusion that I was truly learning and became proficient in those new tools just by watching YouTube videos and reading Medium articles. However reality hit me in the face each time I would try to build something myself with those tools and I would have to do more extensive and more specific research.
The point is the same as described above: pick one now and I can learn the others later. There are a few transferrable programming skills from one language to another. Realizing this motivated me more to become proficient in one because it would mean having an easier time learning a new programming language (by the way this trick also works with spoken languages. I speak four fluently and each new one was easier to learn thanks to the previous ones).
I hope you liked this article! It is my first one on Medium and I felt pretty good writing it :). I am pretty sure that I will laugh at it in a couple of months if I read it again and please let me know what you thought of it in the comments!
Cheers!
Karim
