Do you feel like you need a cup of coffee just to face your to-do list? Is your day punctuated by the various pings and buzzes from your electronic devices?
Now ask yourself this: How many of those items are truly essential? How many of those notifications do you actually need to respond to ASAP?
Have you ever joined an office weight-loss challenge or jumped on the latest #diet bandwagon with friends because you felt you had to? Does a salad-packed scroll through your social media feed cause you to question your lunch order? Does a pal’s post about her “easy” eight-mile run make you feel less proud of those three miles you’ve been working up to? Does an article about a trendy workout class prompt you to sign up even though it sounds kind of…awful?
Is FOMO fueling your caffeine habit?
Jessica Cording Nutrition
I often see this with my coaching clients: The constant bombardment of things they could or should be doing sucks up valuable time and mental energy, and they fill their calendar with things they don’t necessarily need to do but feel guilty turning down, only to realize they’ve left no time for their own self-care basics like exercise and sleep.
As author Hayley Phelan writes in this New York Times article, there’s a name for this Joy Of Missing Out: JOMO. Cousin to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), JOMO is essentially about being present and okay with where you’re at. It’s about tuning out the noise and letting go of the “shoulds” and of worrying you’re doing something wrong or could be making a better choice.
When you free up that space in your brain, it can benefit your quality of life—and your career—because you have more mental and physical energy for your true priorities. Then there’s this: skipping the juice cleanse or crash diet you colleagues can’t shut up about also helps prevent productivity-killing hanger.
Rather than looking to the latest food or fitness trends, what if we got into the JOMO spirit and looked at saying No as a form of self-care ? Of course, there will always be things we have to say yes to—meetings with our boss, important deadlines—but cutting out non-essential obligations can make these less overwhelming.
JOMO takes practice, but it’s totally doable. Here’s how to get started.
Get Clear About Your Priorities
Knowing what your big-picture goals are make it easier to determine what to say Yes and No to. Do a gut-check before you commit to something. Do you want to say yes? Why or why not? What will you gain from it? What would you rather do instead?
Be Intentional With Your Time
Schedule the things that you truly want to get done, be it workouts, food prep, projects that feed your soul —whatever. This makes it more likely to actually happen.
