The Cure for FOMO

You are your only true benchmark. This is a universal truth.

We have this tendency to revere quotes by famous dead people even when they steer us down the wrong path.

Here's one...

Nothing so undermines your financial judgement as the sight of your neighbor getting rich.

– J. P. Morgan

Morgan was a bully and an egotist so of course this was his take - projecting his own fears onto mankind.

The quote reflects darker aspects of human nature and we are not bound by it. 

We can be grateful for what we have and happy for others who are thriving.

The FOMO Bull Market

There's a bull market in the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) these days spurred by meme stocks, crypto, and most recently NFTs. People see others making a killing and feel left out because they’re not making a killing too.

Michael Batnick published a vivid piece last week that captures the spirit of the current NFT FOMO well. He writes,

I went out for lunch the other day with somebody who is deep in the crypto universe. He was showing me the NFTs in his wallet and telling me about all the people he knows making vast sums of money. He showed me one piece, I can’t remember what it was, and said, “I bought this for 1 ETH when ETH was $1,000. Now it’s worth 100 ETH.” He could probably hear how crazy this sounded and was kind enough to say to me after a few minutes, “I’m not trying to give you FOMO.”

FOMO is not new, although social media intensifies it. I remember the internet bull market and bubble from the late 90s and there was plenty of FOMO then too.

And it sure sounds like JP Morgan had it in the 19th century and he was one of the richest men in the world. 

When you measure yourself by the standards of others, even a lot is not enough.

You Are Your Only True Benchmark

You are your only true benchmark. This is a universal truth.

We all come from different places and have different attributes. We are all unique and live nobody’s life but our own. 

FOMO is the avoidance of this universal truth.

There are plenty of truths people avoid but avoidance does not make them less true.

The rational action is to compare our present selves to our past selves, to compete with ourselves. 

If we are improving, even gradually, we are thriving.

When our baseline is comparing ourselves to others, we are just avoiding this rational path.

Avoidance is a poor way to cope with fear. It is phobia.

One other thing. Life is short, so living even one day with the false benchmark is too much.

The Cure for FOMO

The key to curing FOMO is to shift away from comparing yourself to others and towards comparing yourself to you.

We can begin making this shift by taking up hobbies that promote competition with self.

Distance running and resistance training are two good ones. Both promote the shift towards comparing yourself to you plus both promote wellness.

So, pick one or both or something similar like cycling and set a goal. My present goals are 20 pull-ups and a sub 50 minute 10K and I've got some work to do.

Once you have done this and spent a solid month working to improve your time or bench press or whatever, come back and read the last section below.

Generalizing What You’ve Learned

If you are reading this, you have begun distance running, resistance training, or something similar, and have set goals vs your own performance.

You are getting a good feel for what it is like to compete with yourself and how rewarding it can be to make progress.

This is experiential learning and it is a superpower. 

You are like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz when she learns the power of the ruby slippers.

Now you are primed to generalize what you’ve learned about your one true benchmark to personal wealth planning.

You have made the shift away from focusing on the accomplishments of others.

It is now a small step to set financial goals for yourself, make a plan, and begin working towards them.