Have you ever felt left out from your friends’ activities? Or maybe, you’re scrolling through social media and feel envious of what others are doing on their posts.
Well, you might be experiencing FOMO and might be making you less productive in your online job.
What is FOMO?
If you don’t know already, FOMO stands for Fear of Missing Out. It’s that discomfort or anxiety that comes from feeling like you’re being left out of something.
It’s believing that you’re lagging in life in comparison to others. And it leads to dissatisfaction, uneasiness, and stress. In some cases, it can trigger depression.
Here are instances where it might affect remote workers’ productivity and what you can do about it:
Notification FOMO
We are bombarded with a lot of information today. Our phones constantly light up with the latest updates. Emails vie to grab our attention.
Your favorite celebrity had a baby. What’s happening in the economy? You got a comment from your crush. There’s so much information to consume.
Sometimes, we are addicted to these notifications — to the point that we stop working just to check them. And this seemingly innocent act can greatly affect your productivity.
Based on studies, this abrupt task switching creates a cognitive switching penalty — which means it takes you more time to complete tasks if you switch from one task to another, especially for complex tasks.
And it can amount to around 40% loss of productivity. Yikes!
What you can do is hide your triggers. For example, you can hide your phone or disable notifications if you’re distracted.
These distractions aren’t necessarily bad. What if you get an important notification, right?
Worry not, you can systematically allocate time to check these notifications or even use the Pomodoro technique.
Social Media FOMO
Do you feel like you’re missing out when your friends on social media post travel photos? Or maybe you’re envious when they flaunt their new phone or luxury items?
How can they afford these experiences and items when you can’t? My friend, you might be experiencing social media FOMO.
Feeling envious is normal. But if you’re heavily affected, your work might get affected as well.
Remember, everyone has the right to post about their accomplishments…and that some people only post highlights of their life. Just because they do doesn’t mean that they don’t have problems just like you.
On the other hand, you also have the right to curate what you want to see on your feed. So you can mute or snooze some of your friends on your social media without unfollowing them.
Also, you can practice these tips to build your self-worth. When you’re secure in your self-worth, you can be grateful for what you have right now and be happy for other people’s accomplishments.
As for now, you can work towards achieving these feats as well.
Productivity FOMO
As a remote worker, you relatively have more control over your schedule. So you can do a lot of things outside work. That’s great, right? After all, you can reach your dreams faster.
But it becomes a problem when you’re facing productivity FOMO. You might think you’re missing out on more clients and opportunities by taking time off.
Imagine what you could’ve lost with an unproductive day? Not when you burn yourself out.
For the workaholics out there, rest is important to your productivity as well.
How much time will you lose if you get sick? Cars themselves require routine maintenance checks, let alone the human body.
Also, watching Netflix, spending time on hobbies, and enjoying yourself once in a while can lead to better work performance. Some even get life-changing ideas during their downtime.
So don’t be guilty and schedule time off to avoid your productivity FOMO.
Career Advancement FOMO
Almost all your friends have advanced their careers in office-based jobs. Is it even possible in a remote work setup? Should you just go back to the office?
Well, a lot of remote workers face this uncertainty. Sometimes, online jobs are infamous for being unstable. But that depends on the company you’re working with!
If you work with reputable companies like Remote Staff, you can be assured of a stable income and a growing career.
Remote Staff offers long-term online jobs for Filipinos, depending on your skills.
And in the unfortunate event that your client stops getting your services, Remote Staff finds another client for you.
So avoid the FOMO and sign up with Remote Staff today!
