This collection of short thought-pieces looks to explore the lingering themes that knock around the mind of today’s driven + ambitious young women. Offering a measured look at the challenges we try not to struggle with, #LingeringThemes breaks down those points of anxiety by driving a positive, balanced approached to terms like ‘Satisfaction’ and ‘Productivity’.
#2 Discipline & the Underestimated Power of FOMO
Women are amazing at making sacrifices: in life, for love, and across all of the wonderfully messy bits in between. From meal plans and gym schedules right through to social decisions, discipline is one of the most demanding and long-standing skills we can develop - and as a mechanism to build strength, its probably incomparable to any other frame of mind. But as we all know, it can come at a price, and honestly, that feeling of missing out in the face of your own pre-determined, disciplined choices can sometimes feel shit.
Although FOMO is one of those quite cringey terms that you’re likely to see knocking around a Gen Z marketing campaign, it does pose a pretty relatable point of view. Fear Of Missing Out (‘FOMO’) is a force that has - at some point - guided us all, and although creative women tend to grow out of its heavy-hitting influence, there’s no doubt that FOMO has shaped our choices at some point or another. Social media is a totally viable example of this. For sure, exploration and discovery are key reasons why we just keep on scrolling, but that initial decision to sign up for an account on day one of your handle can’t not have been informed by a feeling of curiosity, of asking that question “if I don’t, what will I miss?”. Back in the real world, FOMO also drives us to make decisions with this thinking in mind: to make that career move to a new city, or to head to that networking evening straight after work on a Thursday night when really all you want to do is wear grey sweatpants at home and be cosy.
With this in mind, the power of FOMO reveals itself as something not to be underestimated or trifled with. It draws a very fine line between what’s best and what’s better, and let’s be honest: that difference is is rarely clean-cut. But let's not forget how discipline can help.It's exactly that driver to just get on with 'it' that defines our own new mode of discipline: not letting anything - especially not yourself - get in the way of ambition. The ability to action something is also the choice to leave something be: to decide that in fact you really are happy enough in your own company than to spend an evening somewhere (online or offline) that you just don't need to be.
Fear Of Missing Out is a marketing technique that can manipulate our thoughts and desires. But one thing is for certain this year: that in 2017, the definition of discipline in the face of FOMO is in for a renewal.
