Log 4

 

  

    For this week, I’ve read almost all the remaining chapters. After reading through these chapters, I could grasp the core message from the contents. Although the content of each chapter is a little bit different, they’re all talking about how to combat the problem of being FOBO; that is to say, we have to be decisive. There’s one method I regard as an efficient way to be free from falling into the condition of being FOBO after I read this book. I’ve divided this method into five steps. First of all, you need to know what causes you to feel FOBO. You can write down your opinions on the paper to let you know what matters to you or what your real target is so that you’ll be clear about your pursuit. Then, set criteria to frame your decision. You can list some things you value the most about doing this thing. Like if you care about whether doing it is time-consuming, then you can roughly write down how much time you spend on it is acceptable for you. In this process, there’s no need to set too many criteria. Just write the things you care about the most. After that, try to collect as much data as you can. Like if you want to lose weight but you’re not sure whether your slimming plan is doable, you can search on Google to see the effectiveness of your plan. Providing that the plan seems useless for you, you’d better eliminate this plan and think about other plans. Next, eliminate the inferior options from your choices that you deem are not that valuable or less important. Finally, take actions to implement your eventual decision. Actions speak louder than words. If you don’t execute your final plan, then you might likely be FOBO again. Hence, bravely believe in your decision and don’t be afraid of losing anything about making this decision. 

    The above method I mentioned is a bit similar to that of the book, but it is out of my thoughts organized after the reading. Compared to the last blog I wrote about my own ideas of getting rid of not being FOBO, I think my way of resolving this problem has been much better and clearer. With the organized solution in my mind, now I’m more good at controlling my emotions and making decisions. Take my recent case for example. Frankly speaking, there are a lot of things I would like to do during this semester, such as doing a part-time job, attending the clubs in which I’m interested, exploring the things I’ve never done before, etc. However, since I have a double major this semester and I’m also a vice president of Toastmasters club, I nearly have the free time to do so many things I want. At the beginning, I somehow struggled to figure out whether I should spend some time on things I feel like giving a try. Until the very beginning of October, I still haven’t made up my mind. But after I read these chapters, I’ve learned better regarding whether I should choose to spend some of my time on things I like. With an eye to coping with this annoying problem, I followed the steps mentioned above. Writing down the origin of my anxiety and the things I truly want, setting the amount of time I can accept to spend on other things without affecting my academic performance, collecting other people’s sharings on the internet, eliminating the options I value the least, making a final decision at last. With the organized method, it helps me to clarify the importance of each thing. Finally, I decided to just focus on my study this semester as I don’t have that much time and energy to do so many things.

    Sometimes it’s just okay to be FOBO. Being FOBO doesn’t necessarily mean a bad thing; instead, we can learn a lot from FOBO if we listen to it. If we find ourselves encountering the situation of being FOBO, just face it courageously, calling them out, and then solve it. More importantly, try to be a decisive person and don’t fear missing something out. There’s a sentence with which I totally agree in the article. It says, “Once you learn to control FOBO, you accept that you simply cannot ensure whether the decision you make is perfect.” No matter what we choose, we will absolutely lose other benefits of choosing other options. Therefore, there’s nothing to regret if we choose this option and abandon another choice. This is also something I always remind myself of recently. Lastly, I want to give myself a message, which is “choose your love, love your choice. Don’t be regretful about the decisions you made. Every path you take has its own meaning.”