FOPO – Fear of Other People’s Opinions
Are you affected by FOPO – Fear of Other People’s Opinions?
Becoming aware of just how much you are affected by FOPO can have huge implications in your work, life and wellbeing. Another game changer and something without doubt most of us are affected by.
There are endless reasons why we are so concerned about what others are thinking. Often this doesn’t even live in the world of reality but in our own internal story line. In psychology terms this is often labelled simply as ‘mind reading’ – a Jedi trick we haven’t quite mastered yet!
Having concern over what the tribe may think of us is to a large part built into our DNA. As humans as we are social creatures and acceptance really does matter to our psychological and physical wellbeing.
What Are the Effects of FOPO?
Ridicule, embarrassment and being made to look less than perfect can really hit the ego and send us into a spiral of negative emotions. The effects of FOPO may at first appear to be just surface level but the damage can be much deeper and far reaching.
FOPO can cause is to stay ‘small’ – to retreat or stay in the safety of the comfort zone. This in itself may not seem so bad, and things may appear to be ticking on ok. But as humans we are also wired to grow, develop and maximise our potential. Longer term, staying in the comfort zone can really impact our confidence and mental resilience to the challenges life will inevitably throw at us.
In this video I introduce FOPO and why awareness of it may just be something worth cultivating…
Also check one of my previous posts on the benefits of effective planning for performance…
The Benefits of Effective Planning
3rg work with people and organisations who are serious about performance. We offer practical, experienced based solutions to complex business challenges. Through our range of leadership courses, coaching programmes and workshops we help organisations build high performance, winning teams.
