FONO

(Fear of No Opportunties)

What is FONO?

F.O.N.O is an accronym that we have created to describe the fear of no oppurtunities. What this is describing is when we feel that being in a position and saying no or accepting another oppurtunity can close other doors that we may want to use later on in life. This can be seen in students, the work force, and in some friend groups. There are many aspects that go into FONO and we are here to describe some of them.

FONO in Our Lives

Jada

The end of my freshman year I applied to 5 differnt clubs and had 3 jobs to build my resume for medical school. I assumed I was going to get declinde from at least one, but I was wrong. I was accepted into everything. I felt that if I had declined a position I was going to be losing an opputunity that someone else had completed to get into medical school.

Jacob

The past few months have been exceeding difficult for me in regards to FONO. My ultimate goal is to be get accepted into a physician assistant program, and on top of the challenging science pre reqs, I also have to obtain between 1,000-2,000 hours of direct patient care experience. So on top of working 20+ hours a week and school, I've committed myself to a few volunteer opportunities that I really don't have time for.

Kennedy

At the moment I am working three different jobs. It is very challenging at times. Each of my jobs is low-staffed, therefore if I quit it would make other employees' jobs worse. Therefore I don't want to quit on anyone. I also do not want to miss out on the opportunities that they each provide.

Michael

When a past professor came to me to ask for help on a project, I felt it would be a waste to miss out on this opportunity. I said yes, without thinking of the internship, job, and 17 credit hours worth of classes I already had on my plate.

Thesis Behind FONO

FONO is all around us and we can't cure it but we do have tools to improve the way we think and work through the "fear of no opportunity ". It starts off with understanding what causes FONO and then going into our tools to alleviate the pressures of FONO.

Cognitive Biases Involved

Anchoring Bias

Survivorship Bias

Bandwagon Bias

Social Comparison Bias

Anchoring Bias

Anchoring bias is where we believe or rely too much on pre-existing beliefs.

We are told at a young age not to say no to opportunities or to take as many opportunities as possible. This fuels fire to anchoring bias since this idea is ingrained in us at such a young age and so we feel as though we can not say no to opportunities.

Survivorship Bias

Survivorship bias is a cognitive shortcut that occurs when a visible successful subgroup is mistaken as an entire group, due to the failure subgroup not being visible. (Decision Lab)

When we compare ourselves with what are mentors have done to become succesful, we tend to follow their path instead of creating our own. we tend to do this because we want what they already have. We fear if we steer away from what they have done we won't have the same outcome.

Bandwagon Bias

The bandwagon bias basically illustrates the human tendency to imitate what others are doing.

Watching others achieve grad school admissions/jobs we desire drives us to duplicate their strategies.

Social Comparison Bias

The Social Comparison Bias is the tendency to dislike and compete with those you see as better or equal to you (Sinusoid, 2022).

When you are constantly competing with those around you it can become very easy to begin saying yes to every offer without even considering your own circumstances.

Overcoming FONO

What can you do?

Create an agenda
Take a step back
Focus on yourself
Set a limit
Set goals
- SMART Goals

What can IUPUI do for you?

Handshake
- Search for jobs, internships, and other opportunities
LinkedIn
- Collect all your achievements in one place
CAPs
- Seek help for any underlying anxiety that is caused by or worsens your FONO if it gets to be too great
SOAR
- Look over past coursework and achieveemnts to help build sense of confidence in your resume

“The mind is everything, what you think, you become.”

(Castrillion, 2020)

Works Cited

Academy 4SC. (n.d.) Survivorship Bias: Exception is Not the Rule. https://academy4sc.org/video/survivorship-bias-the-exception-is-not-the-rule/

Best Christian Workplaces Institute. (n.d.) Goals and Strategy Effective Planning To Move Toward Flourishing. https://www.bcwinstitute.org/flourish-factor/sustainable-strategy/goals-and-strategy-effective-planning-to-move-towards-flourishing/?gclid=CjwKCAjwg5uZBhATEiwAhhRLHvZsF4WW98QMe3bo7uDDvc84IF5SVZaYcV76m6oTwDi7XHLkhTSmoRoCSBMQAvD_BwE

Castrillon, C. (2020, July 12). 5 Ways To Go From A Scarcity To Abundance Mindset. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2020/07/12/5-ways-to-go-from-a-scarcity-to-abundance-mindset/?sh=2aeeee651197

CFI Team. (2022, January, 25). Anchoring Bias. Corporate Finance Institute. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/trading-investing/anchoring-bias/

Davis, T. (n.d.) Personal Goals: Definition, 30 Examples, & Tips For Goal Setting. Berkeley Wellbeing Institute. https://www.berkeleywellbeing.com/personal-goals.html

Donohue, W. (2018, July 24). 7 Lessons on Survivorship Bias that Will Help You Make Better Decisions. I Done This Blog. http://blog.idonethis.com/7-lessons-survivorship-bias-will-help-make-better-decisions/

Espinal, N. (2020, May 17). Questions Are Being Raised About Pre-Med Mental Health. The Guardian. https://ucsdguardian.org/2020/05/17/questions-are-being-raised-about-pre-med-mental-health/

Garcia, S. (2019, October 24). Tainted Recommendations: The Social Comparison Bias. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/keeping-the-joneses/201910/tainted-recommendations-the-social-comparison-bias

Gourani, S. (2019, August 18). The Secret Behind Jealousy: Overcoming Unhealthy Competition In Order To Achieve Real Success. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/soulaimagourani/2019/08/18/the-secret-behind-jealousy--overcoming-unhealthy-competition-in-order-to-achieve-real-success/?sh=7b6ce3161e94

Interactive Design Foundation. (n.d). Bandwagon Bias. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/bandwagon-bias#:~:text=Bandwagon%20bias%20is%20a%20form,tried%20and%20failed%20before%20us

Johnson, J. (2021, June 2) 10 Ways To Build And Preserve Better Boundaries. PsychCentral. https://psychcentral.com/lib/10-way-to-build-and-preserve-better-boundaries

Sinusoid, D. (2022, February 1). Understanding Social Comparison Bias. Shortform. https://www.shortform.com/blog/social-comparison-bias/

Why Do We Misjudge Groups By Only Looking At Specific Group Members? (n.d). The Decision Lab. https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/survivorship-bias

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