Quote from John Freeman on December 1, 2023, 11:27 pm

Hello TPM community,

A thought:

When we refuse an invite, it's for 3 reasons:

1. We are not able to attend (work, family, too tired, etc.)
2. We are not interested in the event
3. We have a better event lined up: uncomfortable but true about human nature

So when we refuse an invite by saying it looks great (not 2.) and we don't say we cannot for cause of obligations/needs (not 1.), then:

We sub-communicate that we have a better event lined up instead (3.).

This signals high-value event. So we create FOMO instead of feeling FOMO. People may start to think: "so what is he doing that's better than my event/the event I'm going to?"

This also applies when we have people refusing our invites as well. We may think this as well. So it applies both way.