Why PRESENT? ✺ Six Reasons This Project Exists
I wanted to go through six points today that explain why I'm doing PRESENT. With all my projects, I try to constantly reflect and review on my why. This is initially inspired by the book Start With Why by Simon Sinek, which I've read many years ago and which has still an impact on me today.
I found figuring out your why is a super helpful reflection, it helps you crystallize the purpose of your doing, which transforms into more clarity. And clarity is energy. This is why I'm recommending this practice to everyone. It brings clarity —not only for yourself— but also for others to help them understand your actual goals and vision.
1 ✺ To Empower Makers and Creators
PRESENT is built with the mission in mind to empower, encourage, and inspire every person in the world who is crazy enough to take the risk to get started on their favorite unrealized project.
I’m a creator myself, and I know all the struggles and fights firsthand. And that’s why I’m deeply rooting for everyone who is embarking on this journey as well. Simply put, I love creators and people who have the courage to get out of their comfort zone in order to grow. And I want to simply support everyone who’s in the same boat.
This is not only limited to creative workers, but anyone who’s deliberately going out of their comfort zone, everyone who’s starting something, despite all insecurities, all risks, all the fear and worries. We are all figuring out how to do it all, how to make and thrive in this world today. And it takes courage and we all can use all the support we can get.
2 ✺ It All Started with the Title of the Project
Which not only gave it its name, but the word PRESENT and its different meanings serve as pillars of the vision and the purpose of the brand.
PRESENT as a Celebration of the Now
It’s about realizing and accepting that we live now. It’s for me really about letting go of the past and all the other things we can’t control. The past is gone. The future is just a dream. We have to make the best of what we have today, because this moment is all we have.
PRESENT as a Reminder in this Moment
The name of this project serves as a gentle reminder to come back to now. A reminder to be present. I love this quote by Albert Camus: Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present. This is also a personal mantra: to remind myself to reboot and having the confidence to do the thing now. This is also inspired by my meditation practice. Meditation is not about stopping thoughts, but rather being aware of thoughts. It’s all about noticing when we are lost in thought and simply start again.
PRESENT as Realizing Everything as a Gift
It’s about counting our blessings and realizing everything in life is a gift and something we can learn from.
I’m building what I wish I had when I was younger and when I was starting out as a designer and as a young man. And this is throughout my life, and throughout this project, my guide: to build what I was missing, what I wished to have access to when I was starting out.
I do believe that my view on life comes from personal hardships. My parents both had cancer and I lost my mother to it. This gave me a reality check pretty early on and made me realize how fragile life can be. I'm deeply grateful for being healthy and being able to live my life and being able to work. It’s about a mindset shift of appreciating challenges you can always grow and learn: every challenge is your teacher.
PRESENT as a Manifesto for Vulnerability
It’s about generosity towards others and sharing ideas and thoughts and being transparent in order to give back.
In today’s world, it can be misleading when you see only the perfect final result, but rarely all the sweat and tears that went into it. And I want to show the other side, or the deeper side, the realer side of, of work and projects.
All to hopefully encourage fellow builders, especially people starting out. To show that for everyone it for everyone it can be difficult for everyone can be hard. We’re all trying to do our best. We all face similar challenges when we create something new in this world.
The goal is really to unblock people with showing different approaches, different backgrounds, different stories, showing how other people are doing it, and inspiring that you can do it too.
3 ✺ Being PRESENT leads to the Future
The ability to master focus is essential to thrive in a world of mass distraction. From now on, it will be only more meaningful to have the right tools and skills to enter a state of flow and deep activity in order to get the most important things done without losing ourselves.
We all know that it can be extremely challenging in today’s world not to get constantly distracted. And after all, we can’t even blame ourselves for getting distracted! Never before did we have the entire world in our pocket, the entire history of humanity, all the movies, all the books, all the games, all the knowledge available at all times.
But we also know how dangerous this can be — because to make, to invent, to create something new with meaning, you have to concentrate, you have to focus. And making takes time, refining your craft takes time.
We need the tools to learn how to be present, the tools that help us stay aware and stay sharp and stay focused. I believe that concentration is a superpower in our times and it will be even more so in the future.
4 ✺ Being PRESENT is Good for Us
A study showed that focusing on our experience in the moment makes us happier than when our minds wander, regardless of whether the activity or thought is negative or positive.
This is helpful to remember when it feels so hard to concentrate, so hard to stay present, to endure focus. If you manage to get across the difficulty of starting, if you manage to commit fully, if you stick with it, if you accept the challenge, you will get rewarded.
5 ✺ We Believe in the PRESENT
Our world gets increasingly loud and cluttered with negativity, divisiveness, faux nostalgia — and we fight against that.
We believe in openness and kindness.
We believe in collaboration.
We believe in risking and rebooting.
We believe in looking forward with optimism.
6 ✺ PRESENT is Here to Help Navigate the Challenges of the Modern Maker
PRESENT is both a publication and a continuous discourse on creating, chasing, and actualizing our dreams. We share ways to overcome procrastination and self-doubt that might hold us back from being truly present and tackle our favorite unrealized projects.
In this increasingly individualistic era we see PRESENT as a platform for social engagement, a place where we can share solutions to the problems faced by all of us, whatever we make or create.
I’m doing this because I need to learn all this myself. I have good days and I have bad days, where it’s hard for me to focus and to be present. This project is a reminder for myself — and hopefully can be helpful for you too.
I invite you to the journey, subscribe to the channel and the newsletter, and join our community, where you find fellow Present People to exchange with, and all our resources, and hopefully all the inspiration that you need.
I thank you for being present and talk to you soon!
Hugo
@hugohoppmann ✺ hugohoppmann.com ✺ @present_xx ✺ present.xxx