Believe in your fucking self. Work on your fucking thing. Develop some good fucking habits. Wake up fucking earlier. Make a small fucking progress every day. Take a fucking break. Trust the fucking process. Get out of your fucking comfort zone. Support others as much as you fucking can. Keep fucking learning. Get enough fucking sleep. Take deeper fucking breaths. Stay fucking generous. Have fucking ambitious goals. Be fucking present.

1
Remember that 99% of the time your number one challenge is to simply get yourself started. Have trust in this universal truth and take the leap. Swap the inner dialogue from ‘I have to’ to:

‘I choose to start for just 5 minutes’ and see what happens.

2
Try to just show up even if your mind tries

its very best to hold you back: Open that file, grab

that tool, get yourself in the arena, and just let it happen. Put on the blinders and go. You will feel better.

3
Fuck Perfectionism. You have to suck at something to become good at it. You’re going to fail. And that’s okay! Try to write one crappy page a day. Churn out one page of sketches. But make. There is no fail, only make.

4
Remember that you’ve already been at this point hundreds of times, and you made it through before. You are even stronger and more experienced now, even if your mind is telling you otherwise. Outsmart and outwork your toxic thoughts.

5
Visualize how good you will feel tonight when 

you can look back and can say that you have conquered your fears, that you showed up, that you fought your way through, that you pushed yourself out of overthinking and one step closer to your dreams.

6
IF NOTHING GOES:
• Make a complete brain dump: take a blank sheet of paper, write everything down that’s on your mind right now.
• Take a short nap or simply lay down with your eyes closed.
• Go into the nearest park for a walk or run and take in sun and fresh air.
• Embrace vulnerability, search support from friends and your community. Your are loved.
• Clean up everything for a fresh start tomorrow. Get rid of some low-level tasks to free up your mind and schedule for the next morning.
• Accept and rest. Get a good

night’s sleep and in the morning you will see clearer.
• Be kind to yourself and have trust in yourself. Your potential is limitless and there are brighter days ahead.

A well-nourished mind and body make it much easier to have the energy to tackle your THING. This is how our bodies release ‘happy chemicals’:

1.
Oxytocin: Hugging, kissing, holding hands, 

giving a compliment, playing with animals

2.
Dopamine: Completing a task, eating good food, listening to your fav music, getting enough sleep

3.
Norepinephrine: High-intensity workouts, challenging tasks, cold showers

4.
Endorphins: Watching a funny movie, laughing, moving, dancing, making love

5.
Anandamide: Engaging in enjoyable and stress-relieving activities, eating chocolate

6.
Serotonin: Being in nature, meditating, getting enough sun, helping others, being present

Preparing to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Scheduling time to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Making a to-do list for the thing isn't doing the thing.

Telling people you’re going to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Messaging friends 

who may or may not 

be doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Writing a banger tweet about how you’re going to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Hating on yourself for not doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on other people who have done the thing isn't doing the thing.

Hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing isn't doing the thing.

Fantasizing about all of the adoration you'll receive once you do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Reading about how to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading about how other people did the thing isn't doing the thing.

Reading this essay isn't doing the thing.

The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing.

(via strangestloop)

My struggle. Our all struggle. Fucking Procrastination! It’s so ridiculously easy for our brain to find something that "needs to be done" before the time is "right" to work on what we should be working. The thing is: we rarely 100% "feel like it". Our monkey mind, our Resistance works too hard to never really make us feel like tackling the important stuff. And this is killing us. And the people around us.

The cure are three words: JUST GET STARTED.

When it comes to hard tasks don’t say "just do it" — that’s overwhelming. But just get started. 

It amazes me every single time how once we finally managed to get started on a "difficult task" it all of a sudden doesn’t feel as scary or uncomfortable anymore. Once we managed to take the first step we'll just go with it and flow along. 

Bonus trick to make yourself getting started: Set a timer to 10 minutes. Tell your brain: only 10 minutes. Are you crazy? Of course I can do that!

And more often than not we find ourselves all of the sudden so immersed in the task that when the timer goes off we simply continue. Because the starting is the actual hard part. And begun is half done.

Life is infinitely better without procrastination. 

So just get started. 

I get often overwhelmed by everything life throws at me. In a sea of to-do's it's tough to find moments of real focus for the important stuff. Knowing in the back of my mind that there could be a new 'important' message or call coming in anytime makes being present very hard.

This is why I fell in love with the little icon that shuts me off from all connection to the outside world for a period of time.

Switching on the airplane mode transports me. Away from the noise, towards solitude and presence. It is the sign to fully commit to whatever is in front of me and learning to let go of everything else.

After having been in sweet isolation you release yourself back to the world again. On your terms, on your clock, as opposed to merely reacting the whole day to everything that screams for your attention.

Go into airplane mode now and enjoy the flight! I'm wishing you a week with plenty of space and presence and good thoughts.

i'm here
i'm home
in the present
~Thich Nhat Hanh

I’ve come to realize that there is only thing that helps not getting stressed out by all the tasks waiting later in the day, or later in life: Trying to fully focusing 100% on the one thing in front of you and cultivating a serious disinterest towards any tasks in the future.

Being completely invested in the very moment — whatever you are doing — is the ultimate challenge and the most powerful and wonderful habit to cultivate. 

In researching more about this I recently found a Harvard study from 2010 showed that being fully the moment is (non less than) the secret to true contentment. The study proofed that people who focus on their present moment experience are significantly happier than people whose minds wander away from the now, no matter what activity.

Every layer of this project — be it with small chapters like this, or the upcoming interviews, or the gear — aim to serve as a reminder to be present and cultivate a genuine curiosity towards what is in front of us, right now, in this moment. Because this moment is all we have.

“Embrace the importance of now, and refuse to allow the lull of comfort, fear, familiarity, and ego to prevent you from taking action on your ambitions. The cost of inaction is vast. Don’t go to your grave with your best work inside of you. Choose to die empty.” — Todd Henry

The thought of looking back at my life and regret not having had the courage to do something I dreamed about doing is one of my biggest motivators.

Dying empty for me means having given absolutely all you’ve got. It means not holding anything back that’s close to your heart. Not holding back your ideas and thoughts. Not holding back your work. Not holding back your love. Not holding back what makes you unique, authentic. What makes you your true self.

Dying empty means acting in spite of fears and worries. Realizing that we should be more fearless and that we should prefer (might) making mistakes than not making at all.

We have to start now. In this present moment. Because sooner or later our tomorrow’s run out.

I had to experience that life can be suddenly over, earlier than expected. Maybe that’s why I feel this urge and this urgency in me. And why I hate to see people waiting on taking action on something important, only because it's uncomfortable or might look stupid.

PRESENT is about starting. And PRESENT is about ending procrastination.

Because we all have this thing in us that wants to come out. We are all in the same boat. And we need to give what we’ve got, and share what you have inside ourselves.

Let’s be present and generous instead of fearful and entrenched. Let’s choose to die empty. Let’s get on it.

“The moment that you feel that, just possibly, you’re walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself. That’s the moment you may be starting to get it right.” — Neil Gaiman

Lately I published a new version of www.PRESENT.xxx with more background info, future subjects and a store. It’s a good overview on my intentions what this project is and will be all about.

I’m putting myself out there. I’m exposing myself. I’m trying to be as transparent and honest as I possibly can. I know it’s the right thing to do, but it doesn’t come easy for me. Negative self-talk and doubts come up daily:

Is it any good? Is this actually useful? Am I spending too much time on this? What am I doing here anyway? Can I afford this? Shouldn’t I focus on making money instead? Am I capable of pulling a project like this off? Will this burn me out completely? ⠀⠀

Those are all fair questions and I try to notice and accept them — but then let them go. I have my mission. Even though I sometimes don’t know exactly how or when I get there, I know what I want. And I know I just have to be patient and keep pushing.

Because what we need to do is act despite our doubts and fears. Overthinking, perfectionism, pessimism — those are the killers for so many good ideas, it breaks my heart. So let's fuck perfection and start shipping.

With the new website online, I’m now reaching out to future collaborators and people I want to interview. I’m realizing that it’s not as easy as I thought it’d be with a project this new and still a little intangible. But I’m slowly getting there and you can expect first original content by new contributors in the next weeks.

In the meantime I bought a screen printing machine to experiment with the first iterations of the PRESENT workwear. Make sure to check it out — it’s a great way to support this project. And special thanks to the brave people that put in the first orders. It’s very much appreciated.

It's been too long since the last update but I'm finally back at it after some intense weeks of work and traveling. I started this chapter a couple weeks ago on the plane to New York, crammed into my seat, barely moving, only my fingers hastily hovering over the keyboard…

Late one night about a year ago when I was still living in NYC I made the decision to pull PRESENT out of my "favorite unrealized projects" drawer and give it a go. It equally excited and scared me — always a good sign to go ahead and do it.

A lot happened in one year. I found an apartment in Berlin with more space to reflect and tinker. I decided to work more independently again, with my own clients and more control over my time and my voice, to be able to do my own thing more thoroughly.

IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW SLOWLY YOU GO, AS LONG AS YOU DON’T STOP. Getting this project to where I want it to be is a slow process — but at least it’s moving forward steadily. And that’s the important thing. I can’t lose momentum again.

I recently gave a workshop at Bauhaus University in Weimar titled MY FAVORITE UNREALIZED PROJECT — I talked with the students about all the projects we dream of realizing one day, and what’s holding us back. Everyone had to design a motivational poster (by hand) around their project visualizing their inspirations, doubts, hopes and ultimate action steps toward actual realization.

I’m teaching what I want to get better at myself. PRESENT is still my own favorite unrealized project — but I’m working very hard to make it as real as possible as fast as I can.

Everyday I’m writing, accumulating ‘grandiose’ plans and concepts. But I feel that all the beautiful ideas in the world don’t matter until they get executed — and ultimately manifest into something of actual use to others.

But that’s also what makes executing ideas hard — once they left the save place of your head or notebook they can be judged and criticized. Still better and more interesting than being hidden away. I’m sick of great ideas that go nowhere.

Even though I’m still not sure if a lot of people are interested in my vision or the things and people I want to feature and push — all I know is that I have to do it, no matter what. But more on that another day.

For now, these are the things that I’m trying to put in out in the next weeks to push this project forward:

1. A concise presentation/document that contains, pinpoints, clarifies the core ideas and ambitions of PRESENT to be sent out to future contributors, collaborators and interview partners. (It’s an ambitious and exciting list!)

2. A catalogue of specific and unique questions for upcoming recorded conversations. The questions I’m mostly interested in are rarely appear in classic interviews. They are going to be always respectful but highly personal, and at first sight often banal, but tremendously insightful.

3. PRESENT clothing and merch. Super excited about that. I want to build a brand again — that’s just one of my favorite things to do. Ultimately these products could become a great tool for people to support and sponsor the project.

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.“ 

I had a hard time focusing on PRESENT these past two weeks. Too many too urgent projects with real deadlines, real budgets, and many promises to be kept. 

Sometimes my deepest wish is to pause time and freeze the world around me for a few hours, so that I can get all things done in peace, with no interruptions, and no rush. We all want more time. But it’s the same amount of hours a day for everyone. How are even busier people with more responsibility than you and me able to fully focus and get important things done, despite the craziness of life? 

PRIORITIZE UNTIL IT HURTS. 

It sounds harsh and brutal. And it is. Because it’s about being calm and staying with ONE task, despite a hundred other ‘important‘ tasks lurking behind you, screaming for your attention. It’s about being brave enough to free yourself from the urge of having to please everyone all the time. It’s about saying NO even though it means you might disappoint people. It’s about being honest to yourself. 

PRIORITIZE UNTIL IT HURTS may be one of the most important mantras to live by — because done right, it may be the closest we get to freeze time and space. And finally get some important shit done.

I’ve been trying to pull this project off since I first teased it a few months ago. But money-making, doubts and other distractions get in my way constantly. And of course they do, that’s just life. 

There is always something ‘urgent’ to take care of before you can finally start to focus on your important work — it’s never-ending, and it’s an easy excuse. 

A wise man once said THE PRICE OF INACTION IS FAR GREATER THAN THE COST OF MAKING A MISTAKE. 

So starting today I’m making this journey, the hustle to get this thing going, the first story itself. 

Because ultimately this is what the PRESENT project is about, or what I want it to be about: How we manage to realize the truly important projects, plans and goals in our heart, despite everything that’s going on. Despite all the small and big problems and worries in this life. 

We have to start somewhere. 
No more waiting for the perfect moment. 
Let’s go.