On Being Present

To be entirely honest, I don’t think I’m all that fantastic at what I do when I compare myself to other designers out there. And fortunately I’ve been learning how to not create a standard based off that mentality. 

I think that I’m pretty good at what I do but there are plenty of other artists, designers, creatives that are way more talented that I am and will ever be. I’ve made peace with that, because this kind of work definitely is the young man’s game at the end of the day. 

However given that reality, I think there’s always going to be work for the rest of us. I mean don’t really do much marketing for myself, although maybe should, but I always happen to have something to do. Even on the the slowest of weeks. I think the key to this world of creative problem solvers is based the very idea of being present. Of just being around. 

Now I’ve never done any sort of formal internship, but I find that it’s essentially your introduction to the world of work regardless if you’re creative or not. But let’s talk about the creative aspect because that’s what I know and what I do for a living. 

In understanding our context and awareness, our present day mentality is to have everything we want and need right at our fingertips at all times. That’s our constant expectation, not an ideal. I believe with that perspective, we associate success with instantaneous gratification; overnight sensations and successes. I will confess that I believed that as well; I believed that I had to not only be better than everyone else, but I had to succeed and be recognized quickly; that’s just the millennial in me.

However, life has taught me so far that the best things come in time. Patience is not only a virtue, it’s the only way of life sometimes. 

By just being around and present, I’ve been able to create better relationships with people. I’m not too concerned with status and connections, because in those brief encounters with strangers, it’s too easy to settle for small talk and surface cliches. By trying to be a ‘good person’ as opposed to a ‘nice person,’ I hope that I’m exuding goodness rather ulterior motives. But perhaps that’s probably why I’m not a savvy rich businessman.

I’ve given up being cool. It’s too hard to be cool all the time. And so I’m just around nowadays. I want to make myself available to people that need help if they want it. I’m in the business of solving problems and honestly, half of the job is just being around to solve it. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution. And yeah, maybe anyone else could have thought it that way or this way but they didn’t, because I did. 

Because I showed up, was around and readily available, I was given the opportunity to make things for people. And at the end of they day, that’s what I intend to do. I’m not trying to create a legacy, I just want to do a good job.

All that to say, relationships take patience. It’s process, just how finding solutions and trying out ideas is a process. Being present means not pursuing other things, it means investing time; investing intentionality. But hell, what do I know?