Diving into an online rabbit hole recently while I was obsessing over updates and changes I wanted to make to my portfolio and blog websites, I came across the /now page movement that was unintentionally started by Derek Sivers and was immediately intrigued. I knew right away that I wanted to do the same thing on my own websites. Today, I want to talk about what a /now page Is and why I am joining the movement.

What Is A /Now Page?

Sivers created a “/now” page on his website to summarize what he is up to and a public declaration of his priorities. As Sivers put it:

People often ask me what I’m doing now.

Each time, I would type out a reply, describing where I’m at, what I’m focused on, and what I’m not.

…

A simple link. Easy to remember. Easy to type.

It’s a nice reminder for myself when I’m feeling unfocused. A public declaration of priorities.

(If I’m doing something that’s not on my list, is it something I want to add or something I want to stop?)

It helps me say no, too. When I decline invitations, I point them to that page to let them know it’s not personal.

Derek Sivers, https://sive.rs/nowff

How It Became A Movement?

After Sivers published his page in late October 2015, he shared the link on his Twitter profile, declaring, “I wish everyone had one!” and invited people to create their own /now page and share the link. Within minutes, eight people, including Gregory Brown of Practicing Developer, saw the idea and were inspired to join the movement. Shocked and inspired, Sivers also shared those websites on his Twitter account.

That’s the power of good ideas — they take off and sometimes without any intention from the creator. As hundreds of links flooded in, Sivers realized there needed to be a dedicated site to share them all and decided to create it himself. Now, a few years later, there are well over 280 people with /now pages on the Internet, all of whom can be found at nownownow.com.

About NowNowNow.com

For each person, there’s a simple format for each person: photo, /now page link, an ‘I’ statement of what each person does, and a link to a profile page. Only personal sites are showcased, no businesses. Sivers sends each person five questions to answer. The answers make up each profile page, so you can get to know each person listed. 

If you want to explore the pages, you can browse the website, which shuffles the order of the pages on each page refresh, or follow the Twitter account @NowNowNow, which tweets a link to a different page each hour. If you want to add your own /now page to Sivers’ site, read the details here.

How I Learned About the /Now Page Movement

I accidentally stumbled upon the /Now Page movement while looking up the book “Steal Like An Artist” by Austin Kleon. I saw someone mention the book online and decided to do a little research into the book and author to see if it’d be interesting to me. While browsing Austin’s website, I saw his /now page. On this page, he credited the idea to Derek Sivers, which gave way for my rabbit hole to get even deeper.

After checking out Sivers’ page on his website, I found my way to the nownownow.com website. Looking at other people’s pages, I was in awe at how they described what they were up to in succinct and definite statements. While browsing around, I found myself asking, “How do they write about what they’re doing so clearly and confidently? How can I confidently distill what I am doing into a page like this?”

Why I Decided to Join the Movement

Nownownow.com is a simple but exciting website. Each time I’ve visited, I’m inspired by the statements people confidently make about themselves and what they are doing. It’s already a challenge to condense what you do into a sentence or two, but actually knowing what you do is a whole other level.

With personal branding and finding creative ways to use technology being two of my passions, I immediately realized the value of creating a /now page for myself. I wanted to hop on the bandwagon to hold myself accountable and for the page to serve as a reminder to myself about what I am currently focusing on.

What Now?

Since I create my own websites, I wasted no time making a /now page for my personal brand (this website) and portfolio websites. Even with me obsessing and stressing over it for a few days (a natural part of my creative process), I reveled in every aspect of creating my /now page.

Want to check it out?! There’s a link in the navigation bar above and on my About page. Another quick way to get to the page is by adding /now to the end of desimslaughter.com.

For now, my /Now page will be updated as needed, but I hope to work up to updating it each month. So, if you want to know and follow what I’m up to, check back there and find out. There’s a 20-second version and a 3-minute one, primarily for my own purposes, with plenty of links for you to dive into if you’re interested.