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Steve Jobs did this. So did I. This changed everything.

NEXTletter turns fears into energy: We ask a question, share perspectives and an experiment to help you and your organization move from anxiety to action – with a future-ready mindstate - every other week.

Author

Frederik Pferdt
July 04, 2025

Prefer to listen 📻 > click here.

A few weeks ago, I found myself in the hills above Silicon Valley, at a quiet Zen center called Jikoji. I had taken my two kids for a weekend of silence, stillness, and surprisingly, calligraphy. But what we practiced wasn’t really about writing.

The Zen master watched us dip our brushes and gently said:

“Sometimes, the brush has its own mind.”

At first, I tried to guide the strokes to control the outcome. But the more I focused on perfection, the more lifeless it felt. Then something shifted. We breathed. We let go.
Each stroke became a meditation. No edits. No undo. Just presence.

And then I remembered: this same space once shaped the mind of Steve Jobs. This was where he practiced Zen with his teacher, Kōbun Chino Otogawa.

ONE QUESTION

What if your next step didn’t need to be perfect, just true?

TWO PERSPECTIVES

1️⃣ Where Innovation Begins

Jobs often said that studying calligraphy at Reed College was one of the most influential experiences of his life. Not because it was practical, but because it taught him how to see. How beauty isn’t extra, it’s essential. How whitespace isn’t empty, it gives meaning. How imperfection can hold elegance.

These lessons made their way into Apple’s DNA:

  • Interfaces that feel human

  • Design that whispers simplicity

  • Products that don’t just work, but delight

And here’s what Jobs discovered, something we often forget in business and life:

You can’t design what’s next if you’re not deeply present with what’s now.

2️⃣ The Mind and Body connection

As we practiced in silence, I noticed something shift in myself:

  • My breath slowed

  • My shoulders softened

  • My thoughts quieted just enough to feel the moment again

This wasn’t just meditative. It was reconnecting.

Modern neuroscience confirms this:
Intentional, embodied movement, like brushstrokes or mindful sketching, activates the brain’s decision-making and emotional centers.

In other words: Drawing a line can change how you draw conclusions.

This is the forgotten wisdom of the body.
We don’t just think the future into being.
We have to feel it into form.

The Brush in Action - Future Day @ Faber-Castell

This week, I stepped into a very different space, yet felt the same energy.

At the historic headquarters of Faber-Castell, the 260-year-old company known for pencils, pens, and creativity tools, I was invited to co-create a Future Day with over 180 leaders, employees, and even members of the founding family.

We didn’t focus on KPIs or forecasts.
We focused on something deeper: presence, perspective, and purpose.
Together, we shaped the future, not by predicting it, but by feeling it.

I watched as people:

  • Sketched their future visions

  • Voiced their “what if” questions

  • Imagined new possibilities with childlike wonder

It reminded me of that ink stroke at Jikoji, when you stop trying to get it right, and start allowing something meaningful to emerge.

This wasn’t theory.
This was the brush alive in real time.

How you can use this - in work and life

This isn’t about becoming a calligrapher.
It’s about remembering that every day, you’re already holding a brush.

In your work:
Before solving the next problem, pause.
Let clarity rise instead of forcing it.

In your relationships:
Listen like whitespace.
Let others unfold without correction.

In your leadership:
Don’t script the future, sketch it.
With presence, not pressure.

In your personal life:
Maybe your next chapter doesn’t need a master plan.
Just one honest stroke to begin.

ONE EXPERIMENT

The One-Minute Ink Ritual (No Ink Required)

You don’t need special tools. Just a moment of presence.

Try this:

  1. Take a pen and a blank page

  2. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath

  3. With your non-dominant hand, draw one continuous stroke, no lifting

  4. Open your eyes. Notice the line

    • Was it smooth? Wobbly? Bold?

    • Did it hesitate or shift?

  5. Now ask:
    What does this line say about how I’m showing up today?

Repeat tomorrow.
Each line will be different.
That’s the point.

NEW PODCAST EPISODE - The Future Is HOW

🎙️ Francesco Ciccolella is a Vienna based artist. 

His illustrations don’t just decorate the page, they challenge how we see the world. Francesco is a Vienna-based artist, illustrator, and designer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, MIT Technology Review, and on the covers of books and ideas that have shaped our thinking.

He also brought my ideas to life, through incredible sketches, including the one-line illustrations in my book “What’s Next Is Now”. Francesco's illustrations hold up a mirror to our culture, showing us not only what is, but what could be.

🎧 Francesco Ciccolella on The Future is HOW
From visual chaos to clarity, this episode will reshape how you think, feel, and create. Empathize deeply. Simplify boldly. See what others don’t.

📺 Watch our conversation (exclusive to our community) here.
🎧 Listen now on your favorite podcast app.

P.S.
Maybe the brush does have its own mind.
Maybe the future does too.

But when we meet both with breath, openness, and care
something truly original begins to appear.

The next stroke, like the next chapter,
isn’t something to control.
It’s something to meet.

Because in the end,
this isn’t just a lesson from Steve Jobs.

It’s a practice for all future creators.
A way to move through uncertainty.
To lead with presence.
And to shape what’s next, stroke by stroke.


The future is not a line you follow.
It’s a line you draw, your line.

With love
Frederik