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What if the fear you carry isn’t about the future?

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 18, 2025

Prefer to listen 📻 > click here.

A few days ago, I stood in front of a room full of people in Warsaw.
It was the launch of the Polish edition of my book:
„Jak nie bać się przyszłości” - How Not to Be Afraid of the Future.

I looked out at the audience and asked, “Who here has felt fear about what’s coming? Almost every hand went up. Then I asked a second question - this one more personal: “What do you fear - and why?” For a moment, there was silence. No one moved. But you could feel the tension in the room. And then, slowly, people began to speak.

“Because I see the war happening…”
“Because AI might replace me…”
“Because the climate is changing so dramatically…”
“Because I don’t know if I’ll be needed anymore…”

The fear was not theoretical. It was lived, embodied.
And in that moment, I could feel how heavy it is to hold the future alone.

But we didn’t stay in that place. Instead, I invited everyone to close their eyes. To take a deep breath together. And to ask:

“What does a beautiful future feel like?”

And the energy shifted. Not because we had the answers. But because we paused long enough to remember: We don’t have to brace against the future - we can start to feel it.

ONE QUESTION

What if the fear you carry isn’t actually about the future - but about what you’re afraid to lose?

TWO PERSPECTIVES

1️⃣

Science tells us 

that our brains are designed to protect us.

Faced with uncertainty, we fill in the blanks with danger.

It’s called negativity bias - and it’s why fear often arrives first.

But most of the time, we’re not actually afraid of the future itself.
We’re afraid of:

  • Losing control

  • Not being enough

  • Being left behind

2️⃣

But experience tells me something else entirely.

Whether I’m in conversation with Google leaders, Stanford students, refugees in Lesvos, or people navigating massive change in their lives - I’ve seen something beautiful happen when people are given a different way in:

When they stop trying to predict the future and instead learn how to feel it - they reconnect with their agency. They stop waiting. They start shaping.

That’s why I teach a practice that has helped so many people through moments of uncertainty - whether in a workshop, a keynote, or through my Future Being Coaching Program. It’s not complicated. But it works.

ONE EXPERIMENT

The next time fear shows up—about your job, your worth, your role in a changing world - try this:

Present. Perspective. Participate.

  • Present – Come back to this moment. Breathe. What’s real right now?

  • Perspective – Ask yourself: “What’s a more beautiful version of this story?”

  • Participate – Take one small action toward that vision.

Because the future isn’t something to figure out.
It’s something you create—step by step, story by story.

NEW PODCAST EPISODE - The Future Is HOW

Now Streaming: Summer Best-Of Special of “The Future Is HOW - Growing Your Future”

What if you didn’t have to fear the future? What if it was something you could tend to - like a garden?

This special summer episode of The Future Is HOW is a tribute to what we've been cultivating together:

A future grown not through prediction - but intention.

Join me for a walk through an extraordinary garden. One made of powerful questions and trust trellises. Of storytelling sunshine and composted transformation. Of greenhouses where rest becomes growth - and roots of connection deepen possibility.

In “Growing Your Future”, I share the most powerful insights from this season’s conversations - with eleven remarkable voices who each brought something essential to this ecosystem of change:

Esther Wojcicki on trust as a framework for flourishing. Marc Champagne on asking the right questions. Matt Abrahams on communication as nourishment. Kalle Ryan on storytelling that transforms. Dr. Els van der Helm on rest as growth. Newton Cheng on wellness as performance. Angela Pferdt on composting the past to grow the future. Lisa Kay Solomon on imagination as cross-pollination. Dr. Robert Waldinger on connection as a life force. Adam Galinsky on inspiration as fuel. Tim Leberecht on beauty as purposeful expression.

Listen now to:
 “Growing Your Future - The Summer Garden Special”
→ click here.
With original music by Andreas Horchler.

Because the future isn’t a place we’re going. It’s a garden we’re growing - together.

If fear of the future has been showing up in your life lately, this book might be a helpful companion. It just launched in Poland: „Jak nie bać się przyszłości” - How Not to Be Afraid of the Future. It’s not a blueprint. It’s an invitation.

And if you want to go deeper - to explore how to shift your inner state, rediscover your agency, and design what’s next with intention - I’d love to welcome you into my Future Being Coaching Program. It’s helped people around the world move from fear to flow, and I believe it could do the same for you.

Appointments will be available soon. Register now on our waitlist without obligation and be among the first participants in our new training.

With love
Frederik