Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing Your Career

by Jason Feifer

“ Build for Tomorrow will change the way you think so you can overcome any obstacle and reach your full potential.”—Jim Kwik, New York Times bestselling author of Limitless

The moments of greatest change can also be the moments of greatest opportunity. Adapt more quickly and use the power of change to your advantage with this guide from the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine and host of the Build for Tomorrow podcast.
 
We experience change in four phases. The first is panic. Then we adapt. Then we find a new normal. And then, finally, we reach the phase we could not have imagined in the beginning, the moment when we realize that we wouldn’t go back.

Build for Tomorrow is designed to accelerate that process—to help you lessen your panic, adapt faster, define the new normal, and thrive going forward. And it arrives as we all, in some way, have felt a shift in our lives. The pandemic forced a moment of collective change, and we are still being forced to make new plans and adjustments to our lives, families, and careers. Many of us will never go back, continuing to work from home, demanding higher wages, or starting new businesses.

To help people along this journey, Entrepreneur magazine editor in chief Jason Feifer offers stories, lessons, and concrete exercises from the most potent sources of change in our world. He speaks to the world’s most successful changemakers—from global celebrities like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Maria Sharapova to innovative CEOs and Main Street heroes—to learn how they decide what to protect, what to discard, and how to move forward without fear. He also draws lessons from history, looking at how massive changes across time can help us better understand the opportunities of today. For example, he finds guidance for our post-pandemic realities inside the power shifts that occurred after the Bubonic Plague, and he reveals how the history of innovations like the elevator and even the teddy bear can teach anyone to be more forward-thinking.

We cannot anticipate tomorrow’s needs, but it shouldn’t take a crisis to push us forward. This book will show you how to make change on your own terms.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Self Help, Leadership, Personal Development, Technology

272 pages, Hardcover

Published September 6, 2022

Reviews

[Kelly McCauley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Novels, recorded music, automatic elevators, teddy bears and the waltz. What these things have in common? They were all controversial when they first emerged in society. Change is inevitable, but most of us are hesitant to embrace it. Feifer argues that by examining the initial reactions to and ultimate results of changes in the past, we can better anticipate and adapt to future changes. He details parts of daily life that are commonplace now, but were sources of discomfort at their origins. Readers will find themselves thinking of current cultural phenomena in a different light. The book offers a framework for addressing your current thought framework and determining opportunities for positive change in your personal life and career. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for my honest feedback!

[Livia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think Jason Feifer needs to read Relax; the man is clearly on some hard drugs.

This book will work for 5% of the world's population. The other 95% just wants to live in fucking peace and not worry about the "unknown known" and all that bullshit. I think it's unhealthy to have a mindset that makes you feel unsatisfied with everything permanent in your life. I'm sorry Jason, but I will work the same job for 50 years and I will be perfectly happy, thank you very much.

You should have written a history book, since 80% of this book was a history lesson anyway.

Could I be any more salty?

[Karrie Miner · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, I listened to the audio version and feel that made this book more impactful because he is very energetic. I appreciated the messages, but it did feel a bit simplistic and like a bunch of scattered stories from a very privileged person.

[Jesse · Rating 1 out of 5]

I respect the author's effort, and the book does make some good high-level observations, but the advice was largely generic. Don't fear change; don't dig in your heels when change is coming. Look for the opportunity it presents to you and be open to adapting - someday you'll feel like this "new normal" is how things have always been. That's really all there is to get out of the book.

There were some specific strategies that were either too vague to be practically applied or so vague that you can borrow the term and apply it to practically anything.

[Joaquin Roibal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jason Feifer, former editor of Entrepreneur Magazine, shares what he learned from interviewing hundreds of entrepreneurs about managing change. Although geared towards entrepreneurs, the book is primarily for anyone facing a change: whether switching careers, moving cities, or a more personal change. Jason describes the four stages of change: panic, adaptation, new normal, and wouldn't go back. The book is filled with practical tools and experience for anyone facing a change or uncertainty in their life.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I am so glad my company sent it out to us, it is applicable for so much more than just your career. Life is hard and has lots of change and ups and downs and this book is a great guide for pausing to self reflect and prepare for change! You can tell a lot of research went into the book, it had fantastic antidotes that were relevant and entertaining! Highly recommend for anyone going through life!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give it a solid 4.5 stars. The last hour of the listen felt like it dragged and a bit repetitive but it wrapped things up nicely.

I referenced this book in conversation quite a bit while I was reading it. If I had the physical book it would stay in my library.

[Jung]

Build for Tomorrow (2022) is an action plan detailing how to navigate the four phases of change: Panic, Adaptation, New Normal, and Wouldn’t Go Back. It details stories of dramatic changes in the past that brought us the things we enjoy today, as well as lessons learned from various entrepreneurs who lived through monumental changes and emerged successful.

Jason Feifer is the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine, a startup advisor, host of the podcasts Build For Tomorrow and Problem Solvers, and has taught his techniques for adapting to change at companies including Pfizer, Microsoft, Chipotle, DraftKings, and Wix. He has worked as an editor at Fast Company, Men’s Health, and Boston magazine, and has written about business and technology for the Washington Post, Slate, Popular Mechanics, and others.

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Adapt to change quickly and successfully.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a monumental change for people around the world. You probably remember distinctly where you were when your government ordered a complete lockdown. And why wouldn’t you? That was a life-altering moment for each of us, and most people just wished they could go back to normal.

If you take the time to think about it, we’re faced with big changes like this all the time. They may not be as big as a global pandemic shutting the world down, but they can often be just as unsettling to our individual lives. Maybe your business idea didn’t pan out, or you need to move cities. Change can be intimidating and scary.

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Your response to change can be something other than fear or panic. All it takes are a few techniques to help prepare you for the future. And that’s where this book by Jason Feifer, Build for Tomorrow comes in.

In this book, we’ll outline the four phases of change: Panic, Adaptation, New Normal, and Wouldn’t Go Back. We’ll also cover the techniques necessary to navigate change so that you can be prepared to build the tomorrow you truly want.

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Change creates panic when you’re scared of losing what you’re used to.

In a time when music was only performed live, John Philip Sousa was among the renowned names in the field. He composed the patriotic American march “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and the official US Marine Corps march “Semper Fidelis.” These, along with his many other masterpieces, catapulted him to fame.

But alas, his reign in the music industry was cut short by two technological advancements: the phonograph, which recorded and replayed music, and the radio, which broadcast music directly to people’s homes.

These devices were new back then and Sousa saw them as a threat. He believed that the phonograph and radio would change the world for the worse. People wouldn’t go to concerts anymore, no one would buy music sheets, and radio stations would stop calling musicians in to perform their songs live.

In short, Sousa panicked. He was thinking about everything he’d lose: his money, his career, and probably even his popularity. He was afraid of letting go of the good life he was so used to. So he fought the change. He actively proclaimed and wrote about how bad these new machines were and how they were destroying humanity.

We are, in many ways, a lot like Sousa. When faced with change, we often focus on all the good things we’re losing. Moving to a new city? We’ll lose our friends! Getting a job in a different field? We’ll lose our sense of identity! Living through a pandemic? We’ll lose face-to-face interactions!

It’s easy to identify the things we’ll lose when we’re facing a dramatic change. To make matters worse, we don’t stop at focusing on the loss – we tend to extrapolate it, too. We think that losing one thing will lead to losing another, even when we don’t have solid evidence to back it up. This leads to a full-blown panic, where we try to stop the change from happening but create big mistakes that hurt us in the process.

And, of course, you, most definitely, don’t want to be hurt. So how can you quell this panic? We’ll look at that in the next section.

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To overcome panic, focus on what you’ll gain.

If we’re to overcome the Panic phase, we need to approach the change from an entirely different viewpoint. Rather than dwelling on the things we’d lose, we need to shift our focus on the things we’d gain and the opportunities that the change presents.

Let’s go back to Sousa. He was so concerned about the phonograph and radio taking his career away that he didn’t realize the endless possibilities these new devices could bring him. Yes, it’s true that when recorded music replaced live performances, it stripped many musicians of their jobs. But this same change also paved the way for other musicians to grow in popularity.

The phonograph and radio allowed musicians to finally play their music around the clock and in far-flung locations, something that they couldn’t do with live performances. After all, travel was pricey, and there were only so many hours in a day. But as their recordings were distributed across the globe, they were able to reach a wider audience and even make money while they slept!

The rise of the phonograph and radio also spurred the creation of new jobs for more people across the music industry. Recording studios were built, and roles like audio engineers, studio managers, DJs, and recording equipment manufacturers emerged. This seismic upheaval may have resulted in some losses, but it simultaneously led to a lot more gains.

And as for Sousa, he eventually discovered these gains as well. He calmed down when he eventually saw how he was still making money from the recordings, and he realized he wasn’t actually losing anything – instead, he was gaining a means of distribution!

That’s the secret to quelling your panic. You need to look at the change and see the gains instead of the losses. This won’t be easy to do every single time. Sometimes, it’s challenging to pinpoint exactly what you can gain from a new thing. But by simply believing that you will benefit from the change, even if you’re unsure what those benefits are, you can emerge from the panic and move on to the next phase: Adaptation.

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Find your real purpose to help you adapt to change.

We’ve identified that panic comes from the fear of losing the things you’re used to, and in the process, you think you’ll also lose yourself. Imagine you’re working as a newspaper reporter, and then the industry starts dying. Now you have to find a job elsewhere. When you go through that career shift, the first thing you’ll probably feel is your identity getting shaken. If you’re no longer a newspaper reporter, what are you?

This is where you can pause and start to define your real purpose – your why. After getting past the panic and believing that there are bigger and brighter opportunities waiting for you, you now need to adapt to that change. Adapting to changes means determining what part of you changes and what doesn’t.

Let’s take Foodstirs as an example. In 2019, the three cofounders of this sweet baked goods company decided to rebrand and create a new product line: packaged goods like minidoughnuts and brownie bites. This could transform their company from becoming a producer of baking mixes only, to a producer of packaged goods too. They were naturally excited to launch at the beginning of 2020, but then, along came the COVID-19 outbreak. Everyone stopped buying baked goods and started buying baking mixes to entertain themselves while stuck at home.

The cofounders scrapped their launch. But what would this mean to their rebrand? That was when they remembered what their company was really all about. Their core mission wasn’t to sell packaged goods – it was to bring joy to people’s lives. And whether they sell baking mixes or packaged goods, they’re still fulfilling their mission just as they’d always planned to do.

That is exactly what your why is. It’s your foundation for doing things. The very core purpose that never changes no matter what shifts in life you go through. It’s an entirely different thing from your what, or the things that you do. Your what constantly changes depending on the resources and opportunities you’re presented with. To adapt to these changes, always keep your why in mind. That way, you won’t feel shaken and revert back to panic.

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Adapt to change before you’re forced to.

Adapting to change doesn’t end after determining your core why. To successfully adjust to the change, you need to be the instigator of change. Yes, we’ve already established that change is scary and oftentimes painful, and nobody wants to go through that. You may think it’s foolish to initiate the change instead of sitting back and waiting for it to happen to you. But that was exactly how Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, won the long game.

Back in 2003, Calagione made a tasty India Pale Ale – or IPA – with 6 percent alcohol by volume. He called it the 60 Minute IPA. It was a hit. In fact, it was so well received that business owners from all across the country began calling his brewery to place orders for their liquor stores, bars, and restaurants. Three years later and the 60 Minute IPA was still selling out, almost reaching 70 to 80 percent of Dogfish’s sales.

Now, any other entrepreneur would have taken advantage of this and produced more, but not Calagione. Actually,, he wasn’t happy with these numbers at all. He was worried – and for good reason. He realized that with so many establishments carrying his 60 Minute IPA, people would think that his brewery was an IPA brand when in fact, he produces many types of equally tasty drinks.

Calagione didn’t want to be labeled as an IPA-only producer. Knowing the beer industry very well, he realized that, sooner or later, love for his 60 Minute IPA would fade. The public’s taste would change, and they’d move on to the next trendy beer. What would happen to his company, then? He’d be known as an IPA brand, a.k.a. “old.”

So before things got too out of hand, Calagione made the change himself. He decided to cap sales of 60 Minute IPA to only 50 percent. This led to a sea of hate comments and demands, but he remained firm. Instead of giving in and producing more of his best-selling drink, he offered customers his other beers. After all, they taste just as great as the 60 Minute IPA, if not better.

Calagione managed to convince people to try the full range of his beers, and this decision eventually paid off. Today, IPAs are no longer on the top of the pyramid, but Dogfish Head is still just as loved as before. It isn’t branded as an IPA producer, but as a brewery that’s always crafting something new. And that happened because Calagione initiated the change and didn’t wait for it to happen.

You can be brave enough to make the change first, too. That way, you’ll have more control and more time to adapt and get ready for the New Normal. You’re more in charge than you give yourself credit for.

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Easily transition to the New Normal by bringing familiar elements of the past into the present.

So, you’ve gotten over the panic and have already adapted to the change. Now, you’re ready to navigate the third phase of change: the New Normal. Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as it seems. You may have come to actually like the new changes because of the potential opportunities they offer, but your brain isn’t wired to simply let go of the past. You’ll probably feel nostalgic, and still want to have your old things despite getting acclimated to the new ones.

So how can you get past this issue? Build a Bridge of Familiarity. Take something from your old experience and add it to the new opportunity in front of you.

To truly appreciate how impactful the Bridge of Familiarity is, let’s go back to the early 1950s when fully automatic elevators were introduced. Before then, elevators needed an operator to work, and this posed some nuisance. The operators, like many other workers, left at 5 p.m., so if you missed that, you’d have to take the stairs. There were also times when the operator unions would go on strike and abandon their stations without warning, disrupting the flow of foot traffic in the building.

So, when fully automatic elevators were introduced, manufacturers anticipated a widespread consumer adoption of the product right away. After all, it eliminated the need for an operator, and you could take the elevator whenever you wanted!

But the response they got from the public was the complete opposite. Everyone was afraid of the unmanned magic box. They thought it was unsafe because there was no one to take over if something went wrong.

After learning more about the public’s concerns, the elevator manufacturers got to work. They decided to incorporate a female voiceover into the elevators to make announcements like “Going up” and “Going down.” Surprisingly, this and a few other marketing techniques did the trick. People began to embrace the automatic elevators, as the new voiceovers made them feel like a human was working behind the scenes. This was the Bridge of Familiarity the automatic elevators needed.

Transitioning to your New Normal is just a matter of finding your version of this bridge.

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Identify what’s missing from your New Normal to reach your Wouldn’t Go Back moment.

You’re finally in the last phase of change. You’re living in the full-blown New Normal and are almost at the point where you wouldn’t even want to return to the way things were even if you could. You’re almost at your Wouldn’t Go Back moment.

But for some reason, you aren’t entirely at ease with the change. So what’s wrong?

It’s probably because of the 99-percent-there problem. You’re 99 percent there but still have that 1 percent to go. While small, that 1 percent can sometimes make the most significant difference to your journey. In fact, it may be the deciding factor that takes you from New Normal to Wouldn’t Go Back.

How can you identify that 1 percent so you can finally be complete? Jim McKelvey, the cofounder of technology conglomerate Square, knows exactly how.

Over a decade ago, McKelvey and his friend, Jack Dorsey, launched Square Reader, a tiny credit card reader for mobile devices like iPad and iPhones. This innovative product made it possible for small businesses with no expensive credit card machines to finally accept cards. It revolutionized the business industry and its competitors scrambled to create a knockoff of the Square Reader.

But most of them failed to do so because they thought that Square’s success lay simply in producing that tiny device when really it was because it addressed a host of other issues in the small business sector. The latter part was what their competitors failed to do. Sure, they managed to develop a knockoff of the Square Reader, but they didn’t build relationships with credit card companies or work to lower the cost of processing fees. They were 99 percent there but failed to consider the remaining 1 percent.

While in your New Normal, think about not only the gains your new experience offers but also what could be missing. Square’s competitors thought that its device made it big, but really it was the other things that put them on top. That’s what you have to look for – your “but really.”

For instance, you might have been promoted to a new and scary position, but really you’re set to learn more skills that can help you later in life. Now that you’ve identified your “but really,” you can work on it to finally get to your Wouldn’t Go Back moment.

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The key message in this is that your life is ever-changing, and there’ll be plenty more changes to come. But the good news is that you can go through each change faster and braver now that you know the four phases of change. You won’t waste your time panicking and resisting the change. Instead, you can jump right to your Wouldn’t Go Back moment and seize the big opportunities that await you. And from there, building for your tomorrow will be as easy as pie.

[Dubi Kanengisser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first encountered Jason Feifer through his podcast, The Pessimist Archives. Each episode discussed a beloved and respectable aspect of our lives, and described how and why people thought it would destroy human society when it was originally introduced - how bicycle were said to give you "Bicycle Face" and endanger your health, how teddy bears were sure to eliminate motherhood, how recorded music would result in children growing up to be mere vacant automatons, and my personal favourite - the danger posed to the very fabric of our society from the awful, widespread addiction of children to READING NOVELS.
The podcast was a beautiful rejection of the "kids these days" narrative, steeped in evidence and humour. But at some point, Feifer, Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, realized the podcast could be more that just an archive of yesteryear's pessimists. Asking himself "what is this for?", he renamed the podcast "Build for Tomorrow", and shifted its mission from merely refuting "kids these days" to using these examples to help people engage with change in a more productive manner.
If you've listened to the podcast, you'll be familiar with many of the examples and themes presented in the book, but this books goes beyond merely rehashing the podcast, and offers a comprehensive framework to think about how we react to change. It identifies the pits we may fall into and the aspects of our natural reaction that we should embrace. It also provides tools for the reader to stop and think about their own life and career, and how they can make the most out of the change that will, inevitably, be part of them.
I like that it's not written as a "how to" - there is no paint-by-numbers guide of how to successfully navigate change. Different tools may be more relevant in different contexts. But at the core, Feifer asks us to be aware of the four stages of reacting to change, which also form the structure of the book: Panic, Adaptation, New Normal, and Wouldn't Go Back.
Feifer doesn't claim all change is inherently good - one example he gives is how the horrors of the bubonic plague resulted in a completely different balance of power between property owners and labourers, which gave the latter a lot more power to improve their lives so that they "wouldn't go back" to life before the plague. But getting there, of course, required the decimation of the population in a manner that left a lot fewer labourers for property owners to fight over. The "panic" stage of this change was certainly very warranted. Yet we could draw parallels to the impact of COVID-19 on office work practices, which are still being negotiated, or to the common (though hardly unprecedented) complaint that "young people don't want to work anymore". The point, however, is that change will happen. It may be good, it may be bad, or it may be neutral in its direct impact on our lives, but it's up to us to make the most of what opportunities it does present, and it does nobody any good to get stuck in panic mode.

One of the things Feifer says makes us tend to get into panic mode is that we tend to remember the good things about the past, and diminish the bad thing. We tend to be nostalgic. This may explain why I felt like many of the suggestions Feifer gives seemed obvious to me: I have a terrible memory, but when I do remember things, I tend to remember the bad things about them. So I'm perpetually in this state of "this is the best I've ever been!", and change is something I willingly seek out. I don't freak out when things change around me. I tend to just go with them -- I'm no trailblazing entrepreneur, but I am an early adopter and a quick adapter. But I see people struggling with change around me all the time. And one of the things I find most valuable about this book is that it also suggests ways we can help others along the way to change, by building what Feifer calls "bridges of familiarity". As such this book is great not only for those who are facing change, but also those trying to push for change in their organizations, and face the need to engage in "change management".

The one issue I had with the book arose early on. Feifer, like too many journalists writing about entrepreneurs, has a somewhat breathless way of describing all the wonderful things the entrepreneurs they are talking about do. Sure, they face challenges, but these challenges are presented as exogenous, while the entrepreneurs actions are just brilliant. But we can say this format is simply there to serve the narrative - life is messy, but our message needs to be clear. Fine. But Feifer seems to feel the need to also describe the businesses themselves as a boon to the world, no matter what. Nowhere else is this clearer than when he speaks of Taboola - that cesspool of clickbait links that pounce on you at the bottom of articles (or sometimes in the middle, with a "keep reading" button you must hunt for once you realize the story ended abruptly mid-sentence). Taboola is not a "Good Thing". It doesn't actually provide a service to the reader. It's an income stream for the websites, sure, but it does that by making us all a little dumber. And yet, Feifer feels compelled to extol the virtues of these links!

"At the bottom of many news websites, you’ll find links to articles with pointed headlines that you cannot ignore like, “15 Foods You Should Never Eat After Age 30,” which might leave you to wonder, Am I eating those foods?! This is an advertisement that Taboola calls “content discovery.” When you click, you’re taken to another site to read the story."

This description is completely unnecessary. It doesn't serve the narrative, it doesn't serve the message. It is also very demonstrably wrong. All it did was make me very suspicious of every other time Feifer said something positive about anything. Is this really a good thing, or is Feifer just a starry-eyed stan of this entrepreneur, again? I cannot emphasize how much this marred my experience with this book.

But still, I'm giving it five-stars, because I think this flaw doesn't detract for the actual benefits of this book. If there is or soon will be change in your life -- and yes, there definitely is -- this book could hell you get through it and emerge better and stronger on the other side.

[ThatBeMeDiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walks you through the process of navigating panic. First panic, then adapt, then be your new self authentically. Great pop culture examples in each part that shows that you are not alone in panic and that adaptation is a long process and not easy. Very easy to read and get along with the author voice. Enjoyable :)

[Scott Muc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the Build for Tomorrow podcast (listened to it when it was called the Pessimists Archive) so this book was more like a podcast omnibus with a bit of self-help mixed in. I listened to the audiobook which was read my the author so it felt even more like the podcast.

The book started off strong for me, but where it didn't appeal to me was the self-help type sections. I respect the author's media/reporting background and can enjoy his ability to tell a story. I got a lot out of the reflective views of the past and our relationship with change, but didn't find the armchair psychology compelling. Because of this, I prefer the podcast episodes to this book.

My takeaways from the book was the role of entrepreneurship in ones life. He describes it as self direction. Where I got lost in the book was the anecdotes of entrepreneurs who became "successful" because they founded and ran large corporations. I think this book paired with The Psychology of Money balances out the unnecessary ambition tilt (where he describes stopping the goal posts from moving is crucial to attaining any sort of life satisfaction).

The chapter on how change is inevitable and we can either run from the tsunami or ride the waves hits home for me. I believe I'm decent at riding change, but maybe don't look for the opportunities like a business-minded person would. The author stresses loss-aversion as key emotion with regards to change. I enjoyed the stories on about how recorded music would destroy music, or the waltz would destroy people's health.

There's a bit of confirmation bias for me here as I see myself as a person that doesn't appeal to the idea of "changing the world", I'm content to "adjust to an ever changing world".

The chapter on how we long for a past that never happened (The Good Old Days) provided a good structure for making the statement: If we consider yesterday better, it's pretty hard to look forward to the future. Given that I see the future with optimism, this is a perspective that's good for me to understand better.

A good quote from the book is "You are not defined by what you do, but why you do it".

There was a section on testing overconfidence by asking about the year Ghandi was born. I thought it was a good example of Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts. Again, stresses the value in journaling, because our recall of past bets is often inaccurate.

Another good quote "Goals are a direction, but not a map. Don't miss the promising off ramps". Much of my reading lately has been pointing me in this direction (but the books aren't a map :D ). This should guide me into how I navigate self-employment in the future.

Finding lots of bias confirming stuff so hard for me to be too critical. The chapter around failure is another area I felt I understood already. I define success and failure, nobody else. Too easy to get stuck having other people define these for us.

Overall the book was enjoyable, but frustrating too. The story telling is great, but the self-help felt thin. The most impactful moment was when reading about ghost kitchens (a kitchen that creates take-away meals for known restaurant chains, but aren't part of the chain). My initial reaction was "they should label the food to say it came from a ghost kitchen", but that would have been equivalent to records from the early days of recorded music where sitcoms would announce "recorded in front of a live audience" due to people disappointed with canned laughter. So... despite being familiar with a lot of the stories, I'm happy that it instilled some reflection on change that's happening today where I had an old-fashioned gut response.

[Peter Vegel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the guy's podcast but this book was just a hodgepodge of random content (often taken from the podcast, which is fine but sometimes it really didn't fit the story), some basic psychology, and a lot of personal and business anecdotes. As a whole, there was just too much Silicon Valley HypeSpeak. And personally, I don't identify with stories of so-called successes when it's just about people getting rich some way or another. But that seems to be the goal of this writer, as evident from this exchange:

'One older colleague back then told me, “When you work in newspapers, you can afford the smallest house on a nice block.” I don’t mean to demean this—my colleagues were devoted to their communities and built happy lives. But I wanted a different path.
I wanted to make fast leaps. I wanted to go big.'

It's not all bad. There is some useful advice in here, but because of the reasons I mentioned, I find it too cringy to pick up the book again to look up that advice again.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Build for Tomorrow is a great book to help you navigate change for a calmer, more productive life. Working through the four phases of panic, adaptation, new normal, and wouldn't go back we learn to identify and understand the past in order to face change and avoid stagnation. I really enjoyed the real-life examples and scenarios presented in this book. For example, the author points out that just as parents now worry about their children spending so much time on their phones, parents in the past had the same response to the radio and novels. Just as we worry about privacy on the internet, it was as much of a concern with the telegraph. By realizing when we begin to panic, we can then learn how to adapt and find not only a new normal, but something even better overall. This is a fast, easily accessible read. I received a free copy from Harmony Books in exchange for an hones review.

[Erin (bookwitchenergy) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so interesting! Written in the shadow of the pandemic that has changed so many things for all of us, this book is full of advice from Entrepreneur's editor-in-chief on how to reduce panic, adapt to new situations faster, and thrive in the future. This book made me laugh in some places and helped me feel not quite so alone in my mission to move forward in this time of uncertain change. (Inflation, working from home, and bears, oh my!) Feifer gives us readers exercises to work on and looks at history to show us the opportunities that we might find today. Thank you to Harmony and Rodale Books for giving me a free copy; my review is unbiased. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to all!

[Ester_77 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always like to read Jason’s articles and listen to his podcasts, and I always enjoy them. This book is not an exception.
I was looking for something to “reset” my mind and give me an idea of how to move forward, and the book turned out to be perfect for it. It is written in clear, understandable language and reminds me to look at things from different angles. I made many notes for myself and will also give them to my son.
I found the book inspirational and highly recommend it to anyone at any stage in life!
Great job, Jason! Thank you for the brilliant book, and I look forward to reading more books from you!

[Sarah Fejfar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent framework in here for managing through, and even thriving in, change.

My favorite nuggets of wisdom:

1. Why and how to overcome nostalgia
2. How to extract ourselves from our limitations
3. “What is this hour for?” “There may never be time for everything. But I came to realize there’s always time for plenty.
4. How to identify if I have a problem or an opportunity by asking 3x “But really?”
5. “Sameness is forgettable.” (If you ask me, I’m all for new experiences for the win, all day every day!)

Thank you Jason!!!

[NIkki Wu · Rating 5 out of 5]

With my youngest becoming more independent, I'm finally have more time for work. Jason Feifer's "Build for Tomorrow" arrived at the perfect time. It's a powerful reminder that the world is constantly in motion. Instead of dwelling on certain path or getting stuck on a particular product or lifestyle, we can shift our perspective and explore new avenues. Be adventurous, don't settle, and truly embrace the things you enjoy. Happy times seem to slow down, while repetitive days fly by. Let's make the most of life and cherish the opportunities that come our way.

[Synthia Salomon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The key message in this is that your life is ever-changing, and there’ll be plenty more changes to come. But the good news is that you can go through each change faster and braver now that you know the four phases of change. You won't waste your time panicking and resisting the change. Instead, you can jump right to your Wouldn't Go Back moment and seize the big opportunities that await you. And from there, building for your tomorrow will be as easy as pie.

[Elodie Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Journalists that write books tend to weigh their content very heavily on interviews and quoting other stories. This is no different. I liked it, it highlighted some consistent, baseless fears that society likes to point at as proof "this generation is going to hell in a hand basket!". Like when people were afraid reading was bad, and fear mongering about electricity, and why umbrellas were regarded as too modern and unnecessary technology. It's got some quotable moments.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good principles and advice/takeaways. However, you have to sludge through hundreds of pages of fluff and personal stories to get to the meat. It oftentimes felt like the author was writing to boast about himself or journal about his life rather than to help the reader. The cover says “An action plan” but there was no real plan of action at the end, just a summary of the chapters.

[Man Ha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate his approach to being an exciting entrepreneur and not being afraid to fail. Everything happens for a reason. A failure today means a lesson to build a better version of yourself/product/work tomorrow. This is more like skin in the game in the less extreme angle compared to the book Skin in the Game.

[Yiyang · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7/5 - I got this book from the library (twice) so the reading was broken into two major chunks. Great frameworks to follow on change adaptation, and Jason has great examples from entrepreneurs to celebrities to illustrate his points. Can def tell that this was written by a Magazine's Editor in Chief 😂 (quick and easy read)

[CAROLYN G WYNN · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a business book, that has easy personal applications. The book goes through the four phases of change that get you to "wouldn't go back" place (embracing the new reality) and successful acceptance of pivoting. Panic, adapt, define the new normal and thrive.

[Christywang · Rating 4 out of 5]

good read

as a non nativespeaker, appreciate how simple while concise words chosen by the author. Plenty of good examples to make me relate to my own experience. While there are a lot of old knowledge. Not saying it's outdated, but it could be shorted.

[Mikael Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is quite fresh take on change that happens with people and society over and over again. There were insightful moments with great examples. But overall it is not something I would listen through again. And author’s narration is sometimes over excited ;)

[Shelby Stokes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for anyone going through a time of change. One of my favorite reads so far this year. I plan to reread and reference when feeling stuck personally or professionally. Greatly enjoyed this book.

[Jenny Talbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on how to be more adaptable to change! Between this and the podcast I’ve become much more optimistic.

[Jazzy Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for people struggling at the moment to keep up with everything 😅 I'm so glad I was about to listen to the Blinkist of this book.

[Chetan Hemaraju · Rating 2 out of 5]

Get the things from the past and create a bridge of Familiarity for a quick Adaptability!

[Abiman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book that does a great job capturing the thought that the only constant is change and dives into how to assess and manage change. Highly recommend.