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

When I say wouldnt go back, I do not mean to discount the loss and suffering that so many people experienceeither during Covid, or as a result of any other change. When industries shift and factories close, suffering results. When personal relationships fall apart, or lives or are lost, the emptiness and loneliness can feel inescapable. This is real.

But still, I am here to tell you this: Something recently forced these people to make a changeand although it was painful and disorienting at first, it ultimately pushed them to rethink their lives and businesses in a positive way. A landscape painter named Meg OHara articulated that shift nicely. She told me about how she once made a living doing commissioned paintings for ski resortsbut when travel shut down in the early days of the pandemic, her business evaporated. She was in her twenties and had just built this career; now she imagined it being over. I stepped back and let myself freak out for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, drank a little wine, and then said, OK, some of the greatest ideas are going to come out of this time, she told me. If there was ever going to be an opportunity for me to pivot in an interesting direction, maybe its now. She started marketing her work to individual skiers, worked hard to build relationships with them, and as a result doubled her revenue, was able to hire her first employee, and won a local 30 Under 30 award. My business has fundamentally changed. I dont think I can go back, OHara said. I hear people tell similar stories about more personal changes as wellthe woman whose agonizing divorce pushed her to rebuild her social life and create a thriving consulting business; the overworked executive who stepped down from a job that he now admits he wasnt the right fit for, and now has more time for the things he really enjoys; and the couple who agonized over whether to move their family from Florida to Colorado, changed their minds multiple times, and finally did itand are grateful they did. All these people rethought their habits and relationships and what was most important to them. They came away transformed for the betterand even if they could, they wouldnt go back to a time before they had this new change.

Thats what I mean by Wouldnt Go Back. Its the most important of the four phases. Its the entire point of the four phases! Some of us are already there; some are not. Even when we get there, a new change may set us back to Panic, and we start all over again. But our goal, collectively, should be to continually move toward Wouldnt Go Backbecause thats when we can start recognizing and collaborating on the opportunities of tomorrow, and stop wasting our energy trying to re-create the past. It is the reason Im writing this book: I want to help you reach Wouldnt Go Back. It begins by recognizing that our actions today are building for tomorrow.

This is a book for absolutely anyone facing down an uncertain future, as well as a practical guide for every entrepreneur and aspiring entrepreneur who hopes to help shape the world. As we reach a critical crossroads in history, we must accept that the future is not optional. We cant opt out of it. In business, culture, and politics, incumbents will fall and new challengers will rise up. The results will be unpredictable, but as individuals, we cannot slow or stop it. We can, however, participate in it and benefit from it.

I understand this isnt easy. When I started at Entrepreneur magazine in 2015, I wasnt comfortable with change. I had taken risks during my career, but they were always in a safe, narrow space. I had an unchanging vision of my purpose, my abilities, and my direction. Then I started talking to professional innovators, and I discovered an entirely new way of thinking. Entrepreneurs are adaptable in a way I didnt think possible; they seemed to have an intuitive understanding of what is important and worth protecting, and what could be discarded into the ocean like a rocket ships booster. Id never considered myself an entrepreneur before, but after a few years of these conversations, I started applying the word to myself. I also started to define entrepreneur differently. It wasnt a particular job or income level. The definition was simple: An entrepreneur is someone who makes things happen for themselves.

I dont care what kind of career you have. I dont care if you work for someone else, or for yourself, or for nobody. If you make things happen for yourself, or if you aspire to do so, then I am talking to you right now. This thinking applies to you. Because even as we all build something for ourselves, we must remember that were building on shifting ground. Our foundation will be rocked. We cannot anticipate tomorrows needs, but we can anticipate that tomorrow