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When Your World Is On Fire: Turning Crisis Into Creation
Welcome to NEXTletter, your personal 121 (One To One) with your future - 1 question, 2 perspectives, 1 experiment.
Frederik Pferdt
January 17, 2025
Prefer to listen đź“» > click here.
Catch up on previous editions 📧 : New Year, New Focus, The Future Isn’t What, It’s How or The Let Go Ritual.
Hello🙏🏼
When friends shared the news about the wildfires they were facing, it reminded me of how disruptive and overwhelming a crisis can feel. It brought me back to August 2020, when I was given just 10 minutes to evacuate my home in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
With the fires approaching and uncertainty looming, I found myself asking: “Would I let fear paralyze me, or could I transform this moment into something meaningful?”
ONE QUESTION TO REFLECT ON
When faced with a crisis - how do you respond?
When faced with a crisis, how do you usually respond? |
TWO PERSPECTIVES TO CONSIDER
💡 1. Crisis as a Catalyst "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." – Viktor Frankl
| 💡 2. Preparation vs. Prediction "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." – Charles Darwin
Read and practice! Some evacuation advice from my friend and 10# best-selling author Neil Strauss. |
ONE EXPERIMENT - ACTION TURNS FEAR INTO PURPOSE
Try this "One Act of Service" Experiment:
Identify someone affected by a challenge or crisis—personal, professional, or global.
Choose one small action to help them today. Examples:
Offer to babysit for a friend who needs time to recover.
Donate supplies or funds to a local community in need.
Check in on a loved one who might feel isolated or overwhelmed.
Take action before the day ends.
NEW EPISODE - WITH ELS VAN DER HELM
It comes from my new podcast, The Future Is HOW. "HOW can you shape your better future? Through stories of those already creating a brighter tomorrow and practical exercises, this podcast empowers you to turn ideas into action and step confidently into what’s next." Unlike “why,” which anchors us in reflection, or “what,” which defines outcomes, “HOW” focuses on the process—the steps that connect the present to the desired future. |  Listen to The Future Is How |
In the second episode of "The Futur Is HOW", Els van der Helm, a leading sleep scientist and adjunct professor at IE Business School & Frederik discuss the importance of sleep in shaping the future and why skipping sleep won’t boost productivity.
LEARN MORE: A SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM MY BOOK
I’ve included the first three pages of What's Next Is Now here to offer more on how we can’t always control the fires in our lives, but we can shape our mindstate. These pages share my personal experience of evacuation, resilience, and finding purpose in moments of crisis.
[Click here to read the excerpt.]
When the fires threatened my home, I had no control over the flames, but I could help my neighbors and the community.
For the next few days, I offered support—donating supplies, helping others evacuate, and even taking care of their children so they could focus on finding safety. These small acts of service turned my fear into purpose and reminded me that even in crisis, we can create something meaningful.
Until next time, keep creating your future—one helpful act at a time.
– With Future Love, Frederik
A SAFE SPACE FOR YOUR QUESTIONS
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