Build for Tomorrow

Jason Feifer

63 episodes listed below

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Better questions for anxious times.

The gist

Build for Tomorrow starts with a nagging modern assumption, then follows the evidence backward until the problem looks different. Its episodes are measured, curious explainers about learning myths, regret loops, writing panic, and old fears of new technology.

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About Build for Tomorrow

Build for Tomorrow treats panic as a clue. A common belief shows up first, usually one that sounds reasonable because it has been repeated for years. Then the show asks what that belief is hiding. Learning styles become a story about how labels can train people into narrow habits. Obsessing over what could have happened becomes a tour through counterfactual thinking, control, self-blame, and the limits of learning from a single bad outcome. Complaints about bad writing become less about lazy students and more about what schools and workplaces suddenly began asking people to do. Fears about recorded music reach back to John Philip Sousa, then run into Viola Smith, Mark Katz, and the stubborn fact that new tools often create more practice, not less. The show is careful without feeling cold. It likes a clean setup, a plain-language definition, and a turn where the obvious answer breaks open. Archival examples matter here. So do people who can make a broad cultural worry more concrete. The pacing is measured, with enough humor to keep the inquiry human. It is not a debate show. It is not a loose interview hang. It is a scripted explainer that uses stories to revise the listener’s first instinct. The recurring promise is simple: the future looks less frightening when the past is allowed to testify. That does not mean every worry is fake. It means the first story people tell about change is often incomplete. Build for Tomorrow is strongest when it finds that missing piece and turns it into something usable.

Made for: For curious listeners who enjoy psychology, history, education, work culture, and technology stories that make familiar problems feel less fixed. It suits people who want useful perspective without hype.

What sets it apart: The show combines archival history, behavioral research, and plain-spoken narration around one mistaken assumption at a time. Its optimism comes from evidence, not slogans.

In their own words

Want to take control of the future? In each episode of this podcast, Entrepreneur magazine editor in chief Jason Feifer takes something that seems concerning or confusing today, and then learns its surprising history, what important things we’re missing, and the solutions that can make us smarter and better. (The show was previously called Pessimists Archive.)

As heard by us

Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026

Jason Pfeiffer connects historical research, behavioral insight and workplace problems to make adaptation feel concrete rather than abstract.

Build for Tomorrow takes a present-day anxiety and follows its history until the practical problem changes shape. Jason Pfeiffer combines solo narration with research and guest interviews, using old arguments and current evidence to test familiar assumptions about work, learning…

Read our full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A phonograph panic becomes a mirror for your latest technology freakout.

Press play if you want

  • your modern anxieties tested against the wonderfully familiar panics of the past
  • research that challenges what you believe about learning without making you feel foolish
Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
learning stylescounterfactual thinkingwriting anxietyrecorded music historytechnology panicworkplace self-advocacyeducation mythschange and adaptation

Talks about

Best episodes of Build for Tomorrow

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

My New PodcastMar 14, 2023

A hiatus episode that introduces Help Wanted and offers practical guidance for a pay conversation.

Build for Tomorrow uses its hiatus note to do two things cleanly: explain the pause, then point listeners toward Help Wanted, a twice-weekly show about work problems and, by the sound of it, a few life problems too.

The Greatest Myth About LearningFeb 23, 2023

A familiar learning-style idea is unpacked into something sharper and more useful.

Build for Tomorrow takes a familiar question, what kind of learner are you, and gives it a clean, steady answer. Jason Pfeiffer lays out the VARC model without fuss, then uses it to show how a label can harden into a self-fulfilling prophecy when school keeps feeding it back.

How to Stop Obsessing Over “What If…?”Oct 27, 2022

A clear reset for listeners who tend to replay mistakes.

The episode traces a bad moment and the spiral that follows, then uses it to explain counterfactual thinking in plain language. It makes clear why the mind keeps reaching for "what if" stories when events feel hard to control, and why those stories can help even if they are not…

How to See Gain, Where Others See LossSep 29, 2022

A clear, idea-driven look at how recorded music shifted fear into influence.

Build for Tomorrow treats recorded music as a useful check on panic about new technology. Jason Pfeiffer begins with the basic surprise of hearing music trapped by a machine, then follows the argument through John Philip Sousa's fears and the reply that listeners and musicians…

Why People Can’t Write, and How To Fix ThatJan 27, 2022

A history of why people keep worrying that the next generation cannot write.

Build for Tomorrow turns a familiar complaint into a broader argument: the fear that people cannot write is treated less as a fresh collapse than as an old pattern of misunderstanding.

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Episodes

  1. 1

    My New Podcast

    Build for Tomorrow is pausing.

    Mar 14, 2023·34m·3 clips
  2. 2

    The Greatest Myth About Learning

    What style of learner are you?

    Feb 23, 2023·40m·3 clips
  3. 3

    What People of 1923 Predicted About 2023

    Dec 29, 2022·46m
  4. 4

    The Best Ways to Use a Crisis

    Nov 30, 2022·1h 14m
  5. 5

    How to Stop Obsessing Over “What If…?”

    Ever replayed a bad moment for way too long?

    Oct 27, 2022·37m·3 clips
  6. 6

    How to See Gain, Where Others See Loss

    Recorded music once sounded like a threat.

    Sep 29, 2022·40m·3 clips
  7. 7

    Why “Nobody Wants to Work Anymore” is BS

    Aug 25, 2022·42m
  8. 8

    To Save Barbie, They Had to Change Her

    Jul 28, 2022·44m
  9. 9

    Teddy Bears Are History’s Most Subversive Toy (Classic)

    Jun 30, 2022·47m
  10. 10

    All the Fun Facts You Have Wrong!

    May 26, 2022·45m
  11. 11

    The Four-Day Workweek Is Here

    Apr 28, 2022·39m
  12. 12

    Real Ways to Predict the Future

    Mar 31, 2022·49m
  13. 13

    The Climate Problem We Can Solve Now

    Feb 24, 2022·39m
  14. 14

    Why People Can’t Write, and How To Fix That

    Can the people around you write?

    Jan 27, 2022·45m·3 clips
  15. 15

    We Can Make Politics Smarter

    Dec 27, 2021·45m
  16. 16

    The Case for Sex Robots

    Nov 25, 2021·47m
  17. 17

    This Episode Will Change Your Brain

    Oct 28, 2021·41m
  18. 18

    Simple Pleasures Aren’t Simple (See: Knitting)

    Sep 30, 2021·45m
  19. 19

    The Not-Boring Truth About Boredom

    Aug 26, 2021·44m
  20. 20

    Yes, Talk to Strangers!

    Jul 30, 2021·47m
  21. 21

    How to Create Better Memories

    Jun 24, 2021·45m
  22. 22

    You Are Not “Addicted” To Technology

    May 27, 2021·59m
  23. 23

    How To Live Like Ancient Royalty

    Apr 29, 2021·49m
  24. 24

    Everyone Is Wrong About Participation Trophies

    Mar 25, 2021·48m
  25. 25

    The Surprising Importance of To-Go Cocktails

    Feb 25, 2021·46m
  26. 26

    When Exactly Were "The Good Old Days"?

    Jan 28, 2021·1h 1m
  27. 27

    Did Pessimists Archive Change Its Name? Yes!

    Jan 27, 2021·6m
  28. 28

    Do We Lose Skills Because of Technology?

    Dec 28, 2020·50m
  29. 29

    How to Communicate With the Future

    Nov 26, 2020·44m
  30. 30

    The Most Important Podcast of Our Lifetime!

    Oct 29, 2020·47m
  31. 31

    224 Years of Election Hacking

    Sep 24, 2020·44m
  32. 32

    Your Fork Is A Sign That You Think For Yourself

    Aug 27, 2020·40m
  33. 33

    Introducing Wild Wild Tech

    Aug 5, 2020·10m
  34. 34

    Why New Technology Always Seems Scary

    Jul 30, 2020·51m
  35. 35

    The Mystery of the Shared Earbuds

    Jun 25, 2020·45m
  36. 36

    Why We Hate Being Told What To Do

    May 28, 2020·45m
  37. 37

    The Good That Comes From A Pandemic

    Apr 30, 2020·49m
  38. 38

    How Natural Is "Natural"?

    Mar 26, 2020·48m
  39. 39

    Why We Really Celebrate Our Birthdays

    Feb 27, 2020·44m
  40. 40

    Can Tech Physically Change Your Face?

    Jan 23, 2020·54m
  41. 41

    Teddy Bears Are History's Most Subversive Toy

    Dec 5, 2019·47m
  42. 42

    You're Vain and That's OK!

    Oct 24, 2019·54m
  43. 43

    Should Roads Be For Cars?

    Sep 12, 2019·51m
  44. 44

    The Man Who Nearly Destroyed Comic Books

    Jul 25, 2019·51m
  45. 45

    How the Elevator Shaped Our World

    Jun 20, 2019·44m
  46. 46

    There's Nothing Wrong With Kids These Days

    May 15, 2019·46m
  47. 47

    Every New Dance Used To Be Scandalous

    Apr 22, 2019·40m
  48. 48

    The Scandalous Internet of the 1800s

    Mar 7, 2019·48m
  49. 49

    Shop Local? Be Thankful for Chain Stores

    Feb 8, 2019·42m
  50. 50

    When Novels Were A "Bad Influence"

    Oct 15, 2018·41m
  51. 51

    Overcoming Our Fear of the Underground

    Aug 6, 2018·27m
  52. 52

    Margarine: A Cautionary Tale of Stupid Laws

    Jun 18, 2018·42m
  53. 53

    Even Thomas Edison Got Things Wrong

    Apr 9, 2018·44m
  54. 54

    Corrupting the Youth With Pinball

    Jan 27, 2018·33m
  55. 55

    Coffee: The Original Controversial Drug

    Nov 20, 2017·31m
  56. 56

    Where the Anti-Vax Movement Came From

    Sep 9, 2017·28m
  57. 57

    Why Games Like Chess Are Threatening

    Jul 20, 2017·25m
  58. 58

    Bicycles Were A Misogynist's Nightmare

    Jun 8, 2017·35m
  59. 59

    The British Used to Hate Umbrellas

    Apr 11, 2017·23m
  60. 60

    The First Self-Driving Car Was A Horse

    Mar 2, 2017·29m
  61. 61

    The Day the Music Died (And Was Reborn)

    Jan 9, 2017·36m
  62. 62

    When Exactly Were "The Good Old Days"?

    Nov 13, 2016·35m
  63. 63

    Wearing A Walkman Was Illegal

    Sep 12, 2016·25m