Error in changing format from NFTS to ExFAT

So I just bought a new My Passport external drive and when I plugged it in my Mac I found out that I couldn’t transfer files right away. I tried changing the format from NTFS to ExFAT in the Disk Utility window but I get this message


Do I need to clear up space in my Mac for this to work?

This may be of assistance -

Basically he says you first need to reformat NTFS into Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and then convert it to APFS format.