We are drowning in the "Big Picture."
There is a specific kind of paralysis that happens when you look at a massive project, a failing system, or a global crisis. It’s the same feeling a climber gets looking at a thousand-foot vertical cliff: the goal is so big it becomes abstract, and the abstract is where fear and indecision live.
In this article, I want to talk about The Three Foot World.
It’s a concept I’ve borrowed from high-stakes environments like technical climbing. When survival depends on the next move, the summit doesn't matter. What matters is the immediate three feet of rock in front of your face, the only space where you actually have control.
In our professional lives, we’ve been taught that "strategic thinking" means staring at the horizon. But in an age of total complexity, that's often how we lose our footing.
What we’ll explore in this piece:
The Physics of Focus: Why narrowing your field of vision is actually the most strategic move you can make.
Verifiable Control: How to stop wasting "cognitive calories" on things you can't influence.
The Execution Philosophy: Moving from being overwhelmed by the "what if" to mastered by the "what now."
If you’ve ever felt like the scale of your challenges is outstripping your ability to act, it’s time to shrink your world, just for a moment, to the next three feet.
