You keep lookin’ around, and none of that sh*t can help you.
“My body was frozen against the rock face… ‘Hey, man,’ he said in a lazy, raspy voice. ‘Just stay in your three-foot world.’ I was a couple of hundred feet up the rock face and I could barely think, let alone decipher his cryptic advice. “What the h*ll are you talking about, bro?’ ‘Only focus on your three-foot world,’ he said. ‘Focus on what you can affect. You keep looking around, and none of that sh*t can help you right now, can it?’ I shook my head no.’ You’re calculating how far you’re going to fall,’ the instructor said. ‘You’re looking down at Jeff. But he’s not going to come up and help. You’re looking out at the Strip. What are you going to do, gamble your way to the top? Don’t look at me. I’m not going to help you either. This is up to you. You’re climbing this rock. Stay in your three-foot world.’ I’ll never forget those words: ‘Stay in your three-foot world.’ ” –(No Hero, Chapter 3, Mark Owen)
The Navy Seals fascinate me. They have a profound ability to take near-impossible tasks, break them into bite-size pieces, and execute, which they combine with near-perfect mastery of a couple dozen basic skills. This combination makes them one of the most potent fighting forces on the planet, so much so that I’ve often thought they remind me of King David’s mighty men. But not even Seals are immune to fear. Fear has a magnificent way of drawing our attention away from the very things we should attend to the most.
Each man’s three-foot world will be different and much of internalizing and mastering this skill, this mindset, will come down to drawing that circle in each situation. Inside are the things I can control, outside the things I cannot. For Mark, in the opening paragraph, his three-foot world was on a vertical rock face in Nevada’s desert and all his pitons used up below him. Perhaps my most intense experience of the three-foot world came after losing my daughter Ruhama. When was your last experience of either fear paralysis or analysis paralysis? How well and how quickly did you implement the rules of the three-foot world (even if you didn’t know it by that name)?
To many, to those who’ve done paralyzingly hard things, the usefulness of the three-foot world is as obvious upon hearing it as is the sweetness of honey upon tasting it. But what of precept? Can we find or defend the three-foot world among history’s great minds, or better yet, can we find it in the Scripture?
Ancient Voices
“Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is our own action. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever is not our own action.” (Epictetus, Enchiridion)
“Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, ‘Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?’ … Confine yourself to the present.” (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations)
These ancient philosophers echo what Scripture has always taught: God calls us to faithful action in the present moment, not anxious fixation on what we cannot control.
Scripture Speaks Clearly
“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13–14 ESV)
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:25–34 ESV)
“And Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’ ”(Matthew 14:28-33 ESV)
How to practice the three-foot world
- Name the Rock Face – What challenge or fear is freezing you right now?
- Draw Your Circle – What is literally within arm’s reach today?
- Distill to Action – Cut the noise → possible actions → good actions aligned with your purpose → your single best next move.
- Act — Then Redraw – Take that step. Once you’ve moved three feet, reassess and repeat.
Defining your three-foot world is the daily discipline of distilling the noise of each day down to possible actions. Then distill your possible actions down to good actions aligned with your purpose. Then distill your good, possible actions down to your best actions. Then act!
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