jdknotts1 Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 I learned yesterday how much the mental game plays in doing well. I shot in the MD State IDPA Championship. First stage was a TOTAL disaster. Missed two head shots at 5yds, two FTN, 1 procedural, on top of a slow time. I was absolutley disgusted with myself. I tried to shake it off but just could not believe I shot like that. My first stage is usually getting into the groove, and is acceptably a bit slower. But to totally muck it up, is not my MO. The 19 seconds I lost on that stage, pushed me from placing in the leaderboards. I could not shake off the stage for the rest of the match. How does one "shake off" a terrible performance and regian composure? If I regained my head, I may not have placed after that stage performance, but I would've had a better time. Instead of sulking in the background and hammering myself for being a dumba$$, I could've at least enjoyed the company of other shooters. But I didn't.... REALLY need some tips on the quick mental recovery... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 I could not shake off the stage for the rest of the match. How does one "shake off" a terrible performance and regian composure? Instead of sulking in the background and hammering myself for being a dumba$$, I could've at least enjoyed the company of other shooters. But I didn't.... If I didn't "shake off" terrible performances, I'd have quit shooting years ago:(( Only way to do that is lighten up, it's only a game (Thank God), and learn from the mistake - forget it, and "get into" the next stage, completely. BTW, if you had gotten into the first stage completely, you may not have mucked up so badly - Concentrate only on the one stage ahead of you - don't be thinking about anything else. Just one stage at a time. Helps me, anyway. Good luck, Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Miles Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 The only answer to your question is for YOU to realize that the crash and burn stage is now history and nothing will change that fact. Put it out of your head and go to work on the next stage. After the match you can go back and ask yourself the obvious questions. The trick now is not to beat yourself up over your mistakes but learn from them. Stay positive. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjb45 Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Lanny Basham talks a bit about this concept of positive affirmations. Basically, a negative and positive thought cannot reside in your brain at the same time. Lanny trained himself to think in the positive. You need the discpline to push the negative stage out of your mind. Was there one thing you did right on the stage? If so, tell yourself I did that right. Remember the next stage is the present, stay in the present, shoot one shot at a time. For me when I tank a stage, I resort back to the fundamentals! It helps me clear my mind and stay focused on the task at hand; Walk your next stage, build your strategy, visualize your shooting, clear mental focus on each target, break the shot, confirm the shot, move to the next shot. If I do this, there is no room for the tanked stage while I am shooting a match. After the match is when I do the mental debriefing of the tank stage as well as the other stages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DyNo! Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 The only answer to your question is for YOU to realize that the crash and burn stage is now history and nothing will change that fact. Put it out of your head and go to work on the next stage. After the match you can go back and ask yourself the obvious questions. The trick now is not to beat yourself up over your mistakes but learn from them. Stay positive. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Yesterday I had this exact problem at NY State rifle match. I zero'ed the first stage. Basically my match was done. However that gave me the freedom to shoot the match all out, no misgivings, no second guessing about riskier strategies, taking shots from distances and angles I might have otherwise avoided to be safer. I had a GREAT match the rest of day. It was like removing a rev limiter on your car. Run the rest of the match at full power just to see what you can do, it is a useful learning experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Hefta Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 I could write a book about this topic... if I had the talent... which I don't... Take a deep breath, tell yourself that you are here to have fun and move on... Next topic of discussion "Recovering after a terrible match" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B_Seehawer Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Man, can I relate to this post!! We had our big yearly club match about a month or so ago. I walked in with the attitude that there wasn't anyone there that I hadn't beated before so mentally I was prepared to win. Walked out and won the first stage, zeroed the second...... Took it pretty hard knowing that I had absolutely no chance at being in the money and that now I was just shooting for my own personal pride. Pretty much said F it and it was time to light it up and see what happens. Shot just a little past my comfort zone, don't think I had my feet set for a shot the rest of the day. Actually felt kind of good, won one more stage and would have won two more if not for a mike on one of them and a no shoot on another. Still ended up doing very poorly on the last one but I don't mind mikes and no shoots when I am really pushing hard. Pretty much have shaken it off but it still sucks to walk into the club every week and still see those score sheets up. All I can do is practice what killed me in the match. Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Good question! I had a similar experience a few weeks ago at the Space City Challenge. On my first stage, I had a bad grip on my pistol which caused an unplanned magazine drop two times on the first array. I ended up 35th on that stage. I reminded myself it was just a game, but I still worried about the magazine dropping out on every stage after that. One of the GMs on my squad told me to shoot the rest of the match like it was a club match. I guess it worked, because I still managed to place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehandyman87 Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Lanny Basham talks a bit about this concept of positive affirmations. Basically, a negative and positive thought cannot reside in your brain at the same time. Lanny trained himself to think in the positive. You need the discpline to push the negative stage out of your mind. Was there one thing you did right on the stage? If so, tell yourself I did that right. Remember the next stage is the present, stay in the present, shoot one shot at a time. For me when I tank a stage, I resort back to the fundamentals! It helps me clear my mind and stay focused on the task at hand; Walk your next stage, build your strategy, visualize your shooting, clear mental focus on each target, break the shot, confirm the shot, move to the next shot. If I do this, there is no room for the tanked stage while I am shooting a match. After the match is when I do the mental debriefing of the tank stage as well as the other stages. I absolutely agree - think in the positive. If I tank on the stage, I'll think about what I did wrong and turn it into a positive light as part of the mental portion of my walkthrough on the next stage. If I blew a reload, instead of saying to myself "don't screw that up again" I'll say something like "YOU WILL make sure you see the magwell on each reload". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Burwell Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 JD, I too shot the MD state match and absolutly tanked my first stage (the double swinger stage). I had a miss and wasted an absolute ton of time getting that miss. I have done this long enough to know I can come back from one bad stage pretty much everyone has one bad one in a major, I was just hoping the other guys would muck one up worse than I had just done. I got my stuff together and kept on shooting. My sixth stage (stage 10 with the pop-up targets) I was unloaded when I realized I had not hit a popper so I had to load up and get back to the shooting. At that point I really figure my day was done. I had a little conversation with myself trying to decide how I was going to shoot the rest of the match after considering trying to just go balls out to get back in it(figured that was just going to make it even worse) I decided to just keep shooting. I had yet one more bad stage one the way to finishing. Since I wasn't shooting with my competitors I had no idea what they were doing, turns out they didn't want to win that day either. after all my screwing up I ended up CDP division champ. The point I am trying to make is: after a bad stage suck it up and keep shooting, chances are others are going screw up also. The winner is the guy that screws it up the least. If nothing else try and remember my story 3 total pooch screws and I still walk away with the win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 JD, I too shot the MD state match and absolutly tanked my first stage (the double swinger stage). The point I am trying to make is: after a bad stage suck it up and keep shooting, chances are others are going screw up also. The winner is the guy that screws it up the least. If nothing else try and remember my story 3 total pooch screws and I still walk away with the win. Dan, Wow, Thanks for sharing that with us - that's a game changer. Appreciate the input into how these things work. You really make it easy to "forget about a bad stage" and concentrate on the next stage. Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaster113 Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 after crashing and burning there's nothing else to do but shoot the rest of the stages. gotta try and let the shitty stage go and focus on shooting the remainder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Yesterday I had this exact problem at NY State rifle match. I zero'ed the first stage. Basically my match was done. However that gave me the freedom to shoot the match all out, no misgivings, no second guessing about riskier strategies, taking shots from distances and angles I might have otherwise avoided to be safer. I had a GREAT match the rest of day. It was like removing a rev limiter on your car. Run the rest of the match at full power just to see what you can do, it is a useful learning experience. And I just got the results back for the match. I came in 11 out of 130 or so in tacoptics, so it seems that removing self imposed limits might be a good thing. I'm pretty sure that Brian has some incredibly insightful zen koan at the ready for this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBorland Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Channeling my Inner Lanny... Last week I tanked the very first stage of an ICORE match: A pair of very expensive rushed shots almost doubled my time and started me off in nearly last place overall. Sure, I was bummed, but rather seeing a tanked stage, I chose to see it only as the first of several opportunities to shoot to my ability. I simply continued to focus on the process of shooting well, and even said to myself "how cool will this be when I come from nearly last to win". And that's exactly what I ended up doing - winning 4 of the 5 remaining stages (including the very next one), and my division (missed the overall win by 2-3 sec). Importantly, I didn't try harder, or shoot faster to make up time. I simply let it go, and shot the rest of the match to my ability. So, what're Lanny's lesson(s)? 1. Self image = performance. Remove the word "dumba$$" and any other personal pejoratives from your vocabulary. Every time you call yourself a dumba$$, you create and reinforce that very image of yourself. Whether you realize it or not, you really see yourself as a dumba$$, so you shoot like one because that's become your comfort zone, and your subconscious is trying to keep you there. 2. It's tough to "just shrug it off", but thoughts can be displaced: If I told you to not imagine a black cat, you'll likely imagine a black cat. Our minds don't do "don'ts". But if you were thinking of a black cat, you weren't thinking of your bad stage, either, were you? Seems we only can handle 1 conscious thought at a time, so putting some positives in there displaces the negativity. Some positives after a poor stage might include: "My transition from T2 to T3 was really good, and I called those. That's the way I shoot.", or "I just learned something new about shooting well. I'm gonna apply that next time, and it's gonna be cool." 3. Focus on the process, not the goal. Shooting a bullseye is a target shooter's objective, but to do it, he/she needs to focus on how to do it. Focusing only on the goal is called dreaming, and we all know how mad we can get when our dreams are messed with. But the process is safe. Go into a match caring about applying the fundamentals as well as you can, and your placing will take care of itself. 4. It ain't over 'til it's over. Wait until the results are posted before deciding your match is lost. Imagine how bad it feels when the results are posted and you realize it wasn't the tanked stage that cost the match, but the lackluster others that you shot sub-par because you decided the match was blown. It does happen. And it goes the other way, too - if it seems like a tough stage/match, others likely do to, so hanging tough can pay big dividends. Good shooting - Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Burwell Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 It was like removing a rev limiter on your car. Thread drift: why would you ever shoot with a rev limiter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powder Finger Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 FWIW I fished a bass match recently and had about 8 lbs for 3 fish. then hooked a 5-6 lb bass. I got it to the boat, and the net job by my partner didn't work out and lost that fish. That fish would have secured 1st place. So the guy starts beating himself up some and I told him to shut-up and catch 3 more like the one that released itself, it's no big deal. Never did replace that fish but finished the 5 fish limit and up graded some, and still won and had big fish also. Had the negative talk/thoughts kept up.......well you know how that would have turned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 (edited) It was like removing a rev limiter on your car. Thread drift: why would you ever shoot with a rev limiter? In a car a rev limiter may prevent you from damaging your engine. I guess my mental rev limiter is there to keep me from screwing up my match buy picking no shoots or misses. Of course like any rev limiter it is probably a bit overly cautious likely to keep me from performing at my maximum. Maybe it needs more fine tuning, or perhaps a complete removal. After all we are racing and I'm not sure race cars have rev limiters. Does that make any sense? Edited May 5, 2011 by Vlad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Burwell Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 After all we are racing and I'm not sure race cars have rev limiters. No sense in limiting yourself, you should shoot every target at it's appropriate sight picture and trigger control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Without judging yourself - either good or bad - keep your mind always focused on performance, shot after shot after shot... Eeasier to say than do of course. But it is the way. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdknotts1 Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 I thinnk one of the main problems with my performance was partial ego. I just started shooting IDPA. I've been a police officer for 7 years and my shooting was always the bench mark for other officers. I shot my first classifier as a SSP Expert. First two club matches I shot second place overall, not far behind a good Master shooter. I thought, "Hey, this is easy. I must really be a good shooter." I walked into the State Match thinking I was going be do fairly well. Thinking that a club match was a decent representive population of IDPA shooters. Boy was I wrong. I saw things I've never seen before. Dan, the double swingers totally threw me off. I couldn't believe how fast the targets were moving, and had no idea how to engage them. Same is said with the disappearing "head shot" on stage two I think. I know the State Match for me was humbling. What I'm hoping for is that I remember it as such. My ego has been a battle for me for a long time. It's been a battle because I too often come out on top. Same cannot be said for the State Match. I have a lot to learn. On a side note, how does one learn and/or practice stages like the formidable "double swingers"? How does one learn the tactics and proper engagement techniques for such stages? Good job Dan on the win. I did come out of it with a new XDM. So I can't complain too much.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 The trick to to place all our attention on what we are doing. That will leave no attention for what we did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon b Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Great quote! You can apply that to a lot more than shooting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 The trick to to place all our attention on what we are doing. That will leave no attention for what we did. There ye go! And: Great quote! You can apply that to a lot more than shooting! Absolutely! be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 And this, like much else, is easier said....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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