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The Fall after a big match


AlamoShooter

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I am a very lucky guy to have skilled friends that share. I had a friend that was a Simi. Pro sporting clays shooter. He knew how much of my self I had put into preparing for my first Sportsman's Team Challenge nationals.

He warned me rite after the event while I was still riding a high on coming very close to my goal that. "A funk can wash over you after the event" the next day the next week. If a person does not know its coming it can take the form of depression. Thinking something is wrong with you can make the down hill slide even worst.

The reason for this =Thread= is in hopes to help some of the new guys, <_< Manage them selves after a match is over and the gear is all put up.

Knowing about it has helped me allot over the years,

Placing high up the ranks and even reaching a goal can be harder on us than not reaching a goal.

Even knowing about this "Fall" after a big match used to still find my mind doing the math on what I spent in dollars to prepare and reach the event. I would make an itemized list in my head of all the cost and trace it back to include extra events I went to help me prepare.

A few years back someone asked how much had it cost to get "Good" at sporting clays I told them I stooped adding at $70,000 Now thats a frightening number and it includes lost wages. :wacko: Frightening & embarrassing in some ways.

I can say that I got my dollars worth.

That -Fall- after the event can make us stronger or break our bones If you ride the fall over the next ledge each one gets a little bit worst.

Being aware of it may help you avoid the secondary falls.

Even the very best meal eventually ends with the normal trip to bathroom to take car of business with a flush. Flush away the bad feelings if you have them and don't look in the toilet.

Edited by AlamoShooter
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Lanny Bassham was almost suicidal after reaching his lifelong goal of an Olympic Gold medal.

Goal depression is very real and can best be avoided by having a new goal waiting. Not having a strong goal was one of many reason for my shooting hiatus, as I was stuck between local hotshot GM and national contender. It's a strange place to be and good goals are hard to come by.

This is a great topic.

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Lanny Bassham was almost suicidal after reaching his lifelong goal of an Olympic Gold medal.

Goal depression is very real and can best be avoided by having a new goal waiting. Not having a strong goal was one of many reason for my shooting hiatus, as I was stuck between local hotshot GM and national contender. It's a strange place to be and good goals are hard to come by.

This is a great topic.

Thanks for the post Steve <_< I don't know how great it is a topic , but hopefully it will be help-full to most of us.

I don't think the worst part of my -Funk- was the lack of a goal. Its like an itch that keeps moving out of reach.

I moved past or/ grew out of it, now its something like an angry neighborhood dog that is too old to catch me any more.

Being aware that it can be a very viscous cycle it important.

Edited by AlamoShooter
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Wow, lucky me! Shooting is my hobby . . . and just a hobby. Once I bag my firearm and police my brass, that match is behind me. On the way home I am thinking about the next match!

<_< Big match as in lost a week of vacation time to attend, planed and prepared for months to get ready.

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Maybe great wasn't the right word. Important, perhaps? I just know there a lot of people here with a lot of goals. Those that make choices with those goals in mind will reach them very quickly. For others, they will be dreams.

I'll never forget the day my GM card came in the mail. I happy danced and made up songs about it. I made my wife call me grand master for a week.

And then I didn't have a goal anymore.

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I still have a long way to go to achieve my long term shooting goals, but I can see how this could be a problem for some, potentially myself included. Thanks for the posts. It gives one something to think about...

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This is interesting what causes this why wouldnt you be excited by achieving your goal or is it not having anywhere to go after that.

over active brain is what most of it is. Almost like 'Buyers Remorse' the question that drifts in the brain is -did I pay too much-?

I know from recent hikes to a high summits. Lets of mountains are higher and more difficult. the ones I went to were day hikes. But once at the top you get to look around for not very long and spend part of the time planing out the best way down.

It can take longer to get down than up.

If at any time you get even a light sprain or strain, your out until the next year. If your older one bad step will put you off the hill for the rest of your life.

Some times we let the "Goal" consume too much of us we become the goal instead of being goal oriented

Its a strange thing that happens to us Like going to Vegas to have a "Fun" weekend with a $200 gambling budget and as your boarding the plane to fly home you realize you went $500 over your budget. :blink: does that mean that you did not have fun? What are you feeling what was your goal? I think what you would feel as you sank in your seat on the plane is that "Fall"

This is not limited to goals. the Fall can happen even with out a defined goal. Like annual events that we feel like we just can't miss. pushing to make regional events so that you get that slot. and thin on the way home after the nationals you realize how much preparation you went through.

its a slippery slope to think about

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I bumped into this ugly critter when I started competing in triathlons. My first one was a huge personal challenge/goal that I accomplished, but almost immediately afterwards I went into a funk. After a bit I realized that the satisfaction of accomplishing the goal was not what I thought and that what I had really enjoyed out of the whole experience was the preparation and anticipation of the event. (Reminds me of some dates I have been on.) What I eventually learned to do is to always have another event on the horizon beyond the one coming up. It gives me time to enjoy the satisfaction of the big match I just completed but also to have another event that I am still preparing for. This has worked well for me in shooting as well.

edited because of grammar skills on a 3rd grade level.

Edited by Neomet
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Thats a good post Neomet, and smart.

I think I am doing close to the same thing now. And what I do is look at All the costs of arriving at an event as ( The Cost of Admission ). And thin during the event I look for JOY in small parts of the event, even broken down by stages and parts of stages. I recognize what I do wrong or could have done better. but my focus is on what I did close to my potential. Now MY Goals are to get close to my potential, When I do that the joy spills out.

Point{} This past year Early in the year at SMM3G - overall it was not a great match for me but on the stage that we shot up the hill off the plywood bed, I got my 3 longer hits with just 4 shots. I came off that stage very happy. Move forward to this past Pro-Am at Rockcastle I came off my best stage of the year for me = held on to forth place. But rite after the stage I knew two places that I made a catch in my flow costing me over a second off of what I knew I could have done. walking off the stage Kieth Garcia complemented me and Like a punk = I snapped back with " I made Two mistakes" :angry: Turned out my best stage gave me less satisfaction than many others.

some times I am such a dumb asz

The satisfaction Void can be a deep ditch to dig out of.

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This is where keeping goals somewhat generic comes in handy. For example, you could set a goal of doing a 1 second draw. Or you could set a goal to draw faster than you did the last time you practiced. My example of the generic goal leads to a gradual never ending improvement cycle that also allows you the chance to achieve the goal on a regular basis. The specific goal is a dead end after you achieve it unless you have already set another goal to replace it once achieved.

I prefer to set generic goals for myself as they are better ongoing motivators and put less pressure on achieving them and have way less chance of a fall after achieving them. For example, when I went to the 2011 handgun nationals I seen a lot of shooters artificially reduce their shooting speed causing them to shoot "Scared". I made a simple goal to not shoot scared but to instead attack every stage with the same aggressiveness I would at a local club match. Doing this really helped me stay aggressive through the whole match and stage by stage I could pat myself on the back for continuing to achieve my generic goal.

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Thats a good post Neomet, and smart.

I think I am doing close to the same thing now. And what I do is look at All the costs of arriving at an event as ( The Cost of Admission ). And thin during the event I look for JOY in small parts of the event, even broken down by stages and parts of stages. I recognize what I do wrong or could have done better. but my focus is on what I did close to my potential. Now MY Goals are to get close to my potential, When I do that the joy spills out.

Point{} This past year Early in the year at SMM3G - overall it was not a great match for me but on the stage that we shot up the hill off the plywood bed, I got my 3 longer hits with just 4 shots. I came off that stage very happy. Move forward to this past Pro-Am at Rockcastle I came off my best stage of the year for me = held on to forth place. But rite after the stage I knew two places that I made a catch in my flow costing me over a second off of what I knew I could have done. walking off the stage Kieth Garcia complemented me and Like a punk = I snapped back with " I made Two mistakes" :angry: Turned out my best stage gave me less satisfaction than many others.

some times I am such a dumb asz

The satisfaction Void can be a deep ditch to dig out of.

I don't think its healthy to keep a tally of the costs leading up to a special event. Why not change your mindset to allow yourself to associate a specific cost to what you are doing right now then let go of it. For example, if you go out to practice you can tally up the costs associated with that practice session then determine whether that practice session was a viable investment based on your results. You will be ahead some times and no others. But those cost associations are broken up into little chunks that are easier to handle mentally.

I also disagree with the mindset of treating a single match as the most important match of the year that determines your overall performance for the year. If you treat every single match with the same level of importance/respect then that distributes your performance review over the whole year. It will also allow you to shoot ALL of the matches with the same consistency. This is HUGE. If you can go into a major match with a "I am going to do the best I can at this club match" mentality you are already ahead of 80% of the shooters attending.

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wow well put chalee my goal was to go into our state match and win c class next month. By I think I will readjust that goal to shooting to my best potential. And like you said not shoot scared I tend to do that and I feel I leave a lot on the tablets going to treat it like a club match and attack it

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I can still remember, the first time I read it, how much I identified with Bruce Lee's view on goals: "All goals apart from the means are illusions."

Upon reading that, I realized that I never thought much about goals that weren't directly accessible. My goal was just to learn to shoot a pistol as good as it could be shot.

be

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I am usually down for a while after a major match that I've prepped for like Nationals or the World Shoot.

For me it's because I put a lot of effort and time into training for the match and then come away thinking "I can do better than that". It's part of what keeps us coming back, but it also can be a major motivation suck. After 3 World Shoots and a bunch of majors, it doesn't surprise me anymore, but it still shows up uninvited. It's lots easier to deal with if you know it's coming.

Thanks Jamie.

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Worry over what you have control over. Its a concept that after nearly 60 years I still have trouble with. You can only account for yourself. What others do is out of your reach no matter how much you try to control all facets of your game. If you make a mistake you correct it and move on. Focusing on the mistake only leads to more mistakes and doubt in your ability. That's a sure killer. Yea it's hard but no one is harder on you than yourself.

I know some will disagree but reaching the goal is not that important. It's the journey one undertakes to be in a position to accomplish that goal is what really matters. Just take a look at what You have experienced and who you have met since the first day you started shooting. Think of all those experiences and the knowledge you have gained as a result of trying to reach this goal. The memories and the storys you share with others. The focus should be on the journey. So when you get to feeling down think about the journey that got you to this point because in the end the journey is real the reward.

Edited by West Texas Granny
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  • 3 weeks later...

Worry over what you have control over. Its a concept that after nearly 60 years I still have trouble with. You can only account for yourself. What others do is out of your reach no matter how much you try to control all facets of your game. If you make a mistake you correct it and move on. Focusing on the mistake only leads to more mistakes and doubt in your ability. That's a sure killer. Yea it's hard but no one is harder on you than yourself.

I know some will disagree but reaching the goal is not that important. It's the journey one undertakes to be in a position to accomplish that goal is what really matters. Just take a look at what You have experienced and who you have met since the first day you started shooting. Think of all those experiences and the knowledge you have gained as a result of trying to reach this goal. The memories and the storys you share with others. The focus should be on the journey. So when you get to feeling down think about the journey that got you to this point because in the end the journey is real the reward.

Wow!!! How true this is, I just returned from a state match a few weeks ago that was one of the funnest matches I can remember shooting. I was squaded with several of my long time shooting buddies and we had a blast watching each other shoot and the experiences on and off the range. A few of us did really well and a few of us didn't but it all seemed a mute point with all the fun we had. That journey was one that money can't buy! Have fun and do your best, you'll shoot better not worrying about how well you "have" to do!

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I've experienced this kind of let down a few times over the years. It may come from the realization that the win wasn't nearly as important as I made it out to be. I think Granny's post was spot on.

If we make the shooting about reaching a specific goal, then where are we after that goal is met? It can be a lonely feeling.

It's been much more enjoyable since I decided that my goal was to be part of the sport. This goal of being "part of the sport" encompasses many things. Now, I see matches as something to experience, kinda like a rock concert.

With a different kinda smoke. ;)

Edited by Sam
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Your perception of a race is different if you only look 10 feet in front of you the whole time (as opposed to looking at the finish line).

Man, that is so true, Dyno!

Understanding the "why" is the part that interests me most. Why does my mind tend to seek some sort of "outcome" or "end", instead of enjoying the 10 feet where I am? I believe that this seeking is not the normal state of mind, but one that has been learned in the process of coming to adulthood in the culture I was raised in.

Our society seems to run on seeking things. I hear so many people speak about freedom, while I see them forging their own chains.

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