What Would Lanny Say?

[MrBorland]

I love this Versus promo. Very inspirational. I suppose most would agree. It was designed to be inspirational, after all. But here's the thing...it dawned on me that if we see it that way, what's that say about our self-image as a competitor? One of the perpetual underdog?

For those who aren't familiar with Lanny Bassham's thoughts on the mental game, he believes "Self Image = Performance"; so does identity with it point to an area in our mental game that could use a little tweaking? IOW, if my self image as a competitive shooter is one of The Champion, rather than The Underdog, would I feel it was cautionary, rather than inspirational?

Thoughts? Am I over thinking? Too much time on my hands? Watch

vids instead?

Tom

[MQW]

Well, here's the thing, our self-image has to match our skill level or we will end up self-destructing at some point; I watched this happen to a shooter I was coaching back in '09; he and his father have done a tremendous amount of work in the realm of the warrior mindset, his father has actually published a number of books on the subject over the years, but the son never quite got that it took more than just self-image and visualization to become a champion, that it also took very Deliberate or Deep Practice over a period of time to get there; he never put in the work necessary to get to the level that he believed he was capable of; I can say that he had a lot of raw skill sets and quite possibly could have done very well, but he shot the '09 US Nationals with me and another member of our team, did a lot of really un-thought through things to get to that match i.e. using someone else's gun without really training with it for any length of time, etc.; he ended up DQ'ing on the second day after launching a round into the side berm during a reload. He has not shot a match since that time. My point is, it takes a lot of well-rounded training to become a champion - visualization, self-image, deep or deliberate practice of all the necessary skill sets, lots of rounds downrange over a period of time - all play into that, and without all of that, you will never become a champion.

Also, again, your skill level has to match your expectations, thats why I have become very process-focused, instead of being results focused, being results focused will get you in trouble every single time; your concern, no matter what level of shooter you are, should be something like this... focus on each target within each stage and shooting that target & stage correctly each time, then everything else will come and you will get the end result you are looking for; hope this helps; I would suggest reading "10 Minute Toughness" by Dr. Jason Selk, that book is one of the most recent up-to-date works on the mental game on the market & is being utilized by a large number of pro athletes right now and it's spot on, also get "Talent is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin, it gets into what Deep or Deliberate practice is.

Edited October 21, 2011 by MQW

[Chris iliff]

I don't think you are over thinking. I get the same vibe you picked up.

I do think Lanny makes clear that you must practice. Yes self image will determine outcome if you put the work in. If you put the wrk in you should have a good self image. Not sure how thinking of yourself as an underdog comes in. But, I wonder if that is a trick of the day that some champs use continually. Somehow a motivator.

[sirveyr]

Nevermind.

I thought the thread title was, "What would Lemmy say?"

Lemmy would say:

Come on, baby, eat the rich.

Put a bite on the son of a bitch.

Don't mess up, don't cha gimme me no switch.

Come on, baby, eat the rich.

[dsb45acp]

I think the ad was about mental toughness. "When the competiton starts, all bets are off" is perfect. To me it says you can win! Or acomplish whatever goal you have. Plus, the guy in the deer stand has a pretty good bolt throw on that rifle!

[baa]

The Underdog has to believe he or she can win to be successful even if the odds are stacked again the win. So the Underdog has to have a self image that supports that belief. To create that belief, the Underdog has to put the work in to develop the self image that believes in the ability to win.

I guess my point is.. the Underdog does not believe he or she is the Underdog.