Wild Gene Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 When I started shooting sports (cowboy action, USPSA and now 3 Gun) my mind was always thinking "What's next, what's next". Next it became "Hit the targets, hit the targets". I went from that point to picking spots and shooting positions, my stage plan. Later it became "move and shoot, move and shoot, 3 things all the time". As I've progressed, the conscious thoughts have started to fade, until the buzzer goes off and the stage just happens. But something new has popped into the progression (or is it a regression). At my first real 3 gun match, I noticed that I was complementing myself in the back of my mind. As I was automatically moving from position to position and/or gun to gun and target to target, I was actually complementing myself of a prior reload, string of fire or shot.... A missed position, bad shot or bumbled task never entered my mind, but I do remember thinking things like "that was a great quad load" or "man, I smoked those". Those functions just happened, and negativity never entered my mind, I had full focus every time I pulled the trigger, yet sometime in there my mind was complementing myself..... Weird.... Anyone else ever have this happen? I'm not sure it's a good thing. wg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EDA Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Not sure if that is a good thing while you are still actively shooting as that is taking concentration away from you. If it helps motivate you during the stage, I guess maybe it can be helpful, but I would think you should just move forward and reassess after the stage is complete and then re-evaluate yourself. Thinking about how good your quad load was may force you into screwing up another quad load in the same stage (hypothetically). Reminds me of the Stuart Smalley skits from SNL "because I'm good enough, smart enough, and gosh darn it people like me..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 While shooting, I'd discourage any internal dialoge, no matter how far it is "back in the mind." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetAwayDriva Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 (This is coming from someone with self confidence issues who is working on this very thing.....) but it sounds to me like what Lanny Bassham says to do.... To not dwell on the mistakes but focus on the things you did right.. The whole "that is like me" bit. And he does say that you should do that but I would think just not in the middle of the stage ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Gene Posted May 5, 2015 Author Share Posted May 5, 2015 It was just weird. I've never done anything like it before that I can recall. Like I said, I've been part of different shooting sports for many years, and have been reasonably successful at anything I've tried (except my transition from Trap to Sporting Clays, my Trap sight picture always seems to trump the shot and I end up shooting under a lot of birds in five stand and sporting clays). Lanny Bassham has been part of my arsenal for years and I know exactly what you are talking about GetAway. Benos, I don't know how to avoid this. That is what is going to be tough. Negative never enters my mind, I'm able to plan my stage and make it happen, but I've never had to try to avoid thinking about things. I am suspect that if I spend time trying to avoid positive thoughts something could happen. I will not dwell on it and see how my next match goes. Your thoughts please. Maybe I was just having too much fun? haha. BTW, I ended up placing in the middle of the pack, I think 18 out of 40, and had I not had one stage with 60 seconds in penalties (my mind saw hits, but the paper said otherwise), I possibly would have finished in the top 10 at the match ("what if'ing" serves no purpose). It seemed like over half the people there had there Techware on, and my buddy I shot with had won his division at Ironman a couple years ago (we were close on raw time on the stages). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irdave Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I shot my first real 3 gun match a couple weeks ago. I found that I had a lot of extra mental bandwidth- especially with so many transitions between weapons and positions. It seems like when I'm just driving the pistol at a pistol match I'm much more focused on what's going on- probably because I've been doing it for a couple years- With 3 gun, I have much less practice, so everything took longer (even if it was some small fraction of a second)- so I fumbled a shotgun reload- and was thinking,"That's ok, just load that one, then get the next one, push it in the gun, nice and easy, don't drop it." Things like that. I think, for me, that I've spent a fair amount of time practicing with the pistol- to have a proper draw, a proper reload- that when I reload the rifle it takes a second, maybe 2, longer than the pistol- which when you're used to fractions of a second, can be an order of magnitude more time- which is a lot. Like going from 2 seconds to 20... There's a lot of extra time in there. So I think with the pistol, I execute the plan I made before hand. With 3 gun, I execute, but my pace is so much slower by comparison, that there's a lot of extra time- and everything is on the conscious side, while the pistol is subconscious... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Benos, I don't know how to avoid this. That is what is going to be tough. Negative never enters my mind, I'm able to plan my stage and make it happen, but I've never had to try to avoid thinking about things. I am suspect that if I spend time trying to avoid positive thoughts something could happen. I will not dwell on it and see how my next match goes. Your thoughts please. If you are totally focused in the present moment on the task at hand, (negative) thoughts cannot arise. So the training comes down to learning where to keep your attention placed, at each moment. Especially after learning a new skill set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moltke Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 See your sights on every target in your head before you shoot, play that mental movie again and again, and program yourself to be looking for those visual cues. Then when its time to shoot just relax, draw, and watch your front sight lift while you call the shots as acceptable or not. Make up the ones that didn't look or feel right, move when you need to move, reload when you need to reload, and put yourself on autopilot. If you truly embrace this then there will be no room for your conscious mind to distract you from shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordfish Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 Nope never. too busy focusing on what I'm doing to be thinking of anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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