The phenomenon we call BURNOUT

[bonedaddy]

   Burnout is OK.   It's just a natural reminder that we need to take a break.   I trained hard from January till June to prepare for two matches that were very important to me.  I sacrificed a lot of other things to reach my goal of doing well at these matches.  As a bonus, I got a last minute invite to another match that  turned out well too, because of all the practice. Then it was time to stop for a while.  That was 3 weeks ago.

     My truck is broke, my house needs paint, the yard looks like nobody lives here, and elk season is right around the corner.  But, all the time I'm not practicing I sort of wonder if I'm falling behind.  

     So, tonight I take two guns and several different holsters down to the range to see if I still remember how to shoot.   No problem.   I can still hit the broad side of a barn.  

      I'm going to let the dust settle for a little while longer.  I'm still feeling a little burnt out.  When I come back, it will be with renewed interest and enthusiam.   Most of us have the self dicipline to practice regularly.  When we see signs of burn out, we need to have the self dicipline to let it rest for awhile.  Why hike up a mountain unless you are going to stop awhile and enjoy the view?   The aspen will begin to turn the most beautiful colors of red and gold in about two weeks.   Change is good.  Why fight it, when we can just enjoy it?

[Ron Ankeny]

Sam:

Your timing couldn't be better. As you know, I am back to work (pity the poor teacher) but this summer I got a lot accomplished. I managed to get $15,000 in range improvement funds for our new bay and so on. It was fun supervising the dirt work and they will spread the road base, water and roll the bay floors, etc. this week.  I have built a lot of props and targets and last week I finished welding up 13 new pepper poppers. I have been shooting 4 to 6 times a week and I have been introduced to the world of the open gun. I even took the class from Ron Avery.

Two days ago I had an impeccable practice session and it seemed like I had peaked out. Today I went to a match and I crashed and burned. I wallowed in self pity, bitched and moaned, and I was a pain in the butt all day long. It's time for a break. I have a fun match to put on this coming Sunday and a special classifier to run at the end of September.

Time to go fling arrows at an elk. Come October and November, the geese will be setting their wings as they come into the decoys. This winter I'll be quiding snowmobilers on adventerous back country rides on the weekends (any forum members ride sleds?). Master class can wait until spring.

(Edited by Ron Ankeny at 9:12 pm on Aug. 18, 2002)

[Flexmoney]

You two seem to be exceptions to "my" rule...(maybe my rule sucks)

Often times, when I see people burning out...or they talk about burnout...there is something else going on in their life that isn't quite right, and it manifests itself in the shooting.  (think birthday that ends in a zero, divorce, job change, money issues, heath and happiness of family members and friends, their dog won't hunt,...etc.)

(Edited by Flexmoney at 12:22 am on Aug. 19, 2002)

[tightloop]

Having delt with all those issues, yu are correct.  However, sometimes when it stops being fun, it is time to give it a rest.  I am there now.  Pistol in vault, fly rod in hand, duck call in other hand.  Let them say what they will, I was one dimensional for many years, shooting to the exclusion of all else, now it is time to do other things.  Went to Africa in July and now it is time to bird hunt and fish a bit.

[bonedaddy]

  Cool, three different points of view.  

   Ron,  you have come so far so fast!  In addition to being an awesome shooter, you do so much for your club and those around you.  I started this thread after reading your post about the last match you shot.  I just wanted to get some positive discussion going about the value of down time.  I think we gain confidence from each other when we share our similar experiences.  

   Kyle,  I think your "rule" is a good corollary.  For future reference, my situation is only a little different.   Of the three matches I mentiond, two were steel shoots.  It's easy to compare match times to practice times with steel.  In both matches, probably 60% of my times were better than anything I had ever done in practice.   I just don't understand how this could happen.   I want to stop and think about that for a while.  I think I will "hit the wall" if I keep pushing right now.  If I kept going, I think the "rule" would begin to apply to me.   So, I've stopped shooting and started working on other stuff that I enjoy, but have been neglecting.  

Tightloop....  Africa?   WOW!   That would be incredible!  But, travel is stressful for me, so I can understand the need for some R&R.   And I'm darn glad that summer is about over too.   But, I'm still packing a pistol, just not shooting it.

    - Sam

[Ron Ankeny]

Sam:

As you know, I used to dread downtime because I feared getting rusty. Now I know that down time can be very useful because it gives us a chance to examine, evaluate, set new goals, and just plain kick back.

Tightloop:

Africa and in particular a hunt with Geoff Broom has been a lifelong goal. A tip of the hat to you.

[tightloop]

thanks, I had a hunt booked in '84 and cancelled it cause my wife thought I had a death wish.  Now she is gone, so I went.  Best thing I have done in 20 years, now I want to go back next year,...only takes $$$.

[bonedaddy]

Yeah, my wife thought I had a death wish for the first 12 years we were married.     From her point of view, I suppose I did.

The real reason I've laid off shooting is that I'm looking for an answer.  I shot above what I thought  was my true level of ability in two different matches.  I practiced before and immediately after the matches and could not duplicate the performances.  If I could understand what happened and why, it would be like finding the holy grail.  

[Nik Habicht]

Sam,

Next time you shoot that well ---- and it will happen again, though it might take a little while ---- take note of what you felt or didn't feel, thought or didn't think during that match.  I know I shoot much better when I'm relaxed and not feeling like I have to push for a good score.  Now if I could just figure out how to relax on demand....

[Steve Anderson]

I've burned out of other pursuits, and for me it occurred when the work required to achieve exceeded the desire to achieve.

SA

[bonedaddy]

Nik, that sounds like very good advice.  I can recall that I felt very optimistic going into both matches.  And I can't recall having any negative thoughts after stepping up to the line.   Relax on demand.... if you could bottle that....well, you'ld be selling moonshine.  

[Ron Ankeny]

bonedaddy:

Someday I'll tell you what I see in you when you go to a match. It is ever so obvious to me and those around you. I'll bet Flexmoney saw it at the Nationals too. Frankly, you deserve to win.

[Flexmoney]

Sam and I were on different squads (though only a squad apart)...I did see him sitting in a puddle of water.

[bonedaddy]

Ron, that's a very kind thing to say.   Thank you.   Sometime during the long winter, let's just kick back and talk.

Kyle, I did get pretty nervous before that one stage......   Next time we are at the same match,  we gotta' squad together.

[Flexmoney]

Sounds good to me.   Careful though...I may try to talk you into doing one of those 0.60 draws.

[Ron Ankeny]

kyle:

Was he waving his arms and quacking?

[Flexmoney]

Ya know...he kinda was.  But...I'm not sure that had anything to do with the water.

[bonedaddy]

   Ah say, ah say, I was nervous as a Montana sheep on prom night.  

[Hardball]

One thing that I have noticed about burnout is that it takes twice the effort to figure out how one got to that stage than it did to get there. I have been burnt out since before the area six match and my performance showed at the A6. I worked as hard as I could from the Florida State match in 2001 to improve, and set a goal for myself that might have been a little unrealistic. Between the two matches I went from a D class shooter to a B class shooter it seemed over night. I improved my standings in the match by a little over 100 positions. I set my sights on position 30 in the match (I wanted to be in at least the top 30 for reasons unknown, just sounded realistic.) and made 39th. Falling short of my goal, because of whatever reason, was crushing to me at the time. With things starting to gel at the time and the confidence that came with it, I shortened my sight radius on the big picture. My goal was the only thing that I was taking into account and when I fell 9 places short, panic set in. Questioning my efforts killed what confidence I had, and I just didn't want to do it anymore. That turned to a little bit of resentment in the fact that I had worked so hard to accomplish falling short of a goal. Now, I look back at the match and see that 39 out of 210 shooters is exactly where I belonged. It was a GOOD performance for me at the time, and my shortsightedness caused me to doubt myself and my efforts for no good reason. I have taken nearly five months off, with two matches shot in the last month and none for the first four of those five, and re-evaluated my wants and needs from the sport. Having just changed jobs, when my income stablizes and my family can still eat when I shoot, I will be back at the range laughing and carrying on as if it never happened. I will be competitive, and keep pushing myself to improve, but I will set no goal in stone. Objectiveness is what I lacked, I think, and there are those out there who fall into that category and get burnt out as well. When we see someone trying hard to improve, as a D-B class shooter, maybe we should take notice of their goals and lend a hand with the evaluation. Sometimes it is the internal shell that we put oursleves into, while working hard to improve, that doesn't let information pass cleanly. I know had I had one person explain that 39 out of 210 is kick ass compared to a year ago I might have opened my eyes a bit and stepped back into reality. Just a thought.

[shred]

Cool post.. I had the same problem with setting goals based on external things-- for example, if you said you wanted to finish 30th, what if 30 GM's decided to shoot the match?  Nothing you can do about that, but it'll hose your goal and mess with your mind.   Match percentage is a better way of measuring performance, but can still be affected by who shoots the top scores.

[John Thompson]

I've talked about my being burnt out before and the reasons.  The problem was I never took enough time off out of fear of lost opportunities with future range closure and gun control.  Now I'm about out for good.  The damage is done, sometimes when I think about picking up a gun and traveling miles and miles from home away from my family; the money I'm spending and the frustraition caused by having a type A personality and never sticking with the plan, I want to throw up.  I'm serious, I get sick.

I now and for the foreseable future only shoot two relative local matches a month if even that.  I shoot a wednesday(summer time) practice only becasue it's free, has some comraderie and competition, and I can shoot almost non stop for an hour or two.  No pressure and I get home before my wife.

No more long days, expensive outlays, expensive matches(no Ohio state champ) or any of the other crap that just got to be too much.

[down0]

I know burn out.  I am in a job that requires retirement at age 56.  Several people have hit on the one thing that helps keep your concentration level up......taking time off.  If you feel burn-out comin' 'round, take a vacation.....

[bonedaddy]

Update one month after stating the thread.....  

Very useful insights from everyone.  Thank you all for helping me to reflect on it.  

  I finally got my truck back together today.  There's four tons of hay in the barn and two cords of firewood stacked by the fence.   I'm staring to feel like practicing again.  But, there's still a little something out of place that's keeping me from starting again.  

   When I start back, I want to spend the next six months or so taking myself to the next level.  I guess the thing I'm waiting for is some sort of inspiration about what I need to change.   Without proper change, it will be totally impossible for me to become any better shooter than I was when I quit.

   Change in life is always a certainty.   And risk is always involved.  We risk waiting for things to just "happen" to us.  Likewise we also take risk when we make changes on our own.   So, the best I can do is to try and identify the changes that are needed to get to that next level.   Attitudes, techniques, and information..........it's begining to coming into focus......this is going to be a great trip, to somewhere.

Oh, that reminds me of one of my favorite movie lines.  At the end of "Paint Your Wagon".   Pardner says to Ben,  "I guess there's two kinda' people in the world Ben, them that's goin' somewhere and them that ain't."  Ben says. " Yeah, there's two kinda' people in the world all right.  Them that's going somewhere and them that's going nowhere."  

[Ron Ankeny]

..and over a month later, I am still one tenth of one per cent away from Limited Master. I am shooting as much or more than ever, with an open gun and a single stack. I have shot two 4 classifier specials in different divisions and I will shoot a third day after tomorrow. I wasn't burned out on shooting, I was burned out on chasing a goal. I am shooting for fun for a change. I haven't even touched my Limited gun in a month. It can stay in the safe for another month.

[bonedaddy]

1/10th of a percent?  You're already there!  

   Ron, it looks like I won't be coming over tomorrow for the super-classifier.  BM wants to go to the mts. and enjoy the colors of the season.  (There is never enough time to do all the things that need to be done.)  I look forward to getting back to the shooting and seeing all my friends again.   Of course I'll be totin' several shootin' irons tomorrow and a backpack with a little food & water and mucho ammo.