Shooting best when I just don't care

[InTheBlack]

I seem to shoot very well when I have had a very frustrating day the day before.  If go into the match just not giving a sh*t, my mind doesn't get in the way of my body doing its thing.

A couple months ago I was seething mad after reading the spin in the way the morning paper reported the necessity of a fatal shooting in my friendly local gun shop, and I shot 94% at the high power rifle match.  I was thinking about my friends situation, not concentrating on shooting technique.

Yesterday my Dillon 650 broke, after going thru the hassle of changing the primer seater size, leaving me without ammo so I had to use a different calibre & gun in today's match.  I only went in the first place because my wife woke me up.  But I shot incredibly well.

We did an old Federal Air Marshal qualification course where the points for a stage don't count at all unless done within the very short allowed time.  I think I scored 147 out of 150, and was within time except for one stage that nobody could do fast enough (1 round, reload, 1 round; twice, total 6.50 sec max from low ready).

[rooster24]

I am a welder by trade.

I find that works for me.

I may find I have to may a weld in a very hard to get to place.

I take a look at it and say what the s??t.

This ain't going to be pretty.

Then it will turn out to be the best weld that I have made on the whole job.

[benos]

ITB,

Yes, not overly concerned yet attentive is an excellent mode of function.

be

[Duane Thomas]

A good attitude counts. I don't know if this story will help anyone, but here goes.

Out at the WA IDPA Champs a few weeks ago, I guess I came in with a really good attitude - and it came from a shooting experience at which I'd done really badly. At the Factory Nats a few weeks before, I had a blast but made many, many mistakes. Out of 172 Lim-10 shooters I was, like, 129th - that one stage I zeroed just killed me. But they say the painful lessons are the ones you remember best - and I learned.

So I figured, with the state IDPA match coming up, "Y'know what? SCREW this 'shooting faster than you can hit' stuff. Especially in IDPA where accuracy is King. I'm just gonna shoot as fast as I can hit, no faster, and let the chips fall where they may." Realistically I knew I had a chance to win the match in CDP but it just wasn't a major consideration for me.

The first day went really well. You can always point at something you could have done better, but overall I thought I shot the match about as well as **I** could have. When I made a mistake, I let it go. Todd Jarret had told me, "You don't have to win every battle to win the war," and I took that to heart. I figured I didn't have to kick everybody's ass on every stage, I just had to be somewhere toward the top on every stage and I'd do okay.

I was lovin' life. Walking back toward the ranges from the clubhouse after lunch, I looked around me. The day was beautiful, warm enough to be pleasant but not too hot, not a cloud in the sky clear, pale blue sky. I stared up at the trees within and surrounding the ranges. Tall trees, green and lush and beautiful. Washington state in Spring and Summer has got to be the most beautiful place on Earth. It was like walking through a cathedral. After years of practice I've finally gotten my skills to a reasonably decent level - with every realistic expectation they're only gonna get better in the future. I've got a good gun, and holster and mag pouch and ammo that does everything I want it to - my equipment is about as good as it could be for the match. I'm shooting well. And it's a great match, the stages are inventive and fun, my squad mates are nice people. I felt blessed, lucky to be alive, to be out there doing what I so dearly love to do.

After the shooting ended, I was wandering around and passed one of the club honchos sitting on a bench in front of the stats shack, looking depressed. I asked him how his match was going. "Really crappy," he said. "I put an immense amount of pressure on myself about this match, and now that I'm out here I'm just doing stupid sh!t." "Well STOP THAT," I said. "Oh, thanks." "No charge." And I wandered on. I felt sorry for the guy, but I couldn't think of anything to tell him that wouldn't sound condescending.

I couldn't help but contrast his attitude, and performance, to my own. A lot of pressure about the match? Man, I dry fired once and had one live fire practice in, like, two weeks before the thing. Not that I didn't want to do well, it was just the weeks before the match were frickin' crazy with firearms training classes. Not enough time to practice, I was busy teaching other people to shoot. I'd known I was just gonna have to run with my current skill level - at that late date, no last minute cramming was going to make me much better. And also, I was instinctively avoiding anything that might make this match a "big deal" to me.

One thing I really liked about the way this match was run was they DIDN'T post stage results after Day 1. You had no idea where you were in the standings. This removed a lot of pressure. You could just concentrate on having a good time, floating through the stages.

Came the awards ceremony, I thought there was a pretty good chance I might have won CDP Expert. Maybe not, but I wouldn't have been shocked if it happened. When the club president said, "The state champion in Custom Defensive Pistol is Duane Thomas," I honestly thought he'd skipped a word - like, "Expert." Went up, got my certificate. Walking back toward the crowd, I glance at it and it doesn't say "Custom Defensive Pistol Expert," it says "Custom Defensive Pistol" period. I stop, look back at him and say, "You mean....of everybody?" He slowly and clearly enunciates, "State....Champion....Custom....Defensive....Pistol." "Holy sh!t." The crowd was dying laughing.

(Edited by Duane Thomas at 3:22 pm on Sep. 12, 2002)

[benos]

Right on Duane! Cool story.

be

[Steve Anderson]

I've experienced that same feeling after a flubbed hoser match gives way to a class win and high overall place.

NOW, after such a great performance, it's very hard for me to keep ego from putting me right back where I was before.

In your case, will you think "I'm the champ, so this stuff is easy for me" when you go to the line?

Or will you think back on why you won and attempt to duplicate those attitudes that got you there?

This is tricky stuff, cuz not thinking about a big match is the same as thinking about a big match, and just like the little kid in Liar Liar (the movie with Jim Carrey) if the feeling isn't sincere, you can't undo the wish.

Especially frustrating is the fact that we have roughly the same core skill during all these ups and downs that our brains put us through.

Thankfully, we have a place to work 'em out.

SA

(Edited by Steve Anderson at 5:12 am on Sep. 16, 2002)

[shred]

Been there, done that...

For some reason, the BE lines about "Trust" come to mind.  I still need practice with that.

[Duane Thomas]

"In your case, will you think "I'm the champ, so this stuff is easy for me" when you go to the line?

Or will you think back on why you won and attempt to duplicate those attitudes that got you there?"

The latter.

[Flexmoney]

no think....just do

(sounds good anyway)

[EricW]

Expectations are my nemesis.  When ever I show up to a match with any, I tank.  One of these days, I'll consistently remember to leave them at home.

[benos]

EricW,

"One of these days, I'll consistently remember to leave them at home."

Belief in the future inhibits contact with now. Work out some way to let them go just before you step up to the line - each and every time.

be

[EricW]

BE-

Leave it to you to have the *better* solution.  

Thanks!

E

[nen]

The calm mind is like the quiet centre of a spinning top; the top is able to spin smoothly and rapidly. It almost seems to be standing still. This is the clarity of mind and body.

[rhino]

I've done well when I didn't care at all. The first time I shot a GSSF match, I borrowed a factory stock G17 and test fired one magazine through it to make sure it worked okay. I didn't even know where it hit with respect to the sights.

When I got to the GSSF match, I was in an odd mood (even for me) and when I saw the abundance of female competitors and spectators (as compared to USPSA/IPSC matches), I spent more time checking the scenery than I did thinking about shooting.

So I just went to the line and blasted like a madman because it was fun. I didn't have a good grip on the gun because my fingers are too short, but I really didn't care. The odd thing was, the ROs kept complimenting profusely on my shooting (something I never hear! ) and I didn't know why. I was just sticking the gun in front of me and pulling the trigger for the most part.

When the results came out, I was 10th overall out of about 235 or so. Among those I beat were several guys who always waxed me in USPSA matches . . . with their Glocks!

I credit the performance to not caring and just doing it. I credit the not caring part to the distractions (babes) and not taking the match seriously because 1) it was "just" a GSSF match and 2) it was a Glock!

Since then, I've never been able to shoot a Glock effectively.

[Loves2Shoot]

Hmm, if I shoot with I don't care attitude, I shoot recklessly and way too fast. If I worry about the outcome of a stage I shoot too slow. If I just focus on shooting good shots I seem to do pretty well.

BE has shown me the light, now all I have to do is execute. Shooting for me is about making each shot count, if I give up on a shot I miss or get a lucky hit.

I am so pumped for Nats because the light really came on two weeks ago. I shot one day worrying about the outcome, and the next day telling myself just go shoot and get all the points you can. I know I can shoot accurately so for me I worry about the speed. After a whole day of just shooting for points I realized my time where a tad off the top guys, but with all those extra points I was in the mix.

Last night was the perfect illustration of this, I watch BE's interview with Matt I wanted to go shoot a good group freestyle at 25 yards. I lifted the gun and shot 10 shots in the upper a/b just watching the sights align on the target. It was fairly rapid fire and I got a bit mad at myself because I thought I wasn't seeing exactly what I needed to see to get good hits. I didn't recall seeing any bad shots, but it just seemed way too fast. When I got to the target thier was a 2.5" group with 10 shots.

I am learning that for me performing well has more to do with channeling my focus to execute the fundamentals, and KNOWING that if I do that on every shot, I will shoot as well as I can. I can shoot with emotion, I just have to channel it into being aware.

[George D]

My personal best score for Standard Pistol Match was shot on a day when my mind was distracted onto another topic. There was a major problem with our club's administration and I was talking to the Range Officer about it between series and thinking about it during each series. The good score I put down to my brain not getting in the way. Some years before when I was doing a lot of Trap Shooting, the club champion told me that he always shot his best scores when he was thinking about nothing, which is not so easy to do. Once again, not letting the brain get in the way. (You can't put the ball in the hole, you've got to let it go in the hole - Bagger Vance)

[Garfield]

Duane: nice story, I can relate to that. Well, not about the winning part, but at least for the "attitude / enjoying the match / performing better" part .

Rhino: seems you also found some way of enjoying the match (scenery ) and because of that (?) performing better. Too pity you can't shoot a Glock straight anymore, but hey, they're not meant for everybody (I shoot a G17 in IPSC PD).

[nen]

I have just recently started in IPSC but find that it is similar to any other competative sport. I perform best when not concerned with winning or losing. Focusing on the stage at hand and not concerned with the last stage, who shot what. If ones state of mind is connected to the small self, it is erroneous. "Since training based upon erroneous ideas goes against the truth of the universe, it invites its own tragic consequences and eventual destruction...."

Mind you, this is easy to myself achieve at this point, just starting out, since I am far from being able to win a match.

[rhino]

Rhino: seems you also found some way of enjoying the match (scenery ) and because of that (?) performing better. Too pity you can't shoot a Glock straight anymore, but hey, they're not meant for everybody (I shoot a G17 in IPSC PD).

Yeah, funny what happened when I realized I "couldn't" reach the trigger. And really, I can't do it without shifting my grip so far that my thumb is across the backstrap.

An instructor told me a couple of weeks ago that some people shoot really well without any instruction because they have not yet learned how to miss. They don't overthink the problem or try for a perfect sight picture . . . they just do it. Then, with a little formal education, things go downhill until they master the fundamentals of marksmanship.

[Duane Thomas]

"Since training based upon erroneous ideas goes against the truth of the universe, it invites its own tragic consequences and eventual destruction...."

nen,

Wow. Great quote. Where did that one come from?

[nen]

The Spirit of Aikido by Kisshomaru Ueshiba. An excellent book about the history and philosophy of Aikido

[Duane Thomas]

Thanks. I'll have to check that out.

[bountyhunter]

Saw the same thing Monday night at bullseye. I shot my whole first target and then brough it in and realized my sights had been knocked off about 2" right at 25 yards, so my score sucked. So, I cranked on the windage screw on the Ruger not realizing their's is reverse thread (it's a dark indoor range, couldn't see which way the rear sight was moving).

Shot my second target at 25 yards and the caller looked through his scope and told me I had moved the sights the wrong way. Moved the target in to 15 yards to shoot the final 20 and by now I was really pissed. Cranked the sight screw the other way about three full turns and loaded up. Instead of shooting 5 shots in 15 seconds, I was shooting about five for five and reloading as fast as I could just to get the heck out of there.

Pulled the last target in and the last 20 rounds I had ripped off at warp speed had made a 1" hole in the center of the "X". At least I know the windage is set right now.

[m.e.t.]

I finished last year on a roll. I started the new year with way to many expectations. I shot a double match this weekend. Struggled all day and came to the last stage frustrated and thinking about the 3 hour drive home. I burnt it down. I don't recall a single thing other than my front sight. Total brain shut down from the buzzer to show clear. It was empty headed shooting at my personal best. There are so many things to be learned on this board. But the mind set or lack there of seems to be one of the universal truths. I hope to leave my brain in the range bag from now on.

[carinab]

The duality of hoping to do well but not caring how it comes out is such a complex area. The best summation for me (hence easieast since blonde is my natural hair color) is that attachment feels fine, it's detachment that can be painful, so learn to say a good farewell. In other words, care and hope all you want but learn to let go when it's time.