Calamity Jane

[Coach]

Good to see your back. Any chance you will make South Central? I plan to ride down with the Senator if I can get my rough draft completed or nearly completed before then. I am on page 13 out of 20. It is possible.

The 300:

The first time I watched it I thought it was an awful lot of stabbing. I have watched the last stand of the 300 several times on the history channel as well. It is a bloody movie and it was a bloody story. No one can say what is accurate from 47 bc. But I would say all of the violence was necessary, the Persians were invading the country. I have watched the movie a couple of more times and I like it better now, but I agree it was a little disappointing in some ways. I think it is very funny that the queen killing the traitor was your highlight. Pretty predictable.

BTW: Dr. Peggy Clark the safe schools person for ACSC was a no show at the Safe Schools Conference in Indianapolis this week. (Thought you might like to know)

[Calamity Jane]

Good to see your back. Any chance you will make South Central? I plan to ride down with the Senator if I can get my rough draft completed or nearly completed before then. I am on page 13 out of 20. It is possible.

The 300:

The first time I watched it I thought it was an awful lot of stabbing. I have watched the last stand of the 300 several times on the history channel as well. It is a bloody movie and it was a bloody story. No one can say what is accurate from 47 bc. But I would say all of the violence was necessary, the Persians were invading the country. I have watched the movie a couple of more times and I like it better now, but I agree it was a little disappointing in some ways. I think it is very funny that the queen killing the traitor was your highlight. Pretty predictable.

BTW: Dr. Peggy Clark the safe schools person for ACSC was a no show at the Safe Schools Conference in Indianapolis this week. (Thought you might like to know)

Match: I'm not going to make South Central this month but I'm planning on shooting Riley.

300: What does it say about a movie when you have to watch it multiple times before you like it?? Nuff said.

School Safety: I'm not surprised. Perhaps I should make an appointment with Dr. Clark and stress some of the key points in my letter. Wouldn't you like to see that meeting!

BTW....RLP is referring to a scathing letter I wrote addressing the poor security of the High School in which my husband is employed. Some points that I made included: glass paneled doors to the newly constructed classrooms probably aren't a good idea, having those glass doors lock only with a key from the inside also not a good idea, and locating the phone directly across from the glass panel door...well you get the idea. I also informed the administration that they have the authority to train and arm my husband as security. My point was they already expect him to protect his students with his life...why not equip him to do so? The enviornment they have provided for my husband to teach is one that will make him a victim if trouble comes. Are these people really that ignorant???? It's crazy!

[Calamity Jane]

Much Ado About Nothing

I’m on a layoff. I haven’t touched a gun since September 16th and it’s OK. It’s nice to focus on other things. I took my oldest son to play golf today. It was a beautiful fall day outside. The trees were in full color, the sky blue, and the air cool enough for a jacket. He played 9 holes and I rode in the golf cart drinking diet coke. He’s as good with a golf club as he is with a guitar. I’m getting great joy watching my kids develop and discover their gifts. He did something today that had me smiling ear to ear. After each hole, he would say something positive about himself. For example, if he 3 putted, he would say “ Yeah, but that was a great approach shot”. He was NATURALLY using positive self talk. It made me smile. You see my kids have been held hostage in my husband’s car for the last 6 years because he takes them to school. Both the boys have probably heard the Lanny Bassham WWIM CD’s at least 5 times. Obviously the oldest boy has embraced some of the principles. The younger one doesn’t like Lanny. He doesn’t think anyone should tell you what to do or how to think. Anyway, it was an awesome day with my son.

I’m going to continue my lay off through the month of November. My last match of the year will be this month at Riley (WVPPS). Here’s a list of things I’m going to work on this month during my lay off.

1. Basement dry fire range: continue to clean and organize the basement. I also plan to contact an electrician to add more lighting. I’m going to post the before and after pictures of this project and you will see what a tremendous project this is! Again…I’m determined to have an awesome dry fire environment this winter.

2. I’m going to drop some more weight. My success of losing the10 lbs I thought I never could lose has led me to believe I can do more. I’m going to give myself a gift for Christmas and drop 10 more lbs off my body.

3. Send my gun to the gunsmith for chroming and a tune up.

4. Finish the book, “Performing Your Best”. Xre recommended this book and I’ve been trying to get all the way through it. It’s a good book I just wish it was on tape so I could listen to it in the car! This is the month I WILL FINISH IT!!! I think I know where my younger son gets his attitude.

This post is much ado about nothing but I’m kind of bored and needed to post.

[XRe]

The younger one doesn't like Lanny. He doesn't think anyone should tell you what to do or how to think.

Nice!!!

I'm going to continue my lay off through the month of November.

I'm on the same plan... getting some work done around the house, and working on some photo stuff. Continuing the off-season training... Its a good time for all that.

It's a good book I just wish it was on tape so I could listen to it in the car!

Heck, if he'd just re-publish the darn thing....

Keep enjoying the time off - it will serve well when you jump back in

[Calamity Jane]

As I said...I'm bored. My mind needs some stimulation so I would like to have a discussion on this topic...

CAN YOU TRAIN YOURSELF TO WIN?

All are welcome to respond. I've been thinking about this for a month so I'm curious to see what others think. I guess the first question to ask is: "What does it mean to win?" and then "Can you train yourself to win?" It's not as easy as you think to answer ESPECIALLY if you try to have some original thought. Reciting the usual pyscho babble stuff is easy.

What do you think?

**edited to add this

If you say "Yes" you can train yourself to win...it leads you down an interesting path.

If you say "No" you can't train yourself to win...it also leads you down an interesting path.

It's a brain twister!

Edited November 5, 2007 by Calamity Jane

[Thomas Moore]

I guess it would depend on the type of winning you want to have.

1. would you like to win personal goals.

2. would you like to be the overall winner.

2. would you like to be the best in the world.

[Calamity Jane]

I guess it would depend on the type of winning you want to have.

1. would you like to win personal goals.

2. would you like to be the overall winner.

2. would you like to be the best in the world.

Exactly, what does it mean to win? Is it to achieve personal goals, be the overall winner, or to be the best in the world? Can wining be confined to simply being the one at the top of the score sheet? Only achieving personal goals..is that really winning? What does it mean to win? Is winning in our control? Can you train to win?

Thanks for responding Thomas! I'm hungry for more thoughts on this. I'm waiting for Xre's diatribe...I bet he's up to 2 pages by now.

The reason I brought this subject up was...I wanted to call my new 2008 diary Calamity Jane: training to win. That's what sent me down this mental path ....Can you really train to win?

[XRe]

I'm waiting for Xre's diatribe...I bet he's up to 2 pages by now.

Can you really train to win?

<diatribe>

Yes, you can

</diatribe>

Edited November 5, 2007 by XRe

[Matt Cheely]

Devil's advocate...

We train for performance, winning is merely a by-product of superior performance.

[firematt100]

Devil's advocate...

We train for performance, winning is merely a by-product of superior performance.

The top performers are the top at training.

Walter Payton's off season training was so hard that very few other NFL players could keep up with him or even wanted to.

[Catfish]

I don't know that you can train yourself to win. Particularly when winning is contingent on other people's performance. You can only control you.

I do think that you can train yourself to lose though.

[boo radley]

Exactly, what does it mean to win? Is it to achieve personal goals, be the overall winner, or to be the best in the world? Can wining be confined to simply being the one at the top of the score sheet? Only achieving personal goals..is that really winning? What does it mean to win? Is winning in our control? Can you train to win?

IMO, that's an excellent question and the crux of the issue. How can you succeed at something you can't define? Second, how rigid do you wish to make the definition of "winning?" Winning one's division at a sectional match? Suppose you entered L10, and beat out 5 C and D shooters. Have you "won?"

Personally, I've become really down on outcome-based goals, into which I'd place most definitions of "winning." I know that's not true for everyone -- clearly "mental management" is very popular here, but I wonder how those that speak of future matches in the past tense ("that's MY trophy, in the stats shack, that I've picked up and held high after crushing my opponents, etc....") reconcile the imagined outcome with the actual? If you DO achieve the outcome you've imagined, clearly it's a huge confidence builder, but if not? Seems like a great deal of mental baggage to unpack. (Although more likely, the believer just comforts himself with the thought he simply didn't believe hard enough).

I've concerned myself with the outcome a LOT in 2007, and focused on winning my class, or some silly trinket or plaque, and been mostly very disappointed. That's not true of performance-based goals, which translated into some areas I'm very proud of -- my stand-and-shoot technique sucked, but with practice and dry-fire it improved and I got my A card. Likewise, I made a concerted effort to improve SHO/WHO shooting, and that's improved....

For 2008, my goals will only be performance-based, with the exception of making *sure* I continue to enjoy practical shooting, 'cause if you look too closely at the costs of shooting if you *ain't* having fun, it gets ugly, quickly.

Heh. This is your diary, and I've spent the entry talking about me, but your questions have inspired me.

[Calamity Jane]

I'm waiting for Xre's diatribe...I bet he's up to 2 pages by now.

Can you really train to win?

<diatribe>

Yes, you can

</diatribe>

You know I was only joking! So when you are done punishing me with your humor...I want to hear your thoughts.

[Calamity Jane]

Devil's advocate...

We train for performance, winning is merely a by-product of superior performance.

Yep, I have a foot in that camp also. However, what happens when superior performance isn't enough?

[Calamity Jane]

I don't know that you can train yourself to win. Particularly when winning is contingent on other people's performance. You can only control you.

I do think that you can train yourself to lose though.

Excellent thought process! My mind has been along this path. Do you care to elaborate?

[ong45]

Devil's advocate...

We train for performance, winning is merely a by-product of superior performance.

Yep, I have a foot in that camp also. However, what happens when superior performance isn't enough?

Then you get back to work........ until you are the nationals champ

Seems retarded to say just work harder, but if you give up before you " make it" how do you know that more work wasn't all it took?

I have never been a big picture kinda guy, just get one foot in front of the other, rinse and repeat.

[firematt100]

“Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.”

Winston Churchill

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger

“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.”

“I don't know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody -- somewhere -- was practicing more than me.”

Larry Bird

I see a pattern in these.

[Coach]

Of course you can train yourself to win. If you just want to achieve personal goals and that type of stuff their is no need to enter a competition, and defintely no need to travel to compete. A stop watch and written record can give you personal goals. But if you are in this game for the competition, then why else would you train but to win.

If you don't train you won't win or at least not at a high level, and training does not make winning automatic.

[Catfish]

I don't know that you can train yourself to win. Particularly when winning is contingent on other people's performance. You can only control you.

I do think that you can train yourself to lose though.

Excellent thought process! My mind has been along this path. Do you care to elaborate?

Well, first you need to define what winning is. Is it physically winning your class, the match, nationals, etc?? OR, is it shooting penatly free, smoking all your reloads, improving your overall percentage of the "top dog"? So, depending on what "winning" means to you, it would depend on if you can train yourself to win. You can train till you're blue in the face, but that's not really training to win. I think that what you CAN do is train to put yourself in a position to win.

As far as training yourself to lose, every negative thought, every moment of self weakness that you let grow and take hold you are training yourself to lose. Every time you sit on your arse and not practice when you know you should you're training yourself to lose. Every time you pick up the candybar or donut rather than go for that workout you are training yourself to lose.

[XRe]

You know I was only joking! So when you are done punishing me with your humor...I want to hear your thoughts.

While glib, I was answering the question You most certainly can - in fact, that's what the journey is really all about, in the end.

We train for performance, winning is merely a by-product of superior performance.

In the sense of winning as a placement on a scoreboard, this is very true. However, for me, that's a very narrow scope of winning. Its an important one, though - its how society has trained us to think of "winning", and its the end goal that many of us have. Being on the top of the dog pile.

I have never been a big picture kinda guy, just get one foot in front of the other, rinse and repeat.

"Doing the work" is how I refer to it. Others call it "paying dues", etc. I spent a lot of time looking for the "Easy Button" in this game, and found a few, actually - but by and large, spending quality time in practice attacking my weaknesses, and improving my strengths makes the biggest jump. Being willing to suffer - whether through physical pain and discomfort or the mental equivalents (unflinching self examination, boredom in rote repetition of skills, dealing with fear, etc) - that makes a lot of difference, and shows the will to invest in the success of my game. Just going out and shooting drills will only get you so far. The ones who sit at the top set goals and attack them, they demand forward progress in their game, they prepare for the challenges with gusto, and they look forward to the crucible to test their work.

But if you are in this game for the competition, then why else would you train but to win.

If you don't train you won't win or at least not at a high level, and training does not make winning automatic.

Another key and important point - why suffer if there's no "pay value", or reward, at the end. And, the reason why "winning", in the narrow scope of the term meaning "1st in the results", is not such a hot goal to pursue - you cannot control any outcome other than your own score. You could do everything right - you could have a perfect performance at the highest possible level that you can currently create - and you could still place 2nd or lower because someone else simply did better and beat you.

As far as training yourself to lose, every negative thought, every moment of self weakness that you let grow and take hold you are training yourself to lose. Every time you sit on your arse and not practice when you know you should you're training yourself to lose. Every time you pick up the candybar or donut rather than go for that workout you are training yourself to lose.

I understand what Derrick is saying here.... I would caution that too much of a good thing tends towards imbalance, and all of the woe that goes along with it. And... striving for perfection, and being accepting of nothing less, puts you smack in the camp of "begging for disappointment". You are not perfect, and you never will be... You will have self weakness. You will have self doubt. You will occasionally eat a candybar or not go workout. You're a human being, not some machine of insane discipline. The question is - what do you learn from your self weakness, and what choices do you make around it? Is an occasional treat or night off deserved, helping to keep you in balance in the rest of your life? Hmm.... I wonder if that's important or not, too??? Or is it just fuel to feel even worse about yourself, and beat up your self image some more???

Everything you do with this is training and conditioning you to perform in a certain way. That includes examination of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual "games" and how they relate to the shooting, plus the rest of your life. How you "say yes" to working on your goals by saying "no" to the things that aren't in line with them, factored with how you balance the rest of your life to your performance goals - that's part of winning. That's part of conditioning yourself to win. You are in the process of winning right now. Even asking the question "Can I train myself to win?" is investing in that eventual outcome. Same goes for setting goals and meeting them - each of those is, on its own, a small victory (sometimes a large victory) - and each of them builds to put you into a better performance. Each time you have a failure, you are still learning. Its what you do with that failure that makes it a part of growth or not - how you talk to yourself about it, how you learn where to improve based on it - those things are also building on the foundation your practice and self-examination have laid down.

All of those tools, lessons, tibits of knowledge, nuggest of wisdom... all of those things contribute, in the end. When it comes down to it, Matt's statement above is very simple way of saying that, everything you do (and I mean everything) to put yourself in a position to perform better, in effect trains you to win... whether that be placing 1st, or completing a goal, or (frankly) just being out there and doing the work cause that's all you've got in you that day.

Ok, I'm rambling... and I have to go "invest" in my winning for next season (I think a 5K is on the board for tonight... yowza...)... I'll reread this when I get back, laugh myself silly, and possibly refine it, I'm sure

[Calamity Jane]

Well said XRE.....

Winning is not an easy thing to get your head wrapped around.

To define winning simply as being the one on top of the score sheet is limiting. The reality is we all can’t be at the top of the score sheet. The goal to be the one on top of the score sheet can lead to disappointment. Disappointment is a difficult thing to manage mentally. Reducing winning to simply obtaining performance goals also seems limiting. You may meet your performance goals but were those goals truly the best you could do?

I think society has deluded us somehow. We have reduced winning so that everyone can win and no one is a loser. We can’t have anyone feeling like a loser so we lower the expectations and the goals so that everyone can achieve. Or we set individual performance goals so that the only people we compete against is ourselves. What is lost? What is lost is the competitive drive that I think all of us were born with. I feel like I’ve lost my competitive drive because I’ve been so focused on achieving my goals and “doing my best” that the only person I can beat is myself. Well forget that! I want more! I want to do my best and win!

There are times in life when it is imperative to win. I’m thinking of the military solider going out on a mission. I’m sure his commander doesn’t say, “OK Johnny, go out there and do your best and we will hope your best will be good enough to keep you alive today.” Heck no! He’s going to tell him to go out there and win! Losing is not an option. There are times in life when losing is not an option and you have to call on the fortitude, training, and experience within you to overcome. How do you train that??? How do you train to allow yourself to “be all you can be”?

This is the kind of stuff I’m going to get to the bottom of in my new diary. My brother would say, “Quit thinking and just shoot.” I will eventually. Where I’m headed though is deeper than just shooting. It’s a journey. I’m on a journey to being all I can be.

Please feel free to discuss this more. RLP I would love to know how you train to win and how you manage disappointment when you do not win? You are one of the most mentally tough individuals I know...there is much to learn from you.

Edited November 6, 2007 by Calamity Jane

[Nik Habicht]

CAN YOU TRAIN YOURSELF TO WIN?

What does "To win" mean? I think you need to define a realistic, attainable, measurable goal --- then you can figure out whether you can implement it independently or in collaboration with others.....

....of course it's possible I've been reading too many textbooks....

Devil's advocate...

We train for performance, winning is merely a by-product of superior performance.

Yep, I have a foot in that camp also. However, what happens when superior performance isn't enough?

If superior performance wasn't enough --- it wasn't superior to all, was it? To win -- in any kind of skills related contest -- don't you need a supreme performance?

Kinda like the difference between air superiority and air supremacy when talking fighter tactics --- in the former you'll prevail with losses, in the latter it's a fairly one sided shooting contest.....

[Calamity Jane]

“Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.”

Winston Churchill

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger

“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.”

“I don't know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody -- somewhere -- was practicing more than me.”

Larry Bird

I see a pattern in these.

Matt I liked these quotes! Thank you for placing them in my diary. I particularly like this one:

"A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to devlop them into skills, and used these skills to accomplish His goals."

Anyone notice I captalized the "H" in his More on that later.

[Calamity Jane]

Boredom continues as my youngest son is home again today with the flu. Therefore I've continued my own thoughts on winning. This is what I was thinking about this morning.

Picture a ladder. One side of the ladder represents a training plan, the other side of the ladder represents actually doing the training plan. This provides the structure for the rungs on the ladder. At the top of the ladder is the overall win (whatever that may be). The rungs of the ladder are performance goals. Each performance goal gets you a rung on the ladder which in turn gets you closer to the top of the ladder where the overall win is. Winning is a process.

There it is....the words of wisdom for the day....WINNING IS A PROCESS.

[XRe]

There are times in life when it is imperative to win. I'm thinking of the military solider going out on a mission. I'm sure his commander doesn't say, "OK Johnny, go out there and do your best and we will hope your best will be good enough to keep you alive today." Heck no! He's going to tell him to go out there and win! Losing is not an option. There are times in life when losing is not an option and you have to call on the fortitude, training, and experience within you to overcome. How do you train that??? How do you train to allow yourself to "be all you can be"?

This is an interesting analogy... Think about this - lets look at someone in the military who's definitely trained to "win" - someone in a high-speed type of team, Navy Seal, or something like that. His skills are obviously more important than ours because "winning" can be a life or death thing. How does he train to win? What other factors other than training are involved? I've never been a Seal or really any other high-speed type, so all I can share is my understanding of what they do... let's see....

They train physically for the toughest environments they can imagine being in - including freezing cold, wet, nasty stuff for hours on end. They engage in functional movements throughout that training, meaning they're not just sitting in the cold water, but they're working in it - forces them to adopt a "can do" mindset, even in the toughest of times. They train hard with their weapons systems - they use the equipment that gets the job done, and discard the stuff that doesn't work for them. They practice the "craft" that they need - stalking, tracking, navigation, aggressive application of violence, etc - through scenario based training, as well as targeted skills work. They plan, plan, plan, make contingency plans to allow themselves to be flexible, plan some more.... And, they go gain experience - hopefully successfully, so that they can learn from it and re-apply that knowledge to the next mission. I'm sure someone knowledgeable can add to that list....

What do they gain? They work the skills and craft until they "own" them - that adds into the confidence, and the unconscious application of the skill when the time arises. They are physically prepared for the challenges they'll face, and are familiar with the feelings they'll encounter along the way (the discomfort, the fear, the adrenaline, the pain, etc). Experience in the field teaches them that those very skills will bring them back alive if they apply them as they've trained - and also allows them to adapt their training to new scenarios or to adjust for weaknesses they've discovered. They go out to accomplish a mission - winning is doing that. Implicit in that is making sure your team gets back out alive (and, of course, yourself). Everything that they do culminates in accomplishing that mission - right back to their BUDS class and the weeding out of folks who couldn't mentally or physically handle that sort of test. Their training results in an attitude that, whether realistic or not, they can't lose. Their minds simply won't entertain that as an option.

I don't see what we do as being that much different, in terms of general application. Obviously, there are gross physical differences and we train using a much smaller set of skills (some of which slightly overlap theirs). An IPSC match is never (hopefully ) life or death - and an individual success or failure, winning or "losing", only affects a very small number of people. However, consider this. Are you training for the conditions you'll be likely to compete under? If its a blustery, cold day, do you let that stop you from practicing? What about if its 101 degrees and not a cloud in the sky? Do you go practice at first light? What about last light? Do you practice the stuff you're good at, because its fun, or do you practice the stuff you suck at and learn to love it more? Do you look at and own all the ancillary contributing factors in your performance (diet, life balance, physical fitness, mental preparedness, etc), or do you make excuses for how those things don't affect your performance... or that "so and so" wins and doesn't have to do that, so why should I??? Do you condition yourself to one set of performance parameters, such that any performance situation that departs from them makes you uncomfortable and fearful???

The guys that win HOA at big matches - they've achieved something similar, mentally, to the Navy Seal. They believe they will win, utterly and completely. Even if its a "false sense of bravado", they believe it. They've done the work, physically, mentally, and spiritually, to allow themselves to believe. They've surrounded themselves with positive people who support that vision of themselves. They've entered the contest believing that, ultimately, they will succeed.

Isn't that what we're getting at???

ETA.... "Winning is a process"... right on

Edited November 6, 2007 by XRe