A Few Random Musings On Mindset

[FloatingYogi]

Hello all.

This is my first post here. I am so glad to see an area where mindset issues can be discussed.

I personally am a firm believer in spending the majority of ones energies on cultivating the proper mindset.

Speaking of my own personal manner, I care very little about anything else.

After a match, I enjoy listening to the endless stream of commentary on triggers, grips, ammo, sights, mounts, springs, course design, poppers and any other possible dynamic which can be used to quantify not performing to ones peak abilities. Where my shooting peers look at the externals to justify their performance, I look inside.

So, here for your consumption, whether you care or not, I will note the 6 mental tricks I have used to progress my shooting abilities from once being an abysmal shooter, all the way up to my present title: Grand Master of Really, Really Bad.

Rule 1) Always understand that you are competing against someone else. You are not competing against yourself, the clock, or the course. Whether or not you better your own personal times means nothing if you still lose. You are competing against someone who is there to beat you. If you lose, that makes you a loser.

No one wants to be a loser. It is better to beat the competition than to lose to them.

Rule 2) Look your competition in the eye. Look so deeply into their eyes that their innermost soul becomes clear. Know inside yourself that they are better than you (even if they aren't), and the only way you can keep from embarrassing yourself is to not make any mistakes. Mistakes aren't permitted when you are shooting against superior competition (which they are).

Rule 3) Rid yourself of comfort zones. The level which you are comfortable performing isn't good enough. There is always someone better. If you reside in the cushy world of comfort, you can never improve, and since you aren't the best triggerpuller in the world, you should already understand that you need improvement.

Run faster. Shoot faster. Once you have pushed yourself to the limit, set the bar higher.

Rule 4) Purge your mind of all thoughts, and operate on instinct. That visceral, animal in you which causes you to want to compete in the first place. There is no place for logic in competition. There is especially no place for logic in shooting. Shoot from the soul, not the hands.

Rule 5) Be a Ninja. A super-elite mask wearing speedy Ninjitsu master machine. Step to the line, and see images in your mind of you scaling buildings with a sword on your back, and doing back flips. Before the beep goes off, that ninja had better be ready. Even if you are 60 years old and weigh 400 pounds, still imagine yourself as a ninja, even if you have to scale the building by using the escalator.

Know the ninja within you. Let the ninja do the shooting. The ninja never misses.

Rule 6) The little red dot is your faithful and obedient friend.

Speak to the little red dot as often as possible.

"Little red dot, today you will not bounce. You will neither vibrate or shake, meander nor move.. You will go precisely where I tell you to, and there you will stay put until I move you again."

Being your buddy, the dot will obey.

If you follow those simple tricks, you too can be as bad as I am at this game we all love.

[Duane Thomas]

LOL! Hmmmmmm. Perhaps this might be more appropriate in the Humor section. Because it sure as hell is that.

[SiG Lady]

DUANE!!! Be nice!!!!

Jeez, this person is so right it HURTS! What'd I tell you??!! This is about WINNING--and WANTING to win! And, for pete's sake, winning is FUN...!! But IMPROVING is fun, too!! Let's not be afraid to WANT to win or to WANT to improve.

Sheesh...!!

[Duane Thomas]

I was being nice. He was trying to be humorous, in an ironic fashion. I appreciated it as such.

[SiG Lady]

[mcoliver]

I kinda like the ninja stuff. But I caution anybody about too much visualization that you forget you're waiting for the beep. Did that only once, though, and the "beep" sure sounded very loud even with the muffs on...okay, day dreaming would have been more appropriate.