Took my focus away

[Glen517]

Okay so here's the deal. There I am at Area 8 shooting my best match to date. And I get to the bed stage (stage 1 ). Where all of the great movers activators and getting out of bed captured all my attention and focus. Thus causing me to focus on all the stuff going on and just kinda pointing the gun out there and pulling the trigger. My time was good but the results wern't 6 misses WOW. I guess what I need help with is how and what can I do in practice to prevent this in the future ? This stage got me so bad that it got me on the next stage also ( stage 2 ) unloaded table start. Thought I shook it off. BEEP, turn, grab gun, pull mag off belt, insert mag, rack slide, start to shoot ,6 shots click wtf. I'm usually the most anal person you ever met about having all my mags full even if I'm not going to use them. (At match = full mags) And all the rest of them were except the one I pulled off my belt. Stage 1 had me so flustered I forgot to load up. Again any suggestions to help me prevent this in the future would be helpfull.

[AWLAZS]

When you get you match book or look at the stages on line look for actions in it that might make you uncomfortable and try them out in dry fire.

If you can't do that remember the shooting is the important part and don't let the other stuff get in the way.

I think they made rubber chickens just to be carried around a stage in your strong hand.

If you find something that was hard for you to do at the match you can practice it so it wont get you again.

[Chris Keen]

The SHOT you are taking right now is the only one you need to be worried about.

Nothing else matters. Not getting to the shooting ... not what happens after the shooting ... not anything going on around you during the shooting. Take your time if need be, but the shooting is what this game is all about.

[Flexmoney]

It is all a distraction from the shooting. Work with/on that mindset. It will help.

[Chris Keen]

If you think about it like that .......... notice we NEVER start a COF with "Gun in hand - aiming at T1".

Every stage we shoot - there is generally some sort of distraction from the shooting.

Or: What Flexmoney said!

[benos]

We get caught by distractions because we don't consciously acknowledge them beforehand. If we don't acknowledge distractions beforehand, we won't plan what we should do and see properly.

When doping a stage, every stage, make one of your goals to find each distraction. Then create a mental strategy to deal with it.

For example, just knowing that you will have to put a rubber chicken into a chicken coop before you draw, isn't enough. You have to plan - visualize - how you will move the stuff around, then you also have to create a mental and visual plan, creating exactly what you will see and feel when you begin shooting.

Once you understand that, you actually have to do it, in action.

Say you've recognized that playing with a rubber chicken before you start shooting is a distraction from the shooting that will follow. Then, create a mental and visual plan: As soon as the chicken is in the coop, you're going to slightly exhale as the sights are coming into position, see the sights stop, and feel a slight pause mentally before you shoot. That might be a good plan. But if you don't do it, it's wasted.

What helped me to actually do the plan was to plant "mental keys": One word I could say in my head that would trigger a sequence of activities I would see and feel.

be

[Matt Griffin]

Stage 1 at Area 8 was a tricky mother, but I planned it so I wouldn't have to think about it. Shoot the steel from the first window, that way the targets are up by the time you get there. Also, that gives you three papers to let the swingers slow down. So that's 2/3 of the stage without much movement at all, a bit by the swingers but they slowed down quite a bit by that time. In the final right window, you just have to know your speed and shoot appropriately. For me it was right steel, left steel, far right paper, then the clamshells right, left as they appeared. It seemed that I had all the time in the world.

In other words, plan around distractions if possible. Don't look at the swinger, KNOW where it is going to be at a certain time in your shooting pace, and shoot it at that time.

H.

[Chris Keen]

Wow this is crazy, but while doing a search (yes Kyle I actually did ! ) for more information on this topic, I found another thread about focus, and guess who was the last forum member to post on it ??? Glen517

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=65742

[pjb45]

A friend of mine is a GM, he has the same routine at the end of each stage and the beginning of the next, no matter what gun or what happens on the stage. By having a set rountine eliminates some of the distractions of shooting a stage not as well as you would like. It takes the focus away and makes you concentrate on the task at hand.

For example, he unloads his mags and puts his rounds back in their box, so each row is filled. He only has one partial row and he keeps that one separate from the full rows. He cleans his mags religiously after each stage. I have seen him do mags he has not pulled off his belt, especially if he went to the ground.

On his next stage, he loads his mags a few shooter prior to his turn.

He does this every time. I have never seen him not have a full mag when he starts a stage.

[Glen517]

WOW I really did see all that stuff in the video on the other post. Which leads me to believe I'm not seeing what I need to see which is my sights on the target. I need to be able to see my sights as the gorila in the video which I obviously didn't do while shooting the stage in question. On that stage I saw everything BUT what I needed to see. The sights... I allowed all the visual inputs of the stage to take my focus off what we always need to see. Our Sights. This apparently is what I need to learn better how to do. I'm sure this has happened to me in the past and I just never noticed it like this. I know I'm learning more and shooting better than I have in the past. So when you finally notice things like this you look for help to prevent it from happening again.

[Glen517]

And thanks everyone for your replys I'm going to print them out so I can refer to them in practice. And moving stuff is the one thing I haven't been able to practice on. As Chris can attest to. Sounds like I know what I'll be building and practicing on. Moving Stuff. Lots of bulding supplies at the warehouse

[CSEMARTIN]

(At match = full mags)

If the mag isn't full, it goes in my bag to be refilled or in my pocket. I NEVER put a mag on my belt unless it's full, and then I recheck all my mags before going to the line.

I do this in practice, at local matches, at state matches, at regional matches, and I do it at national matches everytime. It has become so routine that I never think about it.

Having a routine will help keep you out of trouble.

[Crusher]

Visual distractions/eye candy in a stage are put in (most times) to cause "visual distractions" amazing how a few props and funky motions/start positions can confuse the "moment".