Anxiety

[PaulW]

Ok, so finally I have my new gun, gun is working great, load is awesome for gun, practiced a few times during the week, confidence in gun and shooting is up, and BOOM. Both days this weekend I felt a heck of a lot of anxiety before shooting the first stage. And it showed. I was really choppy on one and almost forgot a target on another. Now after these stages I was able to calm down and just shoot, but usually I don't get worked up unless at a big match, then it like to creep in. Georgia State is this weekend and I have been working my tail off. I remember in BE book him talking about being over prepared, but how can you stop? I'm pretty confident right now, but maybe the valley I dipped in over the last year is deeper than I thought, from a mental perspective. I keep running through my head BE saying in his book to not rush, to see what you need to see and you'll be fast enough. I did do some really silly things this weekend. I had a miss on a target that could not have been more than 15 feet away. I HATE the fact that I get lazy and don't have the discipline to call each and every shot. Why do we lack such discipline at times? I know that we have to see what we need to see in order to make the shot. Then I shot a stage, with pretty decent length targets (25-30 yrds) and was only 3 points down. There is not a shot that I am scared of, but to execute on demand is the true test. I know I am starting to rant now, so I'm ganna shut up and gets others feedback.

[Flexmoney]

Paul,

My first thought is that you have some "expectations" attached to the guns performance. Do you have any nay-sayers looking over your shoulder wondering if you nickle-plated foo-foo blaster is gonna work?

As for execution...I am guilty.

I like Anderson's "it's a vision contest" idea.

[ErikW]

It sounds to me as if you're walking the razor edge, on one side is confidence and the other is a kind of overconfident anxiety. You're thinking my gun is dialed in, I'm dialed in, I'd better not screw this up.

[uscbigdawg]

I would agree with both Kyle and Eric. It's like you're waiting to make a mistake. I've been there myself. Area 4 a couple of years ago. In practice leading up to the match, with the back up gun, I was executing perfectly, shooting better than I ever was and felt unstoppable. Got the new gun on Wednesday, shot about 1000 rounds through it and headed for the match. The gun started jamming, I lost confidence in it and on every stage that it ran perfectly I screwed, waiting for it to jam. On the stages where I was on, the gun wasn't.

Basically, one big ball of anxiety. Remember that the only stress you have at the firing line, is stress/pressure that you put on yourself. What helps me to overcome a lot of this is to breathe, relax and concentrate on the little things.

After the LMR command, I to 2-3 slow clean draws on the gun with a perfect grip, get good clean sight pictures, execute the stage in your head at the line, plan your reloads, check your gear, dry grip the gun, visualize each sight picture and shot and dry grip the gun one more time.

Finally, breathe relax, concentrate on just the first tone of the buzzer. After buzzer, concentrate on the feeling of your hand acquiring your grip and acquire it. Concentrate on the weak hand and how it is supposed to feel contacting the trigger guard and your strong hand. Acquire your sight picture and squeeze. Take the time it takes to make each shot, each transition, each movement, etc.

Just relax and do what you know you can and you'll produce more than you thought you could.

Good luck and give 'em hell!

Rich

[bountyhunter]

Everybody faces the same challenge in every sport on earth from golf to archery. We all feel the pressure and we all choke to some degree or another.. at times badly. Maintaining concentration under pressure is what it's all about.

I've been getting psyched out trying to shoot a perfect score in our speed shooting league... still haven't done it but I only had a single shot out of the 10 rings last time (out of 48 fired) so I'm close. And the one that missed was a dead pull yank, no excuses. It's dumb because no money is involved and no prizes are awarded... it's just the fact that you know you CAN do it and if you DON'T do it.... it means you choked. That is probably the greatest source of pressure. I found I score better if I shoot some no-brainer bullseye shooting first to get "in the shooting space" then do the fast stuff.

Funny how much better you shoot with pressure off. In the Grandmaster division of our PPC league a guy had beat me every week and it was final night for 50% total score. I am good at math and knew I'd have to shoot almost a perfect score to win, so I mentally just "checked out". With iron sights, I didn't think it was even possible to get first place. I just fired like it was practice, not using anywhere near the alotted times... So, that night he shot one point under his cumulative average (about 592/600) and I shot 7 over mine (597) and edged him by about a 1/2 point overall.

Everybody's a star with the pressure off. Only a few are stars when it's on.

[benos]

Paul,

Become sensitive to how your own mind makes almost unnoticeable assumptions - by relating what is actually happening to what might happen. We can only know what either has happened or what is happening; no matter how subtle or clever the intellect develops, it can never know the future. This dichotomy must be rectified for consistent success, and is the challenge of all who "get serious" in competition.

Train your mind to forget. Forget about your gun, your load, or what you did five minutes ago. But most importantly, train your mind to forget to imagine tomorrow. Become sensitive to your thoughts; as often as possible, replace a thought about the future with the image of a perfect sight picture.

This in no way means you won't feel confident about what you "will do." Because when you KNOW what you are going to do you won't worry or think about it any longer.

Don't try to carry what you learned in practice into the match. Instead, pay close attention to WHAT you attend to in practice, which, in a very real way, actually "raises" your skills into action. Then consciously direct your attention to the same place or places in competition. But be careful though, as this can be a trap as well. Notice how the mind IS ALWAYS searching for "the answer." That if discovered, will solve all future problems. It never happens because what's past can never be the future.

You must keep actively attending, with no regard as to the outcome. The real reward is only a tremendous personal victory.

Stick with it,

be

[PaulW]

Erik....man I could not have said that better....dead nuts on man.

BE I knew you would come through with some thoughtful, well spoken words. I hear ya loud and clear and will follow suit to the best of my current abilities.

Thanks all, I do appreciate everyone's input.

[eric nielsen]

BE's book, p.137 (had to look it up)

"Something else you might be feeling when you're immediately preparing to shoot is nervous. You can still shoot to your maximum potential if you're nervous, but you can't if you're tense... It doesn't matter how nervous you are as long as you don't get tense."

Read that whole paragraph - it's good. It's what was running thru my head when I won my first local match, many moons ago. My hands and knees were shaking too, like Brian talks about. Just the faith in what he said let me believe that I could still stay loose and perform well.

dvc - eric - a28026

[benos]

Which got me thinkin' - when does nervous become tension?

Could tension just be excess concern over results? And nervous the result of the environment?

be

[Jake Di Vita]

I think nervousness can amplify the tension, but isn't the cause of it.

[ErikW]

When the nervousness goes from a mental state to physical manifestations, that's the tension.

[benos]

When the nervousness goes from a mental state to physical manifestations, that's the tension.

Erik,

That's exactly what I'm questioning. I'm not sure if tension can simply be defined as physical manifestation, because, from past experience, I've been physically shaking or "vibrating" but yet actually performed quite well. So I guess I'm feeling that nervousness can appear physically, but necessarily impede performance. If so, when does it? (Impede performance.)

This may or may not have anything to do with this, but I remember talking to the head of the sniper division for Sri Lanka once, and he told me that if your resting heart rate was over (about) 55, they wouldn't even consider you for acceptance because when your heart rate multiplies by 2 1/2 times, which it predictably does under the stress of having to shoot someone, your nervous system becomes "unreliable" - blurred or unfocused vision, shakes or tremors, etc... The way he described it was interesting because he was so matter of fact. He concluded that there was basically nothing you could do about it in the predicted conditions, if you started from too high a resting heart rate.

Forgetting whether that's true or not for the moment - an outstanding characteristic of the above seems to indicate that the physical manifestation of stress, to the point of making your body totally unmanageable, would be entirely, 100%, related to your conscious consideration and judgement of the outcome, wouldn't you think?

be

And I agree with Paul... I think your

It sounds to me as if you're walking the razor edge, on one side is confidence and the other is a kind of overconfident anxiety. You're thinking my gun is dialed in, I'm dialed in, I'd better not screw this up.

was right on his money.

[PaulW]

Ya Erik, so get off my money!! J/K

Man I am sooo much more relaxed than I have been over the last few days. Tonight I had dinner with a friend of mine who is going to Georgia as well, he is a master class limited shooter, and he asked me if I was "ready". And I said I am as preparred as I can be without being over preparred. I feel like if I don't rush things, see what I need to see, I will be fast enough. Sound familiar? Thanks BE....

[benos]

"We're all in this together, kid."

Robert Deniro in "Brazil"

Don't forget - even though it can be massively beneficial to plan for the future, the future never actually comes. Meaning,

be

when you need to

be

[PaulW]

Paul,

Become sensitive to how your own mind makes almost unnoticeable assumptions - by relating what is actually happening to what might happen. We can only know what either has happened or what is happening; no matter how subtle or clever the intellect develops, it can never know the future. This dichotomy must be rectified for consistent success, and is the challenge of all who "get serious" in competition.

Train your mind to forget. Forget about your gun, your load, or what you did five minutes ago. But most importantly, train your mind to forget to imagine tomorrow. Become sensitive to your thoughts; as often as possible, replace a thought about the future with the image of a perfect sight picture.

This in no way means you won't feel confident about what you "will do." Because when you KNOW what you are going to do you won't worry or think about it any longer.

Don't try to carry what you learned in practice into the match. Instead, pay close attention to WHAT you attend to in practice, which, in a very real way, actually "raises" your skills into action. Then consciously direct your attention to the same place or places in competition. But be careful though, as this can be a trap as well. Notice how the mind IS ALWAYS searching for "the answer." That if discovered, will solve all future problems. It never happens because what's past can never be the future.

You must keep actively attending, with no regard as to the outcome. The real reward is only a tremendous personal victory.

Stick with it,

be

BE quote hangs on my wall above my press. I just wanted to share with all of you my experience, and how Brians words help me stay call and relaxed. At this years FL Open I shot with the "Super" squad. This was a first for me and the normal jitters were there, but not nearly the level that I have experienced in the past. I read two of Brians post before I left the house to head for the open and it just stuck with me. I can't seem to find the other one but this was one of them. Stage one of day one was a pretty straight forward stage. I was nervous but as soon as my mind would start to wonder, doubt, feel pressured, or just freak out, I would take Brians advice and I would stop and just visualize a perfect sight picture on the target. Sometimes I would stay in this state for a few seconds up to 30-45 seconds. Once my mind calmed down the rest of me did as well. Before every stage as I was loading I would visualize a perfect site picture. I did not worry about anything else. This was a HUGE help for me guys. Breath deep and visualize what you want to see, either on a target, a piece of steel, anything positive to keep the clutter down in your mind that is trying to disrupt the harmony that you normally feel. I have, and I am being totally honest here, never been so relaxed as I was at this match. I shot my game, and watched every move of the top guns. Another thing that really helped was Max. After shooting stage one he came up to me and complimented me, that alone gave me a feeling of confidence that I belonged on the same squad as the other guys. Did I have a great match, naw, not really. But the experience I gained is priceless. Knowing what gives you the anxiety that you feel at big matches and knowing how to control them is a big key in taking the next step. Have you ever seen TJ or Rob joking around at a big match? It's their way of staying relaxed, that's the key, stay calm and relaxed both mentally and physically.

[SiG Lady]

"...replace a thought about the future with the image of a perfect sight picture..."

Yes, and what everyone else said, too!!

Talk about the story of my life. I tend to attach a lot of importance to scores and performance, having to compete in the pressure cooker with 'the big boys' constantly--people who've been shooting all their lives or who've had special training or special experiences I've not yet had. Gah, imagine my frustration!!

I also like the term 'visual patience' which is what I need most, the timer all-the-while ticking away and scaring the crap outa me. I'm still working on TRANSCENDING all that rushing and just occupying the calm space where I nail the targets to the wall (in the center) and feel 'matter of fact' about it. THAT'S when it's right (with scores to prove it.)

Anyone remember that catch-phrase, "Be here now."...? (no pun intended)

But it's the "importance" I've put on high scores that kills me emotionally.

[SiG Lady]

Moreover:

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."

--Michelangelo

[cottyw]

I think these two slides do a good job explaining the razor edge. Training someone to be self-aware is a very difficult process. Biofeedback is a great starting place. Becoming aware of negative subconscious thought and replacing it with positive images is graduate level stuff. ISTP people are going to be better at it than ENFJ. Self-awareness is more difficult to train than situational awareness but both are critical for adaptable performance.

Will

http://www.exrx.net/Psychology/OptimalMental.html

http://www.exrx.net/Psychology/PsychReversal.html

[SiG Lady]

Replacing creeping negative thought with positive thought is not all that hard. It requires only modest effort, really--but effort, for sure. As we are indeed decision-making animals (and it's one of our finest qualities, greatest privileges and highest responsibilities), we can at any moment in the day shove aside the lurking, persistent bad jazz in our head with conscious thought in the positive direction. One DECIDES to do so, then DOES it. Works for me. Every time.