Shaking off a bad match

[Slavex]

I like to freak new shooters out at matches when there is a stage that seems to flow best with a start of maybe 2 or 3 shots then dump the mag and go. It really freaks them out to see that happen, but sometimes it's the best plan.
Another good mental tip, don't watch people shoot right before it's your turn, their screwups or different plans will melt into yours if you're not super tuned in and that can affect things. I prefer to watch a different squad vs my own squad on a stage.

[Jared]

Yeah, I've done the shoot three, ditch mag, get out of that spot. People look at you like you are nuts.

I appreciate the mental tips. I honestly have not paid one minutes attention to the mental game. I just always felt like I was so slow (because I was/kind of still am), that my focus was always on being able to shoot faster, draw faster, reload faster, etc. and still keep my accuracy up there. So I always said to myself that the mental game was important, but that I just wasn't good enough at the shooting part to justify taking time I could spend improving technical skills and spending it on the mind.

[TheTrevor]

Jared, I got DQ'd in an abundance-of-caution 180 call where I, admittedly, was probably at 178 degrees as I drew... on the second stage of my second USPSA match, after getting back into competition this year. If you want to learn how to process an upsetting outcome I'd say that's a good one to try, but I don't recommend it.

At match #3 I went slow (a fair bit slower than I could have gone) and tried to max out on points per stage instead. I shot within 2-4 points of perfect on a couple of stages, didn't get DQ'd, and actually had a pretty good hit factor on one stage that was mostly shooting with some easy movement. Focusing on the fundamentals, and proving to myself that (a) I actually could shoot very well and (b) wasn't one of Those New Guys who was a constant safety hazard did an awful lot to restore my confidence competing in the USPSA context.

For folks who have competed a lot, there's a tremendous experience base to draw upon to say "I'm better than that last stage". For others, sometimes it takes a deliberate but positive experience at the next match to restore confidence. Or something in between, of course.

It also helps to not take it especially seriously. When we figured out that our USPSA Classifier ("Melody Line") was set up wrong and wouldn't count, I opted to take the much slower headshots just to get practice working the trigger against an array of low-probability targets at 10yd. Killed my stage score and match ranking, but didn't care -- it was good training.

[Mr_White]

It's much easier said than done, but if I want to do well, I have to put that aside and instead want that which will result in me doing well. I must focus on the process rather than the outcome. I must focus on the task at hand, no matter how much my emotions want to intrude and distract me. The task at hand is largely composed of sights and trigger.

I do find it very difficult to let go of a bad stage at a match, but it has to be done. Very challenging for me though.

[jetfire]

It's much easier said than done, but if I want to do well, I have to put that aside and instead want that which will result in me doing well. I must focus on the process rather than the outcome. I must focus on the task at hand, no matter how much my emotions want to intrude and distract me. The task at hand is largely composed of sights and trigger.

I do find it very difficult to let go of a bad stage at a match, but it has to be done. Very challenging for me though.

The difficulty of managing expectations is something I have to fight with even in individual practice sessions. I was working on reloads last night, and getting frustrated (new gun, things weren't going right) because I expected to be able to automatically match my performance with a new gun to my performance with a different gun. It was only when I took a step back and turned down the wick that I started seeing success.

[Jared]

It's much easier said than done, but if I want to do well, I have to put that aside and instead want that which will result in me doing well. I must focus on the process rather than the outcome. I must focus on the task at hand, no matter how much my emotions want to intrude and distract me. The task at hand is largely composed of sights and trigger.

I do find it very difficult to let go of a bad stage at a match, but it has to be done. Very challenging for me though.

OAK,

If I may, I'd like to try to get you to elaborate on this a bit. Rather that a full stage, lets just say a reload in a practice session. If I'm reading you correctly, I'm (leaping to the assumption) thinking that you would mentally break it down to ejecting the mag properly, grasping the new mag properly, orienting the pistol in the proper way to receive the fresh mag, inserting, reacquire grip, and on step by step to the point that the shot is fired.

Me, I normally think, "I wanna do this reload fast!" and then check the timer after it is over. Then, when I fail, I tend to grit my teeth, and go again. Finally, after a couple bad reps, I'll breathe a bit, shake my hands out, think about what I want to do, then I almost invariably execute much better.

I don't mean to pester, it's just that more efficient practice techniques are a HUGE topic of interest to me at this point, and I'm finding that I have a really bad tendency to rip off say, ten runs without doing a proper analysis after each run, and also failing to think before each run exactly what I wish to accomplish. I've seen improvement from where I was this time a year ago, but I've been plateaued for about a month and I'm trying to bust through.

[Mr_White]

You aren't pestering me at all, Jared. I just hope I can give a useful answer. This is all trying to describe what goes on inside, so bear with me as I try to articulate it.

With regard to your reload example, I think you are basically paraphrasing me correctly, in the sense that wanting a fast reload isn't necessarily going to result in a fast reload. Maybe it will in some instances, but I don't find that kind of thinking (outcome-oriented) effective for me.

I am leery of your description in that it seems to suggest consciously working my way through each physical step that comprises a reload. Still, the fundamental idea you express of focusing on the process, rather than the outcome, is exactly where I'm at.

The longhand description you wrote of a reload seems to me to be more suitable to learning the technique in the first place, rather than sharpening that technique once you can do it without thinking your way through it. To me, ingraining or sharpening the technique is to turn those words that describe conscious thoughts about the reloading process into an internal feeling associated with the execution of that process. That feeling and the ability to summon it at will is what I'm after.

I don't even know what the right word is, so I am going to call this 'finding my center' or 'achieving the right mindstate' - I don't know what it should really be called - but in addition to the overall process vs. outcome issue, I am also talking about some physical motion, position, feeling, whatever point of mental focus or awareness, that brings my mind into a performance state for the task at hand. This ranges from a very simple to progressively more complex tasks/sets of tasks - at one end, shooting one shot, progressing to more complex actions like draws, reloads, multiple target engagements, whole stages at the much more complex end - and it gets more difficult the more complex it is.

To your reloading example, I think it's complex enough that I can't consciously think my way through it with the fluidity that is possible. The 'process-oriented thought/feeling' centers around the physical action, but it is mental shorthand for 'run the reload program.' For the reload, my feeling is of driving my support hand to the new magazine. Hard, and with fluid force and power. Drive it, make it accelerate until it's accomplished the first part of its job - clear the shirt and get the new magazine. Setting my mind to desire to experience that helps me jump into the reloading motor program, thus directing my mind in a useful way. And that, for me, is focusing on the process (for reloading.)

For drawing and for shooting, the same kind of thing applies. I want to see the sharp and clear sights on target. I want that because it will be the start of the 'hitting the target' program. Wanting to hit the target doesn't get it done for me. I need to want to see the visual reference (I use sight-focused shooting a whole lot) and press the trigger well. The internal/physical feeling I use to prime the shooting process is to flex my tiny eye muscles so my focal depth is where the front sight will be. When I feel that in my eyes, I am ready to perform. That's how I find my shooting center and jump in the river (get in the process) instead of thinking about the river from outside of it.

This is really all just what I get from introspection, from paying attention to what happens and what I feel. That's what I think it is really all about. Self-awareness and self-control. If those can be your guide, I think you can hardly go wrong. I can't imagine that you have to do it the same way or feel the same things as me.

[Jared]

OAK, Thank you. I appreciated the response.

I worded my example rather poorly. I wasn't referring to thinking about each step in a reload process as you do them, rather I was thinking in a dry fire concept, like start with a sight picture, reload, get another sight picture. I was referring to the act of visualizing what you want to do step by step, then pressing the timer button, and when the beep happens, executing what you visualized without thinking your way through each step. I've been trying to incorporate this into my live and dry fire work more lately.

Say, I'm doing a Bill Drill. I do a good run, paste it up, do another good run, paste it up, third run goes bad. So I will try to stop and visualize what I want to do. I may even "air-gun" it. Then do it again. It seems to help.

With something big, like a USPSA field course, it's really hard for me to be that detailed. When I do my stage breakdown, I mostly think about how hard I have to aim (and appropriate trigger control to go with that aim) on each target and where to reload, which target order I wish to use, etc.

Also, I am very new to the visualization process. I can tell from your response that you are much further along the road than I am in regards to focusing the mind. Gives me something to work toward.

I will add that I seem to have my best stages when I am almost "blank." If I'm uncertain, uncomfortable, or even timid (this usually indicates a lack of confidence in my stage plan) things wind up both slow and inaccurate. If I'm peaceful, maybe even confident, I do everything much more aggressively. Seems to result in faster times and better accuracy.

I'm still working on processing Saturday's disaster. These are some things that are leaping out at me.

[Mr_White]

OAK, Thank you. I appreciated the response.

I worded my example rather poorly. I wasn't referring to thinking about each step in a reload process as you do them, rather I was thinking in a dry fire concept, like start with a sight picture, reload, get another sight picture. I was referring to the act of visualizing what you want to do step by step, then pressing the timer button, and when the beep happens, executing what you visualized without thinking your way through each step. I've been trying to incorporate this into my live and dry fire work more lately.

Say, I'm doing a Bill Drill. I do a good run, paste it up, do another good run, paste it up, third run goes bad. So I will try to stop and visualize what I want to do. I may even "air-gun" it. Then do it again. It seems to help.

With something big, like a USPSA field course, it's really hard for me to be that detailed. When I do my stage breakdown, I mostly think about how hard I have to aim (and appropriate trigger control to go with that aim) on each target and where to reload, which target order I wish to use, etc.

Also, I am very new to the visualization process. I can tell from your response that you are much further along the road than I am in regards to focusing the mind. Gives me something to work toward.

I will add that I seem to have my best stages when I am almost "blank." If I'm uncertain, uncomfortable, or even timid (this usually indicates a lack of confidence in my stage plan) things wind up both slow and inaccurate. If I'm peaceful, maybe even confident, I do everything much more aggressively. Seems to result in faster times and better accuracy.

I'm still working on processing Saturday's disaster. These are some things that are leaping out at me.

I think my answer was full of mush. What you say above makes sense.

[Jared]

I liked your answer dude. I really did.

About this time last year, I read Brian Enos' book. This was before I ever set foot at an actual USPSA match, I read Enos as part of my "prep." Anyhoo, Enos' stuff went waaaaay over my head. I re-read a couple chapters this week. It made a lot more sense after actually seeing some of the things he talked about both in practice and in match settings.

I guess what I'm saying in a long way, your answer reminded me a bit of Enos' book. I mean that as a compliment.