43 replies to this topic

[AlamoShooter]

I remember my Father saying 40 years ago that "Most people are a slave to their possessions" many of us can be a slave to our wants.

I want to shoot a match without failings, = this is becomes a scale of measuring imperfections with a micrometer

Now I only hope that I am as kind to others as they have been to me. This makes me happy with the view of my 10 feet.

Edited by AlamoShooter, 06 November 2011 - 04:11 PM.

[shred]

I want to shoot a match without failings, = this is becomes a scale of measuring imperfections with a micrometer

I had a chat with Sharyn long ago, the end point of which was if you [generic, not you in particular Jamie] ever shoot a match without seeing something to be improved upon, you [generic] probably weren't paying attention...

[sargenv]

After this year's Nationals, I put away my 6 shooter and picked up my Para.. it had been a good long while since I'd picked it up for more than maybe a single magazine of ammo and I'm going to proceed to shoot it when I compete just for something "different to do".. this in addition to my 3.5 month hiatus from competition to do something a bit more practical than practical shooting, use some of these skills to put meat in the freezer... it's Duck season!! This is something I look forward to every fall as a means to stop from being burned out by constant practice.. a change of scenery is nice..

[benos]

I reduce my foresight.


Your perception of a race is different if you only look 10 feet in front of you the whole time (as opposed to looking at the finish line).

Good one. Everything you need to see is at the end of your arms.
be

[kv501]

I used to be terrible for this. I played a lot of sports, and any big event would do this to me whether it was a high school football or baseball game, or a shooting match as I got older. For some strange reason the worst time was driving home from an Area match last year. I was hot, shot middle of the pack, and had to drive 6 hours home right after shooting. I had spent 3 days of vacation, a lot of ammo, gas, hotel expenses, and so on, and started to doubt myself and what I was getting out of shooting. It didn't last thankfully, but at the time I really thought, "What am I doing?" It was definitely way too much time alone to think about things when you're tired.

I do find that I am getting better at things like that as I get older though. maybe some of the competitiveness os wearing off, or maybe I just see things differently (smarter) now.

[AlamoShooter]

I used to be terrible for this. I played a lot of sports, and any big event would do this to me whether it was a high school football or baseball game, or a shooting match as I got older. For some strange reason the worst time was driving home from an Area match last year. I was hot, shot middle of the pack, and had to drive 6 hours home right after shooting. I had spent 3 days of vacation, a lot of ammo, gas, hotel expenses, and so on, and started to doubt myself and what I was getting out of shooting. It didn't last thankfully, but at the time I really thought, "What am I doing?" It was definitely way too much time alone to think about things when you're tired.

I do find that I am getting better at things like that as I get older though. maybe some of the competitiveness os wearing off, or maybe I just see things differently (smarter) now.

{Started to doubt myself and what I was getting out of shooting}

I think that is most likely the main "Cause and Effect" that most of us Feel.

What I get out of shooting has evolved into something much more than the sum of all the scores totaled. I know that in many ways my actual shooting is not as good as it used to be, But I am a much better Shooter than I ever thought I could be.

Edited by AlamoShooter, 17 November 2011 - 05:23 PM.

[Phil Dunlop]

I just came home from loosing our Nationals.
These days I tell people that I shoot competetively, but I don't stress about it, but the truth is that I put all the spare time and resources I had into that match.
I was feeling 'flat' when I got home, a combination of fatigue, that back to normality depression and the end of another all to brief connection with my friends and peers. (I find friendships with team mates and rivals so much stronger and satisfying than friends outside the sporting arena, and that could be an issue of mine).
I'm not hugely analytial, but the first day home, I'd dusted off my diary and written a list of weaknesses that the match exposed.
I won't get to the range this weekend, but I'm hungry to get back and work on that list.

[-JQ-]

I'll never win any big matches (foreseeable future anyway) so focusing on the fun I had, the things I learned, and the new friends I made at the match helps cure the blues a bit.

ymmv

[AlamoShooter]

I know that a Diary /journal and help with many of life's Challenges. Thats smart that you did it.
But
"Lousing the Nationals" ? thats a strong Statement or self slam


I have never been a fan of the label "First Loser"

[Phil Dunlop]

I know that a Diary /journal and help with many of life's Challenges. Thats smart that you did it.
But
"Lousing the Nationals" ? thats a strong Statement or self slam


I have never been a fan of the label "First Loser"

Thanks Alamo, yes that post did read much more negatively than I intended.
What I was trying to convey was that I had every reason to crash after that match, but I didn't.
Looking for things to work on insulates me from that, time and again
P.D.

Edited by Phil Dunlop, 13 December 2011 - 01:13 AM.

[mike cyrwus]

I would get very much the same way after my last final at the end of my college semesters.
thats because college wasnt fun.
I never get that way after a big match; win or lose.
thats because shooting is fun.
Keep it fun, make competing fun.

[mwc]

Great thread!!!

I'm glad to see that I am/was not alone. Over the last 35 years or so I have tended to throw myself all into whatever hobby or sport I get into. I found that the more successful I became the more depressed I was when it(the success) didn't live up to my expectations. The successes never seemed to equal the time, effort, or money I put in. I have been in and out of shooting many times only to keep coming back.

I finally realized that its something I like to do whether I get successful results or not. Competitive shooting is something I do, not who I am. I am now more interested in my own performance rather than how I stack up against others. I am actually having fun rather than beating myself up over every little mistake.

Now if I could only get my wife on the same page when it comes to traveling out of town for several days, spending money on match fees, hotels, gas, ammo, ect., so I can have some fun!!! Not sure that will ever happen.

Edited by mwc, 13 December 2011 - 07:42 PM.

[Aglifter]

Some of it depends on personality, of course - but, could you be content seeking the "Perfection of Shooting", rather than being concerned w. scores?

I let other sports, long ago, almost consume my life. Initially, and when it was much healthier, I was purely focused on my own technique, and I did not consider anything else relevant - it helped that I wasn't very good, at the time.

When I switched to strongman, a sport I was more suited to, and started to do OK, etc, it became about how others saw me, and how I rated compared to others. This was negative.

If you accept that it is unobtainable, then "Perfection" has a rather wonderful nature as a goal. Mistakes lose their sting, because they are all, more or less, degrees of the same failings - provided they weren't acts of arrogance, laziness, cowardice, or stupidity. No one else is ever defeated, nor are you ever defeated by anyone else - the only people involved is yourself, and the perfection you can obtain.

Perhaps "Flawlessness" is a better term. Not to be the greatest shooter who ever lived, but to be yourself, performing w.o. error. As you learn more, you will discern more errors.

One of the best quotes I heard is, "Sometimes the only way to win, is not to play."

[Less]

Even though this thread has been quiet for ~6 months: I just want to thank you all...

I think I read this at just the right time...

[38superman]

I just came across this thread and I can't say I really understand all this talk about goal depression.

I only have one goal: keep getting better.
As long as can do that, all other goals are just milemarkers on the side of the road.

I know the day will come that my gun skills will begin to decline.
Father time will steal my reflexes, sight, quickness and no matter what I do or how hard I work at it, it just wont get better.

I fear nothing more than the day I have to look in the mirror and say,
you are as good now as you are ever going to be,....
Your best match is not in front of you, its behind you.

Until that day I will not allow depression to enter my mind or my heart, for I still have the power to achieve.

Tls

Edited by 38superman, 05 June 2012 - 04:04 PM.

[PKT1106]

38Superman - Its not the decline of skills, its the getting to the best, knowing & wanting to do better, but there is nothing else to achieve after being the best. Think of preparing for and winning nationals against every elite shooter in the world and being told the next match is a club match. There is nothing higher than the beating the best on a worldy stage, but you have trained yourself to go further. The depression afterward can bring you down hard.

[Less]

I just came across this thread and I can't say I really understand all this talk about goal depression.

And that is certainly awesome... Perhaps, consider yourself lucky that you're of a tough mental persuasion.

Personally, I never believed I could suffer this problem... See, this was a breakout year for me:

• Earned an Advanced Rating from Rogers
• Won both Most Accurate and HOA at the Wounded Warrior Benefit IDPA match
• Got my USPSA M-Card in Production
• Got my IDPA M-Card in ESP (my second M-rating)
• Was league champion at my PPC league
• Shot a perfect 100 in bullseye
• Finished 19th (top 20) at the FL open in Production
• etc...

These success came about through A TON of time, effort and frustration. Then I got tired and went to go hang with my wife, who was busy living her own life mainly because since she wasn't going to wait around for free time that was never going to come from me... Then it sunk in that my marriage had serious issue. There is a fine line between supportive and uninvolved.

Hell, just knowing this is an issue, and knowing that others have similar issues, is huge.

[Bshooter]

I also just came across this thread and it really hit home. I have been shooting USPSA since 1989. Unfortunately I was 41 when I started, that means it is tougher to stay at the top of your game. I would shake like a leaf when I competed in any big match, until about the last stage. I had butterflies in my stomach at monthly matches, fearing I would do lousy or screw up that other competitors would make comments about my shooting. It really bothered me for a long time. As the years went by and the major matches mounted, I calmed down and realized it was the challange of getting to the match, competing to the best of my ability and enjoying who I was shooting with. Sure I wanted to win, but sometimes it isn't in the cards. I shot the Single Stack Nationals this year and was happy to be in the top 1/3. I shot with a wonderful bunch of guys and have good memories of a great match. Sometimes I have the attitude of a Cub's fan(am not really a Cub's fan), "Wait til next year"

[AlamoShooter]

I am trying to out running this dark cloud again after the STC nationals this weekend. My team had a bad break with a shooters "Non Vortex scope" in one event and knocked us out of the hunt. This is nagging at me and will be a shadow in my thought for several nationals to come. But on the Bright side won First place as a two man team shooting the entire event again.

I know equipment breaks, But it still digs under my skin even from years past when as a team we had great possibilities only to have the score crash.
The problem is some of the games have a high preparation cost to be ready for the nationals, its still shooting but a different kind of combination. The hardest to prepare for and the hardest to come down off of.
Its the times that I doubt the overall cost that eats the worst at me, even with a first place prize.

luck good and bad is not the way I want to win or louse