You are now ready to shoot. You are about to shoot the shot. Now you need to train your mind for the process. You tell yourself “Slow and smooth,” as your finger begins to move towards the triggerguard. For the perfect shot, you focus on your finger’s movement and ensure it moves as smoothly as possible.
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You can train your mind to be a better shot
Think about your grip and make sure your finger is coming back. You will notice where your finger touches your finger and how you can feel the muscles in your hand. . . But now your eyes have shifted due to how long you’ve been focusing on your finger.
Now, adjust your sights and begin the process again. Now, you will be focusing on your crosshairs and sight picture. Your finger touches the trigger and snaps the shot. It’s not exactly where you want it to be.
You’re frustrated and exhausted from the effort you just put into this shot. It doesn’t have be as complicated as it sounds. It all comes down to your perception and understanding.
Perception
When you are learning or improving a skill, such as shooting, there are many factors to consider. Perception is the first thing I want to discuss. Perception is so underrated that many people simply ignore it or glance at it.
There is a much lower chance of success if you are behind your gun and don’t understand what’s happening. Is there still hope? Yes. Is this a small chance? Yes.
The basics of how the bullet goes downrange when you pull the trigger are easy to understand. Your shot will be affected if you are unsure, anxious, or distracted by the process.
You have many options when it comes to focusing on the trigger. Smooth press, aiming and breathing are all options. The subtle pulse of the crosshair matching the beat of your heartbeat is another option. There are many options to choose from when deciding what to focus on. You have to decide what you want to focus on and how to do it.
This doesn’t mean that you have to keep a detailed list of all the things you notice while you are shooting. You can prioritize them and go through a series of steps to ensure that each one is taken care. You can think about the entire process in any way you want. This brings me to the next topic that I want to discuss…
Confidence
How you view the shooting process will impact how confident you feel. It can become overwhelming if you are too focused on every detail. Although each detail may seem simple, it can become overwhelming when you combine them all in such a short time. This can be avoided by changing your perception.
Shooting can be broken down to three simple steps: aim, breathe, and pull the trigger. These are the steps that people often get overwhelmed by and break down further.
Accepting all details is a way to avoid getting overwhelmed. Although it may sound philosophical and cheesy, accepting that all the extra steps are occurring simultaneously with the basic steps will help you feel less stressed.
Because you won’t feel as shocked or pressured to accept the details as you do when you try to take your shot. Because you already know what they are and when they will happen.
This makes it much simpler to shoot and feels much more effortless. Even though you are doing the exact same thing. All the little details seem to come together in a few bigger and more important steps.
You can now practice them more often and more efficiently without being distracted from the smaller things that still happen. They happen when you do the bigger steps.
Understanding
This method took me a while to understand and finally put into words. Once I understood the process and realized how I was complicating it, I noticed a positive difference in my results. I felt even more comfortable with each shot.
It is best described as a temporary feeling that brings you to a place of total serenity. While you are aware of all the happenings around you, it doesn’t distract from your focus on the target. As you prepare to fire the shot, your body will slow down and the trigger will go back. The bullet then goes downrange.
The world begins to affect you again after the shot. Nothing changes. The world just returns to focus and you realize that you only spent a moment taking the shot. You then check your target and notice a significant improvement in the results. This is my experience with this technique, and I believe many other shooters will have the same experience.
This works for both distance shooting and bolt guns. The exact same method can be used to improve speed, training drills, handgun, rifle, and other skills. It is the concept of changing how you understand that does the most work. Once you have done the slow practice and are familiar with all the details, you can organize your thoughts about it. It’s not as difficult as you think. You can break it down into smaller pieces.
Persistence
It’s about understanding what you are doing and realizing that it will all happen, no matter how slow or fast you go. You should realize this and approach it with confidence. Even if you start with a little more confidence, you will see an improvement in your results as well as how comfortable you feel when you are handling your firearm.
Confidence leads me to the last point, which is to be persistent but also not stubborn. Although these words can be misunderstood in their meaning, I believe it is the way they are used that makes the difference.
When you’re shooting, and things aren’t going as well as you’d hoped, this can very easily get under your skin and get irritating–especially with the price and scarcity of ammo. If this happens, take a moment to yourself and take a deep breath. Then, you can either re-do the work or make a change and try again.
Do not give up just because you are having a bad day. That’s how things get worse. It’s easier to give up once and it will get easier to keep going. This is what I call stubbornness. It’s more about trying to win, not to win.
Continued Training
You can’t get better if you don’t know how to do it. Persistence is the mindset to keep trying, and to keep learning.
It is possible to train your mind and see things differently. This will improve your results. It’s not difficult. Although it may take some time to get used to and then practice, once you do, you’ll be amazed at how much you can change by changing your mindset.
Then you’ll be able to ask why you’re not shooting well and instead focus on what you should be. You’ll start to see results.
This article was originally published by the Personal Defense World Gun Buyer’s Guide, December/January 2022 issue. Subscription is available in print and digital editions at OutdoorGroupStore.com. Or call 1-800-284-5668, or email [email protected].
Personal Defense World published the post Train the Mind to Go Beyond the Mechanics for Greater Confidence.
