Bullseye Mind

First topic message reminder :

• For a long time, I've noticed that at home, it is so easy to smoothly apply pressure to my trigger until the gun goes "click", but at the range the trigger doesn't move so easily.
  
• I have found that my wobble zone at the range is double what it is in my living room dry-firing.
  
• Finally, when dry firing at home, my gun never bolts off to one side or another when firing, but always does this at least once out of ten shots at the range.
  
• my trigger increases in direct proportion to how long it takes before the gun fires - ONLY - at the range.  Never at home.
  
• my trigger press at home feels perfect, but at the range it's a struggle to do what I know I know how to do.....
  

I was discussing this with one of my doctors earlier today, and it seems to be all wrapped up in one word: anxiety.

People in this forum have recommended two books that deal with this:

• Bullseye Mind (Mental Toughness for Sport Shooting) by Raymond Prior, PhD  and
  
• With Winning in Mind by Lanny Bassham,  Olympic and World Champion.
  

I've read well over half of Bullseye Mind, and finished reading With Winning in Mind.  At the time, I didn't see any obvious way that this applied to me.  I'm mostly shooting for fun, there is no pressure other than what I generate in my head, and I didn't see any of the examples as relating to me.  But my friend, who is a Clinical Psychologist at a local hospital, thinks that this kind of thing directly relates to me, and in more ways than shooting.

I found myself explaining to her that I've been trying to deal with anxiety/pressure/tenseness by relaxing at the range, and minimizing any need to "do good".  I suggested I might stop shooting at targets, and just shoot for fun, so there is no pressure to make the holes appear in the desired spot.  ........She said that wouldn't work.  She said I need to find a new way of going about shooting at the range to replace my old ways.  Maybe something I think, or say to myself, that puts my head in a better frame of mind.



By posting this here, you can all have a good laugh at my expense.  That's OK.  

But I'm thinking that at least some of you might relate to this, and maybe even found a way to eliminate the "anxiety" if that's the cause of what I'm describing.  I have a more open mind right now than when I started reading those two books, so I'm going do so all over again, starting at the beginning as if I was reading a novel.  Maybe I've identified the problem - but even so, I haven't yet found a cure.



In the meantime, I have a simple question to ask in this thread.....

Have any of you had similar issues in the past, and if so, what thing(s) did you do to get over it?

(I never thought of it that way before.   I hope you come here more often after enjoying the.  bourbon...   :-)    ......and re-reading both books, considering them from this new point of view, will be interesting. )

(I never thought of it that way before.   I hope you come here more often after enjoying the.  bourbon...   :-)    ......and re-reading both books, considering them from this new point of view, will be interesting. )



Oh, and before I end, please do check out my photo gallery, [url=m.smugmug.com]m.smugmug.com[/url] .
I'm much more organized and productive with my cameras than with my guns.
I wish bullseye was as easy for me as photo editing.