Write it down, then turn the page

I have always relied on writing things down during a match or practice so I don't have to worry about remembering. Then today I was listening to The High- Power Hangout podcast (ep 21 5/26/23) and he suggested when something bad happens "write it down, then turn the page".

Nice thought

Interesting. My initial thought was full of mixed emotions/thoughts. 
When I receive pictures of targets from people I coach they have a tendency to comment on the bad shots. As a coach I try to typically avoid discussing the errant shots and keep the focus on the good shots. I will address the errant shots only after breaking down a possible mechanical breakdown in their fundamentals and quickly move past those shots.
So recording the errant shots to me is reinforcing negatives of the training session. But I do believe tracking the breakdown in the process/fundamental is important. But it also needs the positive correction noted/addressed. Never leave on a negative.
I assume turning the page is the authors/speakers way of how he moves past the bad. I have always attempted to leave the bad behind immediately. Not even mentioning it later in conversation. Shoot your score, and whether good/bad just look at the positives and build off them. Any time spent with/on the negatives only reinforces it/them.

When I was a young Master (made master in 7 matches) I remember saying something negative about a target to Doc Young. He gave me a lifelong lesson right there on the spot and it never left me. It was valuable and made a huge difference in my future years as a BE competitor. 
Today I spent several hours with John Zurek and we were talking shooting during our visit. We addressed the whole spectrum of BE shooting and there was no discussion of negatives. It was entirely premised on applying fundamentals in training, during a match and the process of executing shot plan and performance. There is no room for negatives when working on 890+ scores. 
So I think I'd tear that page out of my journal.

Thanks for sharing Steve, interesting how we approach our addictions
Jon

Good subject.
Post practice, and especially post match review should focus on the positive.
I always ask myself two starting questions, which are:"What did I do well?," and "What needs improvement."
Both questions generate other questions and plans.
The good items are broken down as to "why," and " how can I build on that, or keep it going?"

The areas of improvement are also broken down and a plan of action, training points, and or training plan developed. This was very fundamental in my hipower rifle success. The following s an example of recent entries from pistol.

Example of good:
Slow and timed went well.
Why? Trigger control and grip
Why? Dry fire is working
What to do? Keep up the dry firing and make grip even more consistent as you do this.

Example of area of improvement:
My rapids need work, where?
Seem to be rushed?
Why? Recoil recovery and quicker trigger application and possibly NPA, and understanding it.
How to improve?
Watch John Zurek shoot slow fire. Gun recoils and comes back on target. He stops, waits, and has focus.
Me: work on stance, grip and mental focus to come back to target. Continue dry firing, to include working on "more agressive" trigger. Always, even slow fire, practice coming back on target.

I am always looking for ideas on how others do it, so keep posting, Jon.

This depends on your personal thought process.  Some people can compartmentalize a poor performance and then place it in its place, mentally, with little problem.  Others may need this ideation, to write it down and then “turn the page”, or burn it or whatever.  Either are valid and both are a “learned prcess”.

When you are working on 890's there are little to no things that are negative. For us mortals, who are shooting anywhere from 650 to 850 there are obviously many shots that are not good.
How can you address this when only focusing on the positives. I understand that you don't want to dwell on the negatives, but I think you need to understand them so you can develope a plan to correct them.

impalanut wrote:When you are working on 890's there are little to no things that are negative

That is not correct. Everyone makes the same mistakes. It's just when a High Master makes a mistake it's a 9 or an 8. To a HM losing 1 or 2 points can be just as bad as 5 or a miss to a Marksman, maybe worse if you are at Camp Perry and in the running for the overall win.

To expand on the OP, I should have said more. The advice was not to write down the bad stuff. Don't write down "I suck" or "it was horrible". That doesn't help you get over it now and it doesn't help you improve in the future.

Write down something your future self can work with to improve: "Focus on the next shot and forget about shots that are already gone" or "Raise, settle and either pull the trigger or abort within a second or two".

Another trick to writing stuff down, don’t write too much. Often a few short bullet points are better than keeping track of excess detail. The primary focus should be following your shot process, not recording details from every shot or even every target. Don’t dwell on the shot you just took, work on breaking the next one. Positive attitude definitely helps, stay away from the negative spiral.

impalanut wrote:When you are working on 890's there are little to no things that are negative. For us mortals, who are shooting anywhere from 650 to 850 there are obviously many shots that are not good.
How can you address this when only focusing on the positives. I understand that you don't want to dwell on the negatives, but I think you need to understand them so you can develope a plan to correct them.

One way that worked for me was to use the “70% rule”.  You do this by counting the number of each value on your target. For example, you have one 10, two 9s, three 8s, two 7s, and two 6s.  With such a distribution 70% of your shots are 7 or better.  That’s your skill level at the present. The only two that are “bad shots” are the 6s.  Do this evaluation every 1000 rounds and see what your improvement is.  The main point is to stop beating yourself up for shots that maybe aren’t 10s but still with your skill level.