New Mental Management observation

I noticed something new at the first indoor league match of the winter season:

Everything I was looking for in a good shot happened before the hammer fell.  The place that the bullet landed was irrelevant to my process.
I was more interested in how still the gun was, how crisp my focus on the front sight was, and that I was able to maintain those 2 things until the hammer fell.

Super rewarding.  It was so much fun!  Good results too.

-Rob

I think it's interesting in his book how he gives examples about how worrying/thinking about your score can make you tank, including his own personal examples of it happening to him. I've been able to shoot a couple of matches where I had the mindset that I didn't care what the outsome was (as a marksman it doesn't matter anyway, lol), just focusing on the process itself. Granted I'm not ripping the X out with every shot, but it does make a difference.

Rob Kovach wrote:I noticed something new at the first indoor league match of the winter season:

Everything I was looking for in a good shot happened before the hammer fell.  The place that the bullet landed was irrelevant to my process.
I was more interested in how still the gun was, how crisp my focus on the front sight was, and that I was able to maintain those 2 things until the hammer fell.

Super rewarding.  It was so much fun!  Good results too.

-Rob

I recall in the GH Treasury this from Joe White.
"One of the most effective procedures for me to follow when I am having this trouble is to tell myself that I am dry firing and that, on this particular shot, I will be very careful to keep the sights aligned before, during and after the fall of the hammer."  (emphasis added)

I believe totally in that statement.


The complete paragraph from Treasury/Joe White
"One of the most effective procedures for me to follow when I am having this trouble is to tell myself that I am dry firing and that, on this particular shot, I will be very careful to keep the sights aligned before, during and after the fall of the hammer. Then during the trigger squeeze I work up a mental picture of the hammer falling and the sights remaining in perfect alignment after the hammer has fallen. This is what I mean by mental follow through. The idea is to continue working at keeping the sights aligned even while the bullet is traveling toward the target. It is the best insurance you can get against relaxing your attention too soon. They say that intense concentration is just the old story of mind over matter. The brain must have complete control of the body and its actions. I think in my case it would be easier if I had a larger brain and a smaller body.