Our experience tells us that on the first day you shot without expectation and your round on the second day was nothing but expectation. This is how expectation becomes your boundary and why your flinching came back! In other words, you began the round “shooting not to miss” instead of shooting the breakpoint. Instead of concentrating on timing and breakpoints, you were checking the lead ever so slightly, and unfortunately, you had some success checking the lead.
So, what do you think you did? That’s right – you checked it even more, Your breakpoints became wherever the lead looked right. You began slashing the muzzle around like swatting bumblebees with a badminton racket, and nothing good happened until you had fired your last shot. Thank God it was over. This has not been fun.
Earlier we said that this was a phase and it’s something everyone has to go through to learn how to perform. Controlling expectation is huge, but like the Yankee who visited the blacksmith shop, sometimes you just have to try something before you can actually learn from it.
It seems that when the Yankee went to visit the blacksmith shop there was a horseshoe lying on the anvil. The smith said it was hot and not to touch it. Well, you guessed it, as the smith turned his attention to something else, the Yankee reached out and picked up the horseshoe and immediately dropped it. Hearing the shoe drop to the anvil, without turning around, the smith asked if he had gotten burned. The Yankee replied, “Naw, it just don’t take me long to look at a horseshoe!”
What you have experienced is something that you have to go through to learn how to optimize your talent and ability. In our experience, there is no exact formula to help you push through this plateau because all shooters are different. That difference creates a different formula for each person due to mindset, practice schedule, and goals.
There are certain things that you can do to get through this phase. The first thing is to write down in your log what happened on the two days – what was different the second day and what you are going to do the next time you find yourself in this position?
What would we recommend? First, appreciate that there are many things that have to happen for you to have a winning performance that are out of your control. That’s right, we said out of your control! On our Coaching Hour three or four years ago, we spent two shows talking about all the things that must happen for you to have a peak performance that are out of your control. You know the one that everyone overlooked until we brought it up?
Everyone must miss more targets than you, and you can’t control what others do, think, or say.
The bottom line is you can’t control winning. The only thing you can control is what you are doing right now. Whether or not you will have the opportunity to win will be determined by how well you control what you do each time you pull the trigger, the quality of your plans, and the consistency of your routines. That is what we mean when we talk about focusing on the process.
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