Last month we talked about fear: what it did to shooters, how different shooters’ focus ratios change, and how that affected their inconsistency. We also brought up the fact that the only way you as a shooter can be in the present is to be thinking about nothing! That’s right. If you’re thinking about anything, you cannot be in the present. That brings us to the definition of subconscious shooting vs conscious shooting.
You can shoot consciously or subconsciously, and we can teach you either way you’d like to shoot. However, if you ever want to be able to create that elusive “zone” you’ve all been in – when you recognized you were there, you immediately were not – then you’ll have to begin to practice not thinking when you actually shoot the targets. Remember, now: “Concentration is the art of not thinking.” Vacillating between conscious and subconscious is in big part why a shooter’s focus ratio changes, which in turn creates inconsistencies that are misdiagnosed as a mental problem.
This month we’re going to talk about six different things that cause shooters’ focus ratios to shift. These are by no means the only reasons, but we think you will understand more about shifting focus ratios by going over the most common examples.
Shooters have different focus ratios based on:
1. How they are shooting
Let’s say you’re at a shoot and all of a sudden you realize you’re on the 6th station and you have not missed any targets. What happens? We know from experience that one of two things will happen. You’re going to trust your subconscious more and continue to not think and end up with a really great score and maybe win the shoot, or you’re going to do the math and realize you’re on a pace for a perfect score (or at least a 93 or 95) and you’ll get careful and begin to shoot not to miss.
We all know what happens to your score when you begin to shoot not to miss, don’t we? And it ain’t good, is it? It’s happened to every one of you out there – and probably more often than you’d care to admit, even to yourself!
Now, let’s take the other example. You arrived at the shoot and felt really great, and you could not break a target consistently on the first six stations if they laid them out on the ground and let you rifle shoot them. On Station 7, you give up trying to shoot a good score and say “What the…” All of a sudden you begin to shoot great, end up running a few stations, and salvage a great 68 for the day. We know all of you have experienced this. So, what happened to your focus ratios?
2. Their experience at that level of shooting
So, what would your experience level have to do with a sliding focus ratio? The more experience you have – which simply means you screwed it up enough times so that you can see a pattern develop – the more you begin to realize that trying too hard doesn’t work, and not caring doesn’t work either. There’s a fine line between not caring and peak performance. That line has more to do with dogged determination and confidence than anything else.
Experienced shooters, regardless of result, continue to make the plan and shoot the plan. And their focus seems to go to a higher level the better they do. They have finally realized from their own failures that every time they have gotten careful, it hasn’t worked. And every time they’ve started a shoot trying to shoot a good score from the beginning, it hasn’t worked either! They’ve discovered that getting careful and trying to shoot a score makes them check the lead and they lose their feel and confidence.
Do you remember what we said about fear last month? Remember what fear does? Fear puts the gun between the target and the eyes, which in turn changes your focus ratio from 95/5 or better to 75/25 or 60/40, or heaven only knows, ’cause you sure don’t. This game has a lot of built-in failure and so many variables that you’ll eventually learn. And shooters who can allow themselves to learn from their failures are the ones that get better and stay better.
Just adopting the shooting style of a “champion” will not make you a champion. You must adopt your own style and, through practice, get to the point that you can shoot and not think and maintain a high and consistent focus ratio. That focus ratio and how you achieve it will be personal, and you won’t achieve it from reading a book. You need to learn it from personal experience.
3. The perceived difficulty of the shot they are facing
This is a big one until you get competitive in master class. When most shooters perceive the shot they’re about to shoot is difficult, their focus ratio immediately goes to 50/50 or 60/40 because of fear. They rush their gun mount so they can get the gun up and chase the lead, which makes the target seem to fly at twice the actual speed. And because they’re chasing the target with their muzzles, they can’t keep focus on the target and they miss behind. Remember this: if you feel rushed or like you’re chasing the target, you are behind, because you can’t chase it from in front!
4. Their target inventory
The more target inventory a shooter has, the more targets they have seen break over the gun, the less doubt and fear they have.
It goes something like this: sooner or later you’ll find yourself able to break all the targets, just not in a row so you can run stations. At this point, you must take your game to a higher level and practice running stations and maintaining a fixed focus ratio.
If a shooter at this level sees a target they’ve never seen, they will not default to fear. Because of their target inventory, they know what happens when they become hesitant. In the face of fear, they will increase their focus ratio and make and execute a plan for what they’re going to do. If it doesn’t work, they change the plan because of the lessons they’ve learned.
Perhaps the most valuable lesson a shooter can learn is that the only experience worthwhile is the successful or unsuccessful attempt of a plan. Said another way, success without a plan is luck. You can’t build a shooting foundation on luck.
5. Who is watching
Okay, this has happened to everyone out there, so go ahead and admit it, at least to yourself. You’ve been shooting well and then someone walks up and you realize you’re being watched. It could be the person you need to beat to win your class. Or it could be an All-American shooter, a person you really don’t like, or maybe there’s the simple fact that someone you don’t know is watching and they’re going to pass judgment on your shooting.
Well, eventually you’ll learn that the one thing you can’t control is what others think about you, and the one thing you can control is what you’re about to do. Really good shooters want to be in the position of other people watching, because they know when they succeed in front of others they make themselves that much stronger and those watching that much weaker.
The good shooters again bear down and focus harder, because, through their own experience, they know what becoming hesitant does to their focus ratio and results.
6. Score
This one affects different people in different ways. When some shooters realize they’re shooting a good score, they’ll become hesitant and shoot not to miss. Other shooters will become more determined to maintain a high focus ratio and work their routines and see what the outcome will be for them that day if they stay in the present. In the past, they’ve tried to control the outcome, left the present, and began to think. Their focus ratio went down and their score followed. Imagine that!
Which way does the focus shift in the different situations for shooters of different experiences and abilities? Can you now see how the great shooters shoot those consistently great scores? Can you see how being in a difficult situation and succeeding can make you a better shooter? How being in a difficult situation and having a determined plan with a high focus ratio can allow you to learn from failing through the process of elimination?
Can you also see how thinking about what you’re doing when shooting can make your focus ratio shift shot to shot, station to station, and day to day? Why, in great shots, the focus ratio always shifts to the target and in the rest of you, it shifts toward the gun? How dogged determination to maintain a high focus ratio results in less thinking and better and better scores?
We think even the Witt brothers can see that!
