How to get the most out of what you have learned from an instructor?
Hopefully, you have come to the lesson with an open mind and a willingness to learn. No matter who you take a lesson from, if you don’t take the information and do something with it after the lesson, it will do you no good. The most frustrating thing for an instructor is to put their heart and soul into giving the student all the information they need to improve and the student does absolutely nothing with it. You must practice what you have learned.
I had a mom, Paula, and her two sons, Charles (14) and Ritchie (11) come on a Monday morning. We had a good lesson; everyone hit some targets. Paula and Charles had shot only twice before in a dove field. Ritchie had never shot before. After explaining to them how a shotgun works, how the eyes worked, and how to hit the targets, they all hit targets from all directions – hit a few, missed a few. I sent them home with specific practice techniques to do: using the flashlight, pointing at things in the room, using the flashlight to go along the seam between the wall and the ceiling, etc.
They all came back on Friday for another lesson. The improvement was obvious. They could now all hit four in a row, miss one, but recoup and end up hitting the rest. What an amazing transformation for three people to come so far in such little time.
Did I want to spend even more time with them to give them all I could? You bet!
Remember, you are paying for the advice, but it won’t do you a lot of good unless you practice what you have learned. Besides, if the instructor knows that you are going to take the information and use it to improve, he/she will gladly give you all they have. That way you are both rewarded.
It’s not what the instructor tells you; it’s what you are willing to learn and practice that makes the difference.
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