The last BP2/DPS1 class I helped with at KR Training generated a bunch of thoughts in my head. I thought I’d make a small series out of it.

DAMNIT!!!!!

I do it too.

You’re trying to do something, you’re trying to do it right, and you blow it.

DAMNIT!

See this on the line a lot. Typically it takes the form of a facial wince, head slightly twisting to the side or slightly shaking in a “no” sort of way.

It’s normal and natural to do this. We’re in class. We take class because we acknowledge deficiency in ourselves and want to improve. When we aren’t seeing the progress we desire, we get upset. Totally natural. If you find yourself doing this, well…. you do. While some will say you ideally don’t want to ever engage this sort of negative behavior, that’s easier said than done. Let’s take a baby step in that direction.

If you find yourself getting mad at yourself for screwing up, allow yourself that moment to be mad about screwing up, and then — let it go.

If you don’t let it go, what happens is you focus upon it. You’re now saying in your head “don’t screw up… don’t screw up… don’t screw up again… don’t screw up….” And when you do that you must realize what you’re now doing is focusing on the notion of screwing up! You’re not focusing on the task that you should be doing (e.g. aligning the sights, good trigger press, putting the hole in the target where it needs to be). And so typically what happens? You screw up again, because all you had on your mind was screwing up.

So you mess up. Acknowledge it, file it away for later, chalk it up for learning, then let it go. Let the emotion of the screw-up go, and refocus back on doing what you should be doing. Mentally phrase it to yourself in terms of what you should do, e.g. “OK… align the sights… slow smooth trigger press….”.  Tell yourself what you SHOULD do. If you get it right, great. If you mess up again, quickly analyze what you did wrong, make correction, let the emotion go, and refocus and do it again.

Admittedly, some days just won’t be your day. That might then signal it’d be better to just call it a day and head home. Don’t let that bother you. There’s still something positive to be learned from the experience. Let the emotion go, learn what you can, focus on what you should do.

And you know what else helps?

Smile. 🙂