If the little things are the only thing, I guess we can be done discussing this stuff now, lol. Since it doesn’t work that way, you also need to have a long view and a short view. This is because things can overwhelm you if you think too far ahead. Enough with the fortune cookie sayings. What I’m talking about here is the need to have long-term goals as well as short-term goals.
In the long term, I want to be a better shooter. Maybe I can be more specific and say I want a sub-second draw or a 2-second Bill Drill. Maybe I want to be a High Master or a Grand Master. These are all great goals, but they vary tremendously in their specificity and complexity. The more specific you can make your long-term goal, the easier it is to attack it.
That is also where short-term goals come in. If I want to have a sub-second draw, maybe my short-term goals involve dry firing every day I possibly can, with a focus on drawing fast (obviously). During those dryfire sessions, maybe my short-term (shorter-term?) goal is to get a grip on the pistol without fumbling it. Or present my gun to the target without delay or adjustment (index).
If I want to be a High Master or a GM, maybe my short-term goal is to go to as many local matches as possible, to build my competition experience and ability to handle match pressure. A “shorter-term” goal at the matches may be to execute my stage plans correctly. Or maybe I want to pay more attention to how better competitors plan their stage and then try it myself and see if it helps me.
If you only make long-term goals, you are unlikely to reach them. Not only are they usually too big, most humans need encouragement along the way. Realistic short-term goals allow for progress to be made and seen, which is often what keeps you on the path you chose.
Your reinforcement of “the little things” in the ODP class was most impactful to my training. It has really helped me be very intentional in not wasting a single round when I train. Along with short-term and long-term intentional goals, do you maintain a detailed shooting log? And if so, how detailed are your entries?
Thanks for the feedback and glad it helped. My shooting log is not as detailed as it could be. Mostly I hit the highlights and anything that really needs work. It started as just a way to track round counts and evolved to record some of my training as well.