Two separate and almost opposite incidents recently focused my attention on learning curves as they relate to shooting:
- a buddy (and excellent shooter) failed to show significant improvement from Day One to Day Two during a class.
- some random doofus on a firearms forum started spouting off how expert he is now that he’s been through a 1-day training class.
So here you have two guys on completely opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to skill and experience. Both had one day of training recently and the results were completely different. The first shooter didn’t get any better at all, while the second has completely transformed overnight. Why?
Think of a 12oz drinking glass. If the glass has just one drop of water in it and I add another drop, now there is twice as much water. To outside observers it’s still just a tiny amount, but double is double. On the other hand, if I had 11oz of water in that glass and added a drop, the difference would be indiscernible.
Of course, it’s overly simplistic to think of every day on the range as an identical drop of water. Some “drops” will be bigger than others. Five days of intense training at a reputable school is going to lead to more change in your technique than fifteen minutes of dry fire in your basement every day for a week. An hour on the range with a qualified coach or shooting partner can reap far greater reward than weeks and months of solo practice.
Performance tracking becomes a particularly valuable tool here. As you get better, it becomes harder to see obvious jumps in improvement. Someone with a four second draw can get it down to three seconds with a little work. But if you have a two second draw and want to knock a whole second off of that, you’re looking at a lot of very serious, dedicated training. The learning curve really flattens out at the top end, and even small incremental improvements take time.
As a shooter, the trick is understand where you are on the curve. As a beginner, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that one day’s worth of training has elevated you into the stratosphere. As you advance, don’t let a single day’s performance overshadow the long term results you are getting.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Amen, Sir!! Well said.
“As a beginner, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that one day’s worth of training has elevated you into the stratosphere. As you advance, don’t let a single day’s performance overshadow the long term results you are getting.”
I would also add:
Don’t think you’re the only one who’s ever set out on this on this journey. See that well-worn path that stretches out in front of you to the horizon? Elves didn’t come build that just for you. It got that way from all the untold others who’ve gone before you.
Dunning-Kruger effect is in play also.
Simply awesome, Todd! Thanks for putting training in to perspective. Now if I can only find one of your courses near by…
Todd, did you ever finish the iPad app you were helping with for performance tracking?
The glass of water analogy is a good one. It’s the same with golf. Breaking 100 is exponentially easier than breaking 80. Handicaps and scores on various courses are only the tip of the iceberg in available performance tracking stats available for that sport.
It’s just plain simple. As you skills improve the effort needed to reach the “NEXT LEVEL” becomes just that much harder. We can take a novice and with a tweak here and a tweak there turn that 16 inch group into a 4 inch group. Take an Expert shooting a 1 inch group and for him to shoot a Masters .5 inch group is going to take some time refining and practice. All of us plateau at some point and it takes work to push past that plateau. Most cases a one days class won’t cut it.
Dah, where my head today, Todd said basically the same thing in his next to last paragraph. Sorry Todd
Jay C: Excellent point. I rarely run into the “I know it all” mentality from students on the range, luckily. It’s so much more prevalent on the internet because, let’s face it, on the ‘net anyone can claim anything.
DPUK: I had to Google that. Too many big words!
SecretNY: Three different people/groups have discussed app ideas with me. So far, none of them have gone live. Hopefully, we’ll see something in 2011.
“I rarely run into the “I know it all” mentality from students on the range, luckily.”
Of course, if someone claims to know it all, they’re unlikely to show up for a class anyway. (Although it does happen sometimes, I guess…)
Recently had a class where the instructor showed me a technique I’d seen before and discarded. When he explained it “his” way, it “clicked”. Sometimes getting off that plateau is a matter of very small but frequent steps.
How about the “self-proclaimed experts” that heard something that a high profile trainer said, read something in a magazine, or on the Internets? Before they have a full grasp of the concepts, they run around spouting these these little tidbits to anyone that will listen.
As a neophyte, I have a very simple way of giving myself a reality check: whenever I feel I’m getting a bit too cocky, I just watch footage of Todd, Dave Sevigny, or another pistol shooter who is far more skilled than I am. This does two things: it keeps me honest and gives me a goal to shoot for (no pun intended).