(You think that’s a typo, don’t you?)
Two different things got me thinking about this recently. First was Tim (TCinVA) writing his post “Good Enough” on Gun Nuts, and talking about how relative the term is.
The second involved an unplanned drill at the range last week. For giggles I set the target — 8″ circle at 7yd — for an eight second exposure and tried to draw from concealment, fire five, reload and fire five, and then reload a second time and fire five more shots. I barely made it in time and missed four of the fifteen shots. It was far from impressive. But then the guy taking his first pistol lesson on the lane next to me came over and talked about how awesome it looked. I thanked him. But really, I wanted to pull him aside and show him some YouTube videos so he understand just how much it sucked by comparison.
So when someone starts talking about what defines good in terms of shooting, it has to be in context. A two second draw wouldn’t earn you any congratulations among the group of guys I shoot with. But I’ve been to local club matches where a two second draw would make you king of their fiefdom. I remember shooting the IDPA Classifier fifteen years ago and making Master by a fraction of a second. I was so impressed with myself! Today I can shoot it about 20 seconds faster, and have watched too many people who can shoot it 10-15 seconds faster than that to feel too awesome about it.
The important thing is to focus on yourself and your skill. You can become your own idea of awesome.
And by then, your idea of awesome will have changed, and so will your goals.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
You’re.
Emanuel — re-read.
Regardless of the skill… Shooting, Motorcycle Riding, Computer Coding, Data Analysis there are 3 reposnse to the question “Are you good.”
1) Oh, No! I just started – This person is aware that they don’t know anything. They have no confidence in their abilities.
2) Yes. Yeah, I’m pretty good. I hold my own. Or any other positive response – This person has confidence in their skill and they are either over-confident because they haven’t seen what good is yet, or they are at the absolute top of their game. It doesn’t take long to realize which it is.
3) Nope. I suck. Now compared to… – When said with confidence, this person is likely better than the person asking the question. They are just more aware of what “Awesome” really means.
I’m blessed/cursed to have Rob Leatham, Angus Hobdell, Kelly Neal, and Nils Jonasson shoot at my home range, and the competition there is *fierce*.
It’s also a tad intimidating for a C Class USPSA shooter like myself. I can have the best run of my life on a stage, and then TGO will run it and do it in half my time with all A’s.
Reminding myself that yeah, I’m not the fastest (yet), but that I’m getting better as I practice is an important part of growing as a shooter.
Thanks. This is a really important thing to keep in mind. I beat myself up sometimes when I do something like spend 5 hours trying to figure out why a Samba server can’t authenticate against an Active Directory server; or spend 30 minutes solving a problem, which upon fixing I realize I’ve solved in 10 minutes in the past (in the past I would have just rebooted the Windows box, these days I’m used to solving more complex problems so I look for those first). Times like that I think I’m too stupid for this job and I should just go dig ditches.
I continue to be paid for the work I do tho, and while that doesn’t have the social affirmation of “Great job! I’m amazed by your skill and knowledge”; it is a comparatively objective metric of how good I am.
People keep paying you to teach them how to shoot fast. I’m sure they tell you at the end of class how amazing you are as an instructor. Maybe it isn’t the same as commendation by Rogers or Hackathorn, but it’s still worth a lot. Accept it. 🙂
Todd, I know this is probably the wrong way to get this info to you, but I’m in a hurry. Could you get this info out: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=drew%26michelle%20xoxo&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FDrewMichelleXoxo&ei=hUjBUOT0MdHciQKxg4GIDA&usg=AFQjCNEYxGBgoCD6pBbl0KDPQmVIe41zkw
A guy I work (Deputy) with and his wife were hit by a hit-n-run driver while vacationing in Mexico. They were both very close to dying. After a week of surgery in Mexico, they have both been airlifted to San Diego. Anyway, something I’ve been thinking alot about.
Thanks
Oooooohhhhhhhhhh. I get it now. 🙂
Well said Todd.
This would be like shooting with the same group of guys for years. We compare our abilities against each other with the “Best” being named AWESOME. Then we shoot with TLG and now we have a new yardstick by which to be measured.
Stay Sharp & Stay Safe!
Todd, one thing to always remember is that, yes, “good” is relative, but for the rest of the mortals that walk the Earth you are in the top 1% of the 1% of shooters they will ever see. Never forget that your bad day is someone else’s “I only wish I could be that good” day. Regardless of skill level, humility is the mark of the professional. Part of humility among the truly A-class shooters is recognizing that you are awesome and to not get sucked into be shamed of being off a little in front of mere mortals. 11 of 15 shots with two mag changes on a 7 yard target, much less an 8″ target, in less than 8 seconds is in fact “impressive” by any mere mortal standard. Must keep both feet planted on Earth.
Emanuel, hi brother!
Tim