Fixing The Focus.
I enjoy shooting. I always have. I find it challenging, relaxing, and fun. I think the skills learned and acquired in shooting compares to Fixing the Focus in our own lives. I will not get too technical in my descriptions in order to keep this piece shorter than what it could be.
Generally, when shooting, you are shooting at a target, whether it is a static paper target, or some sort of reactive target. Hitting the target is your goal. Next, most firearms have a set of sights on them, most of the time a front and rear sight. When these sights are properly aligned with the target, you know that having the shot strike the target is highly probable. In our life, the target is the goal. The rear sight, which we look through first, is our priorities. Priorities sharpen our focus forward to the front sight, which are our plans. So, when our priorities, plans, and goals all line up, we know that we CAN reach the goal.
But there is more to it, more possibility. Stick with me here.
Most firearms today have the ability to affix an optical sight of some kind. Some are a relatively simple red dot sight, which have a single dot viewed through a lens that replaces the front and rear sight. Others have magnification, ranging from a little magnification to a lot of it. This gives the shooter the ability to see very specific details on the target. The reticle or crosshairs that is viewed through the scope can inform the shooter of target distance, dimensions, and other information. So, the tube that we are looking through is still our priorities, and the dot or reticle is still our plan, but with the ability to zoom in on our target, our goal, we have changed the range of our focus. We can now begin to hone in, to lock-in, to fix our focus, even if the target is an extended distance away.
But that is just the hardware part of it. There is still our part, the software part in this process.
How we hold ourselves, how we grip the firearm, how we breathe, and how we squeeze the trigger all affect the process of firing the firearm. If we are not steady, the firearm moves about, potentially spoiling the shot. How we breathe also affects this. It becomes an issue of timing. In the shooting world, the best time to shoot is during what is referred to as the respiratory pause. This is the short pause when a person finishes taking a breath, or when they have exhaled the breath. The trigger squeeze only begins to occur when all other things are in sync. The position of the finger on the trigger and how it is squeezed can also affect the shot. Too much finger tip placed on the trigger can cause a shift in the firearms position and effect the direction of the shot. Jerking the trigger back, instead of applying a steady rearward pressure will have much of the same effect. These software fundamentals are examples of self-knowledge. Being aware of your capabilities and limitations are important in achieving your goals. Being able to bring the proper application of the fundamentals, whether in shooting or reaching your goals, all greatly increase the likelihood and reality of hitting your target or achieving the success your seek.
But there can be obstacles in your way.
There are factors that we do not always have control over. In shooting it can be weather, distance, and light conditions. In life it can be family issues, health concerns, work issues, or other economic factors.But these can be accounted for, with measures put into place in order to work with and around them to still keep striving for and hitting the goal. In shooting, we can use devices or knowledge to measure wind direction and speed, elevation, and air temperature. This information can be plugged into a ballistic computer which can extrapolate a proper "hold" on the target, which may necessitate the sights not being pointed directly on the target. In our lives, it can be the same way. We have resources and people available to us to help provide us with the information, counsel, and assistance we need. Sometimes we have to adjust our aim, in order to account for factors we may not have previously thought of, in order to achieve our goals.
But there is more to learn and apply. We are almost there. There are two more important aspects to shooting, and those same skills can be applied in our own lives.
The first is "calling the shot." Calling the Shot is the ability to know what you saw when the shot was fired. Yes, with both dry fire training and live fire training, you can learn to see where the sight or sights were pointing at when the shot goes off. In our lives this could be compared to timing. Knowing when the time is right to act on a thought or plan. Success in our life often comes down to timing. Pushing too fast or not acting fast enough both can negatively affect what we are attempting to do. But knowing when the time is right, or when the conditions are right, we can then successfully squeeze the trigger on that plan and move forward in the intended direction.
The second one is "follow through." There is a connection between this and calling the shot. This is often overlooked as an important part of shooting. When the trigger is squeezed and the shot is fired, the projectile is not exiting the barrel instantaneously. Again, with training and experience, the shooter will be able to do several things at once: manage recoil, continue looking through the sight or sights through to the projectiles impact into the target, and still maintaining trigger control. Depending on the conditions at the time, but especially if you are using a scope, you can even see the round affecting the air around it while in flight. Possibly my most favorite part of follow through is resetting the trigger. This is achieved by very carefully letting out on the trigger until you feel it reset, but not going any farther, nor removing your finger from the trigger. If you are planning to make a follow up shot right away, you have just set the conditions for a better shot. The trigger is ready for the immediate shot, without any of the slack or creep needing to be removed in anticipation of the next shot. In our lives, the ability to follow through when we put a plan into action helps us understand the immediate and secondary effects of our actions, priming us for any necessary adjustments. An additional help in this process can be a spotter, or someone who has a vested interest in you, that can be there beside you, and can acknowledge the success or failure, and help advise and guide your decision making process for the future plan or shot.
But how do we achieve all this, whether in shooting or in life? Two words: Practice and discipline. By the continuous repetitions of practice and the growing of experience and knowledge by applying the discipline to learn from both success and failure, we can Fix the Focus and achieve excellence. We can learn to shoot or act faster, move when necessary, ignore distractions, and hit what we are aiming for. It is continual learning experience. We can and must learn from every shot and every action.
*****
Yes, it is bit simplistic, however, I was writing for an audience that needed a bit of simplicity to understand the concepts I was trying to share.
No comments:
Post a Comment