Shooter's Success
Over the last fifteen years or more of teaching thousands of shooters, there's one element of basic firearm fundamentals that seem to allude many a shooter at times, myself included. We can go review the list: Stance, Grip, Sight Alignment, Sight Picture, Breath Control, Trigger Control & Follow Through...
Most shooters seem to pay attention to many of these but depending on the pressure applied and the number of rounds successfully reaching their mark and or how many targets need to be engaged; it seems that the one element of the fundamentals that's overlooked (no pun intended) is FOLLOW THROUGH.
We can agree that we see shooters all the time shoot fast and often sending more lead down range to "make up" for the lack of follow through. However, success on target no matter how serious the game played would be better achieved with that short-added time of preparation in getting those sights back on target....
You know the same applies in life. We go through it, looking at all the targets and spend much of our time on tricking out the gun, having all the gear, blowing all the ammo and sometimes that's good enough, but what is our end game, our final goal? What are we defining as true success? Some of this you will have to discover for yourself.
I would submit that if we truly want to be successful we will have to cultivate our passion, dedicate our lives to that passion, apply our focus and our diligence to some prep time to each and every (shot & target we want to strike) goal we desire so we may achieve it with surgical accuracy.
I'd also bring up the fact that being successful on the range and in life doesn't just happen by showing up! It takes dedication to the task, micro managing your every movement, working hard, looking for solutions, evolving ourselves to being more efficient, even refusing to listen to our own negativity. I’m telling you, You CAN make that shot, you can pursue that dream, you can become better than what you were before your follow through.
Another thing, if you miss go back to those fundamentals, apply them well, and never stop pushing yourself until you and you alone are satisfied with your target. You won’t always have your target agree with your expectations. That’s okay, keep learning, keep shooting and stay focused on your goals.
Pay attention to your follow through and you'll not only see your hits go up, but also getting closer each day to your personal success. Aim Small Miss Smaller, Work Hard, Love Longer...Go Make your Shot count! Remember, there's never enough time on that clock...
For Liberty,
Stephen D. Powell