tirpassion wrote:Dear friends,
An interesting thing happened today during my training session and I am a bit puzzled/perplexed. hvj Sir, I would request you to kindly throw some light on the following.
Having realized since some time now and particularly yesterday, I decided to work on my calls. Although I was doing well in SOA drills and shooting well, I found that my calls were not precise. So I did a box drill on call today. A real catastrophe; 32.5% in 40 shots. I started by placing a pellet on a target to materialize the call (as suggested by Guruji). it was miserable so I went for a 9 ring cutout of an AR target. The mistakes were not huge (by 5 to 8 mm I guess). But they were not exact even with the cutout.
On the contrary, I shot well, resultwise. To get over my disappointment of percentage, I was tempted to count the points and finally I did so. Once, then twice and then I recounted to be sure. 380/400 (23 tens, 17 nines and 3 eights). Amazing for me! I never achieved that to my knowledge, not even in a practice session. There were 5 bad shots, 3 eights and 2 very bad nines.
I am a bit perplexed because I do not know what to think. Is it very bad not to be able to make perfect calls? Was it just one lucky stint? Will this imperfection reflect on the result etc.?
best regards
tirpassion
A monk, when going to the market at the foothills of a mountain on which his monastry lay, trusted his own better judgement, over that of the mule he rode, to find the BEST path down, as well as up the mountain. One day, the monk was delayed in the market, well beyond daylight hours. As a result, he was forced to rely on the mules's memory, to trace the ususal path, up the steep mountain trail in the dark.
The Monk concentrated on keeping his BALANCE correctly on the mules back, so that the Mule could find it easier to climb the trail, which only he could trace, with his nose, ears, eyes and feet in total darkeness.
To the monk's surprise, they reached the Monastry in a shorter time in the darkness than what it would have taken during daylight.
Perplexed, the next day, the Monk went down the mountain and retraced the route taken by the Mule up the mountain trail in daylight. The Monk was surprised to see that the Mule had left the trail at the foot of the mountain itself and had quite easily managed up the mountain on a new trail! This trail though dangerous at times managed to reduce the travel time by a good hour! Since the Monk had no idea on how dangerous the new trail was in the darkness, he trusted the instincts of the mule, who in turn, given a free rein for the first time, disregarded the Monk's trail and forked his own to reach the Monastry well in advance.
Our subsconscious is like the Mule, our brain the conscious mind, is the monk. Like the Monk, who only concentrated on keeping his balance, your brain too concentrated only on the box drills. Leaving the mule to find a better path, your subconscious too unfettered by the conscious mind, was free to give you a far better performance.
I hope i have been amply clear in this little story of mine as to why you performed better AND WHY I ask people to concentrate fully on box drills. Like the Mule, your subconscious too will perform better.
Amen.