Focused Practice

A consistent trait that all high-level practitioners of almost any craft seem to share in common is an ability to focus on improvement when practicing.  Pertaining to shooting, there is a difference between “practicing” and actually focusing on making progress.  Perhaps you have heard this said, that every round fired should serve a purpose.  The majority of people who shoot simply go to the range and make noise.  There is nothing wrong with shooting for fun alone, and that is a great thing.  However, the focus of this blog is continuing skills development with the defensive handgun, in particular. 

One approach that can help to foster skills development is to always have a plan when you visit the range, or in dry fire.  Identify the aspects of shooting or other gun handling that are giving you trouble and specifically focus on that.  Are you having trouble maintaining a solid group when shooting rapid strings of fire, like bill drills?  Work on that, specifically.  Are you having issues placing a solid fist shot from the holster?  Work on that, specifically, for an extended and focused period of time. 

Shooters who are really good seem to be, universally, masters of self-assessment.  They analyze every facet of minutia related to their performance and execution of the task.  The highest level shooters, USPSA Grand Master champions, will explain their process as it relates to practice and you would be quite sure that you need a flow chart to follow their line of thinking.  Shooting is simple in theory, but exceedingly difficult to do well in execution.  While focusing on task specific practice and sometimes kill the fun, consider your priorities regarding your shooting skill and take it from there.