Goal Setting

By: Paul Giambrone

So we find ourselves nearing the end of another skeet season and calendar year and I hope all of you and your family are in good health and are enjoying all that 2014 has brought to you. This is the time of year where I start to reflect on my season and start to gear up for the off-season and next year. Upon reflection of each season, there are always some things that I wish had gone better while other things went better than expected. I think it just about pars out each year. This year was quite a different year for me. This will be the first year in competing with an infant at home and what an eye opener it has been. Each time I had to go out of town got harder each time, especially since he has become mobile and very playful! My wife has been a trooper, basically handling almost everything with Paul, IV by herself with very little help. Which is why we are heading back to Louisiana at some point in the near future to be closer to family. Anyways, back to the goal setting. This year, my goals were kept very simple which, I feel, has helped me tremendously throughout the skeet season. The reason? I kept the pressure off of myself.

I hear so many people talk about goals and they get very specific in their goals to the point in which I feel they hurt themselves due to putting so much pressure on themselves. For example, my great friend and squad-mate told me coming into this year he had zero expectations out of himself and that he just wanted to shoot and have fun. Agreed. I feel the same way about my shooting, with a small addition. My goal is to take every single shot to the best of my ability with no questions asked. Pretty simple goal right? Most people think that I go to a shoot to win the shoot and win so many gun titles, etc, etc, etc. Tell me this, don’t you think if I accomplish the goal I just stated that all of those things will happen on their own? Good point. So back to my buddy, the first shoot of the season with little practice and zero expectations goes out to a top 10 shoot, his first of the year, shoots a 399X400 including running 100s in the last 3 events, place in the top 3 in 2 guns (including winning one) and wins the HOA outright. Why was he able to accomplish this? One, because he is an excellent shooter and is more than capable, but the main reason is he went to the tournament to just shoot, not win. This means he tried his best without trying too hard or “pressing” and got the results we all wanted.

Another great shooter who shot our sport for a few years and is now competing in International tournaments experiences the same thing. I worked with this young man several times in American Skeet and have now been helping him with his mental game in International Skeet. It only took him a little over a year to get on Team USA (for Juniors) and did not miss the Men’s team by much! He is only 16… After being named to the team, he felt added pressure and some goals began to change because of the pressure. There were several tournaments in a row where he would start strong (maybe a 23, 24 or a 25) then shoot a mysterious 19 or 20, then finish with 23, 24 or 25. This happened again and again which prompted a series of texts:

Shooter: “Bro I need help!”
Me: “What’s up dude?!?!”
Shooter: “Dude I started so strong and then shot a 19! What do I do?!?!”
Me: “Well, what did you do the first couple of rounds?”
Shooter: “Did what we always talked about, just taking my best shots.”
Me: “Did you try to take more than your best shots in the 3rd round?”
Shooter: “Yes, I tried to make the shots too perfect.”
Me: “So, what do you think you need to do?”
Shooter: “Get back to taking my best shots, nothing more, nothing less.”
Me: “Precisely! Go get em bro!”

This is a conversation that I end up having with a lot of my students when their mindset changes as they shoot better and better. A couple of arguments could be made here so let’s try to cover them. First point is that when we start to do really well, we have a tendency to pay “more” attention to detail or get a little “careful” when we shoot, resulting in us trying to make too perfect of a shot, which results in a miss and a subsequent free-fall. This generally happens late in the 2nd round, the 3rd round, or in the beginning of the 4th box. Thoughts like “I could get my first 75 or 100 straight” or “I can maybe get in the shoot-off with the big boys” or “If I just finish these targets, I can get my best score and accomplish my goal.” These thoughts and about 1,098,780 more can be the kiss of death during our event because it changes our mindset. Then once we miss a shot, the demons really start talking to us which is why we end up with that one bad round. Before that happens, you have to ask yourself, “how did I get in this position?” I know I do when the demons start talking to me… My answer is always, “I am executing my shots one station, one target at a time and doing my job.” So the million dollar question is, why change the mindset that got you in this position??? DUH! There is only one person that controls our mind so take the reins and get the job done! That is how the top shooters get through shooting 100 targets without missing and shoot high consistent scores, we do not allow our minds to control us, rather we control our minds. Having confidence in your setups (hold points, look points, etc) always helps too. Which, if you are shooting well, obviously, they are working, so just keep doing the same thing!

I strongly feel that one of the key reasons why I am able to keep my mind in check is because I keep my mental routine the same and I do not have goals that add pressure to myself. The one, simple goal, is all that I have. Do I have longer term goals for my shooting? Of course I do, but the only way to accomplish those goals is to execute the one goal I have for the year for several decades to come. Things like shooting the most 400s and 500s, or having the most World Championships are things I would like to accomplish, but its not going to happen in one shoot or one year either. Tell me, if you get to the end of the season and you executed the one goal that I stated earlier (take the best possible shot you can one target at a time), could you have done any better? If you executed this goal properly, negative. Basically all I am saying is if you give every single shot your absolute best, you cannot do any better than that. You cannot do any better than your best so don’t even try. That doesn’t mean get sloppy either. Which brings us back to the last text I received from my shooter “Give it my best shot, nothing more, nothing less.” Tell me, if I have goals set and I fall short of those goals but gave every shot my absolute best, what is that going to do to my confidence? If I set all of these goals in the beginning of the year and do not accomplish all of them, what does that do to my confidence? There is a good way of using goal setting to help you, but most of the time we use them in a way that either puts so much pressure on ourselves which causes us to miss and fall short, or we set the goals where they are not obtainable and it destroys our confidence.

So how can you use goal setting to help you? Bob Palmer once asked me about goals and I told him that I really feel that goals aren’t good for shooting due to the reasons above. He said you are right, however, you can use goals to help you find your “zone” rather than work against you. I was intrigued so I asked how can we do that. He then asked me to visualize myself accomplishing some smaller, short term goals and asked me to identify how it would feel accomplishing those goals. I visualized them in detail and felt incredible upon my return and noticed it triggered my “zone.” I felt absolutely incredible, ready to actually go out and shoot to blow up some targets! Using goals in this way did two things for me and they can do the same for you: 1) It triggered my zone so it got me ultra focused and ready to go shoot 2) It boosted my confidence. How did it do that? Well, when you visualize yourself accomplishing those goals, it is telling your brain that you can actually do it. The more you visualize yourself accomplishing these goals, the more realistic they seem, which can help you in large ways.

If you have any questions or comments, please email me directly at info@gsclinics.com and visit breakmoretargets.com for more information. Please check the website for upcoming tournaments and clinics in your area. Keep in mind that GSC is now in the DFW area and will be for the foreseeable future. GSC is available to teach in the Dallas/Fort Worth area all year-round and is now offering ALL INCLUSIVE lesson packages in the DFW area. Please call or email today for lesson availability.

Tip of the month: Next time you are at the range, focus on executing your shots rather than scores or other goals. Work on your mental routine and focus on the shot at hand and enjoy the results!