Again With Mindset

Speaking of mindset.  As we draw closer to the end of the year many of us set goals for the New Year and find ways of breaking those goals.  If you do nothing else for the year, I would encourage you to adopt a growth mindset.  What is a growth mindset?  The link below explains the idea much further, however in short it the idea that what the talent and brains you were born with does not limit what you can do.  Practice and study can make all the difference to whether you are smarter, stronger, better, faster etc.

http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/index.html

I would apply this idea to how you begin your year of shooting.  Commit yourself to practicing your fundamentals, practicing your marksmanship and practicing mindset.

Mindset: Play to Win

When I was in high school I played soccer for two years.  During practice the coaches would tell us to give a 110% effort, to practice like we would play at the next game.  Going through the motions was not an option.  I took this advice to heart, so when I practiced, I gave it my all.  Then when I faced my opponent, I knew what I was made of.  Injuries, concussions and grass in my teeth were the metric of whether I sufficiently battled the other team for the winning goal.  Fast forward 20 years and I find myself teaching the same concept to new shooters.  Practice like you will play.  Unlike my former soccer schedule, we may never face our gun fighting opponent on the field.

There are so many memes and slogans online to help get us into the mindset of winning the fight. However after much discussion with a good friend of mine, who is a retired Sherriff Deputy, teaching someone resolve can be a difficult task.  Resolve when used as a verb, it is to settle or find a solution to a problem, dispute or contentious matter, to decide firmly on a course of action.  As a noun, resolve is the firm determination to do something.  Synonyms include a decision, resolution or commitment.  Keeping this in mind, you need all of the defined characteristics to win a fight.  One approach is to train for specific scenarios or those situations which would occur most often.  Another approach is to develop the determination to respond to every scenario or situation which could occur.  These two approaches differ in that one conditions your actions and the other conditions your thought process.

Resolve is more than simply knowing what to do when.  Resolve is a state of mental preparedness to take definitive action.  You must be dedicated to learning, training and practicing the skills needed to be flexible within your defensive strategy.  How does a shooter prepare her mind for the fight?  Practice like you play and play to win.

Decision, resolution and commitment are words that describe a steadfast choice. Having the resolve to win is a choice.  A choice that I believe needs to be made early in the game.  At first, this kind of thinking may seem difficult to focus on or seem easy to attain.  All I have to do is decide to act, right. In reality, it is a change to your internal monologue.  Whatever you normally think about during the day, you must make subtle adjustments to your thoughts and view your surroundings with caution.  Simply it can be called situational awareness, but I prefer the description as a change to your overall mindset.  I am aware of what is going on around me.  I am ready and able to handle myself in that situation.  It is difficult to maintain a heightened level of awareness for great length of time, particularly in your own home, which is considered a sanctuary from the outside world.  However you must make a conscious effort to remain alert to your environment, whatever it is.

Keep in mind the five levels of awareness -

Unaware – These are times when you are asleep, watching TV, occupied with a specific task and daydreaming.

Aware – You are conscious of your surroundings, cognizant of those around you, have mentally identified potential threats and where they may emanate from.

Alert – A specific potential threat or threats have been identified; this is a heightened state of awareness.

Alarm – Whatever action was planned in the alert level is now implemented.  Again, taking action does not necessarily mean using force.

How do I develop my resolve?

1.       Decide to prevail.

2.       Maintain an appropriate level of awareness.

3.       Create your self defense plan.

4.       Train for the skills needed in an emergency.

5.       If possible, participate in force on force training.

6.       Practice for your “game day”.

7.       Practice for your “game day”.

Understand that while you may have developed your resolve, both psychological and physical responses can be a battle to overcome in your practice.  Training for stress is crucial to prevail in an encounter.  Your goal is to acclimate yourself to performing well under stress.  This can be done through timing yourself while you shoot, raising your heartrate through exercise prior to shooting or entering a competitive match.

When I played soccer, I was a part of a team.  I was part of a team that had already made the decision before we stepped onto the field that we would win.  We wouldn’t give up, we would keep trying to score goals, and we would do what it took to get those goals.  Preparing for game day meant we already decided we would win.

Fire Drills

Remember back when we were kids in school?  Once a year there would be a fire drill, when we were led outside to the playground, check to be sure everyone was accounted for and then file back into class.  I don’t know of many school aged children who took it seriously.  It was a break in the monotony of our math lessons and a chance to see our friends in another classroom.  These fire drills are meant to practice the school’s emergency plan in the event of a fire at school. What if the drill included the smell of smoke or the sound of emergency vehicles?  Would we have taken the situation more seriously?

Practice time shooting at the range is no different.  To get the most out of our time and ammo, we should challenge our effort as if we were role-playing our emergency plan.  We don’t want to simply go through the motions lazily like when we were kids walking in line for those fire drills. Once we have mastered the fundamentals and our shots are consistent, increasing the level of complexity or adding a source of stress to our practice is the next step.  Stress adds realism to your shooting experience.  When controlled carefully, a small amount of pressure while shooting can benefit you exponentially when a real emergency occurs.

For a new shooter, just thinking about the fundamentals you need to perform is enough to add a sufficient amount of pressure.  Competition between friends for a higher score or the loud bang of a rifle in the shooting stall next to you can take you off your target.  In fact, changing the location of the range or even the firearm used produces a high level of anxiety with a new shooter.  Learning to work within those parameters is a great place to start.  With more experience, one would not be as easily affected by these circumstances.

Let’s take it one step further.  Last month I became certified as an Instructor to teach the NRA course Personal Protection in the Home.  One of the training exercises was to first shoot a group of six shots “leisurely” hitting the center of the target.  There was no time constraint, no rush, just shoot at your own pace.  We marked our grouping and were instructed to shoot two shots as fast as we could, successfully placing them in the same area as our previous ones.  Our instructor timed us and called out our missed shots, driving us to go faster and faster.

Even this small amount of pressure, which I was not accustomed to, revealed several things.  Increased heart rate, a tendency to jerk the trigger and rushing to make the shot indicated my level of anxiety.  The addition of a harmless timer and the mild embarrassment of missed shots being exposed for all to hear were more than enough to degrade everyone’s performance – especially mine.  However, each successful pair solidified my confidence and experience under these conditions.   I knew what to expect and every effort came more natural than the last.  After the first few drills I began to relax and the startled feeling from the clock didn’t affect me as it did on my first few attempts.

Working through malfunctions and reloads at top speed will certainly improve your response time until you are no longer thinking about shooting, but simply shooting.  Recording your speed on these tasks will give you a baseline and show your progress.  Any demonstration of skill requires some amount of pressure in order for us to improve.  Our end goal should be to establish the muscle memory and mental stamina to offset the body’s natural reactions in an emergency.    Think back at your school’s fire drill, the goal was to get you out of the building safely, quickly and, most of all, calmly.

Definitions: Mindset & Levels of Awareness

Mindset (Oxford Dictionary) is the established set of attitudes held by someone: "the region seems stuck in a medieval mindset", a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations, the thought processes characteristic of an individual or group.

Unaware – These are times when you are asleep, watching TV, occupied with a specific task (for example when I’m writing this) and daydreaming.

Aware – You are conscious of your surroundings, cognizant of those around you, have mentally identified potential threats and where they may emanate from.

Alert – A specific potential threat or threats have been identified; this is a heightened state of awareness.

Alarm – Whatever action was planned in the alert level is now implemented.  Again, taking action does not necessarily mean using force.

Maintaining Awareness – It is difficult to maintain a heightened level of awareness for great length of time, particularly in your own home, which is considered a sanctuary from the outside world.  Make a conscious effort to remain alert to your environment, whatever it is.

Below is a link for a watered down (practical everyday person) OODA loop.

The Blue Collar OODA Loop

Natural Aiming Area and Flash Sight Picture

“You can’t miss a shot fast enough.”

A shooters natural aiming area (or NAA) is the instinctive alignment of the shooter, gun and target in a specific stance.  A good defensive shooter is one where their natural aiming area can be achieved in a variety of positions.  Practicing good fundamentals will strengthen your natural aiming area, so that you will stop thinking about the fundamentals and instead naturally assume a good shooting position.

In a close range encounter, you will not be able to achieve a perfect sight picture.  The additional skill to your NAA is flash sight picture.  Flash sight picture is an imperfect alignment of your target as you recover from your firearm’s recoil.  Specifically, it is used to quickly acquire your target during a rapid, close range engagement.  Think of the last time you were shooting at the range.  With your eyes focused on the front sight you should be able to see the recoil of your pistol go up then down onto your target.  As soon as the front post is coming into the target, you will get an instantaneous sight picture of your target.  This is your flash sight picture.

You need to develop your skills in both your natural aiming area and flash sight picture to shoot fast and accurately in a defensive situation.  One more thing to think of, the farther the target is away from you’re the more time you have to acquire your sight picture.  Conversely the closer the target, the less time you have to acquire proper sight picture.

Next time we will return to preparing yourself mentally in a defensive shooting situation.

Home Defense

Today, I am opting to share a link to Personal Defense Network's article, the Five Fundamentals of Home Defense.  A couple years ago I was beefing up on my knowledge of what to do if my home was invaded and came across a similar article from PDN.  I thought it was very informative and helpful to know what to do in case of an emergency.  What it also gave me was a baseline for all the other information I wanted to learn and a premise of how to view my own personal safety.

Five Fundamentals for Home Defense

Defensive Accuracy versus Target Shooting

“A slow hit beats a fast miss, but there is such a thing as taking too much time.”

What is defensive accuracy?  Defensive accuracy is the ability to shoot the center of mass as fast and accurately as you can, the resulting shots should be covered by the spread of your hand.  As we progress from novice to intermediate shooters, I would hope that shooters’ goals will also change.

Many beginners learn the fundamentals and focus on target shooting.  To review the six fundamentals – stance, grip, trigger control, sight picture/sight alignment, breath and follow through.  All of these fundamentals should be performed perfectly in order to hit a bullseye.  In contrast to defensive accuracy where your fundamentals may not be perfect, your ability to stop the threat will be.

Take sight alignment.  There is a degree of deviation from perfect sight alignment when shooting for defensive accuracy.  Aim at the center of mass of the exposed target area, when aligning your sights and acquiring sight picture, your shots will be spread across your target.   To determine your accuracy, your shots should be about the size of a sheet of copy paper.  You are looking at a larger area and at a closer range as your target. A defensive encounter will not afford you the time to gain a perfect sight picture as it does in the range.  Therefore you will need to practice a new set of skills.

Do not think of defensive accuracy and target shooting as opposites.  They are stages in the progression from being a beginner to becoming a marksman.  As first you are only concentrating on the basics.  You want to perfect these before moving on.  This may mean that you skills will allow you to shoot a small 3-4 inch grouping on your target.  Once you are satisfied with your progress, try shooting a piece of paper as your target.  First shoot slowly and keep in mind your fundamentals.  Then change to a clean target and shoot faster.  Aim for one shot every two seconds.  Assess your progress and continue until all your shots are on the sheet of paper.

Next time we will cover natural point of aim and flash sight picture.

Natural Response to Fear

There are five psychological responses to a threatening encounter – fight, flight, freeze, posture and submit.  Every encounter is different and there is no way that you will be able to predict your response regardless of your previous experiences.  This is where your versatile training and becoming flexible in your response comes into play.

Fight – the fight response is using whatever force is reasonable to prevent harm.  Deadly force may only be used in the event of an imminent threat of severe harm or death.  You must become familiar with your local laws and what is to be expected from the legal process if your plan includes deadly force.

Flight – also known as retreat.  Fleeing is not always possible without incurring injury to yourself.

Freeze – in the event of a life threatening encounter you may be taken by surprise and incapable of any action.  Be aware that this is a possible reaction and train to reduce its effects.

Posture – is combat without contact.  In the animal kingdom, this is usually seen as puffing up, growling, baring teeth, but not actually fighting.  The end result sought is for one side to back down or retreat.

Submit – is completely giving in to the adversary. 

In some cases, these responses may lead to another response and escalate the situation.  Know what you will do in any of these cases, role play and discuss your plan with others who may be available during an emergency.

In addition to the mental state, you should also be aware of your physical responses to a stressful life threatening encounter.  These include loss of fine motor skills, tunnel vision, auditory exclusion (unable to hear/speak), time dilation (time slows down) and adrenaline rush.

Both psychological and physical responses can be a battle to overcome in your practice.  Training for stress is crucial to prevail in an encounter.  Your goal is to acclimate yourself to performing under stress.  This can be done through timing yourself while you shoot, raising your heart rate through exercise prior to shooting or entering a competitive match.

Preparing You for Your Personal Protection, Part 2

Whenever you start a new project, whether it is a new home project or training in first aid, you want to be sure you have the proper tools at your disposal.  Aside from learning the basic safety rules of handling a firearm, you will also want to learn how to respond to an emergency where a firearm will be used.  In short, just because you know how to shoot a bullseye doesn’t guarantee that you will know what to do when defending yourself with a firearm.

Mindset.  This is one of the first and most important tools at your disposal.  Arming yourself with the correct mindset will be your best defense against an assailant.   Mindset is your ability to never give up, to be on your guard at all times and respond accordingly.  Responding under stress should be a part of your training at the range and practiced at home.  Training your mind how to respond in an emergency is the same as preparing how to take the final exam in the field of your choice.

There are several steps after equipping yourself with a mindset to win and fight.  First, develop a personal protection plan.  This plan should be what you will do in a confrontation as well as what to do to avoid a confrontation.  Avoiding a situation is equally, if not more important than planning what to do in the event of one.  Don’t think of it as “running away”, but rather adopting a lifestyle where you are choosing to avoid the situation before you are forced to deal with a situation.

Visualize and practice the plan, while you are at the range and at home.  When you are shooting paper targets, imagine the target running towards you.  When you are dry firing at home, imagine there is a threat entering your home.  What would you do?  How would you handle yourself?  Continue this practice and seek additional training.  Your end goal is to be confident in your skills to defend yourself.  Mindset is crucial to your success and your ability to perform under pressure.

Finally, learn to control the encounter.  In the event of a home invasion and you find yourself face to face with an intruder, stay as far away as possible (avoid the threat).  If you surprise the intruder, and are able to hold them at gun point, do not approach them.  Once you have taken command of the situation, the intruder has three choices; they can flee, comply or challenge you.

-          If they have chosen to run away, let them run away.  Call the police and report the situation.

-          If they comply have him/her lie face down, away from you, with arms spread wide, and palms up.  Shout your commands and do not reason with them.  Call the police and report the situation.

-          If they decide to confront you, this is where the final steps of your personal protection come into play.

Once the encounter is over, there are five common responses that we will discuss next time.

In the meantime, take a look at this link -

 http://www.breachbangclear.com/mindset-v-hardware/

Preparing You for Your Personal Protection, Part 1

A Gun Owner’s Responsibilities

American’s enjoy a right that citizens of many other countries do not – the right to own firearms.  But with this right comes a responsibility.  It is the gun owner’s responsibility to store, operate and maintain his or her firearms safety.  It is the gun owner’s responsibility to ensure that unauthorized or untrained individuals cannot gain access to his or her firearms.  And it is the gun owner’s responsibility to learn and obey all applicable laws that pertain to the purchase, possession and use of a firearm in his or her locale.  Guns are neither safe nor unsafe by themselves.  When people learn and practice responsible gun ownership, firearms are safe. – NRA Guide to the Basics of Personal Protection in the Home

One of the most important factors for gun safety is to understand the NRA’s three safety rules of gun handling.

1 Always keep you gun pointed in a safe direction. This means any direction where if an accidental discharge were to occur you would not harm someone.  This also means you do not point your gun at anything you do not want to destroy.

2 Keep you finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.  Finger simply off the trigger but alongside the trigger guard, in my opinion is not an option.  The safer choice is indexed alongside the frame of the gun.  This habit will also prevent accidental discharge while drawing from a holster.

3 Keep your firearm unloaded until ready to use.   Ready to use is the key phrase here.  Ready to use will depend on your situation and your surroundings.  In your holster as every day carry = ready to use.

Understanding the responsibilities of gun ownership widens the gap between those casual users who shoot for fun and those who want to expand their skill set into personal defense.  Using a firearm as self-defense is a tool of last resort, once the round has left the barrel there is no taking it back.  So you must be sure that you are prepared and adopted the mindset to end another’s life if the situation calls for it.

Deciding to use a firearm in self-defense, users need to evaluate their personal ethics, morals and beliefs as they pertain to taking a life.  If you have an objection to using deadly force, firearms should be omitted from your personal defensive plan.  Only you can decide if using deadly force is right for you.  Remember, there are other options for personal defense and all of your options should be evaluated before deciding on what to include in your plan.

Before you decide to train with any weapon, the first tool in your kit should be the proper mindset.   I will dive further into this topic next time.

Tip of the Week: 90% of the Game is Mental

90% of the Game is Mental – We’ve covered a lot of different topics in our emails.  I never know what will get people inspired or answer unasked questions.  For this week, I want to take a little break and offer some of my own advice.  Do not underestimate the mental game in shooting.  It is a delicate balance between proven confidence and thinking you’re better than you are.  I’ve shared with you information regarding stress and shooting and how it can affect your skills.  This is where your mental stamina needs to be exercised as well as your physical muscle memory.  I can say through personal experience my skills have suffered greatly under pressure.

How do we increase our mental strength?  Not sure if it helps, but I guess you could imagine the target naked.  But seriously, visualizing the target coming at you or imagining yourself in an emergency situation can help.  When testing my skills, I make sure I understand what I’m being asked to do.  I repeat the instructions if I am unsure.  Then, I perform the skill at a comfortable speed.  Finally, I imagine myself in a life or death situation.  If this was the “real deal” what would I be doing?  Can I see my target, can I hear further instructions, do I see the people around me, did the shot go where I want it, can I see if I missed, am I functioning on autopilot?  These are all questions I try to think of, while shooting as accurately and fast as I can.  At the same time take a breath and understand that it is all “play” in friendly competition.  That should help to take the edge off.  See what I mean by a delicate balance?

It’s a lot to think about.  In a few weeks, many of you will be thinking about this as you enter the range on a Thursday.

Tip of the Week: Protecting Your Family with Kids in Tow

Some pretty good advice.  Every family has different needs to plan for in an emergency; from kids, elderly, pets, two stories versus single story homes, disabilities, etc.  But the key with all of these differentials is to practice your plan.  This week’s tip focuses primarily on defending with one arm while holding a small drooling machine with your other arm.  There’s a link in the article that takes your to the author’s website, check it out there is some other information that is pertinent for families.

http://www.breachbangclear.com/what-if-youre-armed-and-carrying-a-minion/

Advanced Squared - Day One

CCLSC recently secured some space to do some additional training over the next few months.  With limited local training available, CCLSC decided to work together with local oil company PCEC and our sponsor Tacti-Cool to pilot some advanced training.  Hence "Advanced Advanced" was born.

To participate, CCLSC members must have completed the Advanced Pistol class at Tacti-Cool and be able to demonstrate several key skills that will form the core of our training.  Proficiency in drawing from a holster, reloads, malfunctions and basics in rifle shooting.

Our first meet up focused on a basic review of qualification, shooting from behind a barrier on both the right and left hand sides, basic reloads, tactical reloads, cover versus concealment, follow up shots and multiple targets. Rifle drills included shooting from behind a barrier, follow up shots, optics/red dot sights, and multiple targets.

Shellie and Kanani running pistol drills.

Getting started with safety briefing and instructions for the next drill

Nicole shooting rifle.

Ali practicing the drill, while Kanani waits her turn.

Kanani shooting from behind a barrier.

Shellie working on her rifle drills with multiple targets.

Shellie working on her pistol drills -
shooting from behind a barrier.

Kanani waiting for "go ahead" from Matt.

Ali, shooting her pistol from behind the barrier.

Nicole, taking her target down from behind the barrier.

Kanani, peering out from behind the barrier and
taking her target down.

Ali, Nicole and Kanani enjoying themselves.

Matt giving reviewing rifle basics, while Flood oversees the instruction.

Kanani getting additional instructions for the drill.

Ali shooting rifle from behind the barrier.

Kanani shooting the rifle drill.

CCLSC getting ready to unload their rifles the "old fashioned way".

CCLSC arsenal.

A little downrange camera action.

Shellie and Nicole watch as Ali shoots her rifle drill with multiple targets.

That's so CCLSC!
From left to right: Ali, Matt, Shellie, Kanani, Flood and Nicole

Ladies' Night

This week's practice we worked on clearing malfunctions with emphasis on not knowing that was the "test".  We are slowly working towards shooting under stress.  As was noted during my "test", when you're at the range you're more sensitive to the conditions of your firearm.  However, when you are in a fight for your life, you won't have the fine motor skills to process that kind of information.  So, we need to always assume a malfunction and "slap and rack".  A good lesson to be reminded of.

Kanani shooting her Springfield 1911.

Erin preparing to send some lead downrange.

Ladies' Night at Tacti-Cool Gun's & Gear - rarely does this
happen during practice, but when it does it's awesome!

Nicole and Shellie smiling for the camera.

CCLSC officially has a Facebook Page!  You can find us on Facebook at CCLSC.  Like us and tell your friends to do the same.  I will be using Facebook as an additional vehicle to keep in contact with all of you, post pictures from our events and practices and share general firearm news/information.  You do not need a Facebook account to view our CCLSC page.  And don’t forget, we also have a blog, where you can view information about CCLSC.

https://www.facebook.com/cclsc

Tip of the week: Pay Attention or Pay the Price – It’s a short one, and straight to the point.  Pay attention.  Previous articles have been helping us gather information and create a baseline to become better aware of our surroundings.  At the end of the article is a set of questions to ask yourself and help you begin mentally preparing yourself to respond to most situations.  “Being hard and dangerous won't do you a bit of good if you never see it coming.”  I couldn’t have said it better myself.

http://www.breachbangclear.com/pay-attention-or-pay-the-price/

Mindset Is Your Most Important Defensive Tool

This week at CCLSC we were able to think outside the box about mindset and our training.  We had a good discussion of our options available to us and being better prepared in a defensive situation.  As we approach the start of Women’s 101 and Advanced Pistol we want to be prepared to learn both how and when to shoot – without hesitation.  Without regular training and practice the natural response is to hesitate in any emergency. We certainly cannot predict every situation or the exact parameters of any or all emergencies; however, we can decide right now what we would do if anything does happen.

Julie and Matt discussing mindset.

Ali and Matt discussing mindset.

Tip of the week: Are you a soft target? - At the start of this year, I read a lot of information on topics ranging from the OODA loop, situational awareness, mindset and how to prepare for your families’ safety.  The article chosen is a good starting point that can work for everyone, regardless of your shooting status.  Read it, reply back if you want to discuss it and I think if this is all you implement in your day to day routine, you will be better off.

Have an excellent 4^th of July weekend - stay safe.

Tip of the Week: Mindset

Mindset is incredibly important in anything you do.  Especially when it comes to your own safety.  Take a moment and check out the video posted at Girls Guide To Guns with Natalie Foster featuring Dom Raso of Dynamis Alliance.