A Knife Attack Changed His Life—and Practical Shooting: Grandmaster Steve Anderson

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Everybody thinks that positive self-talk, they think that you're supposed to lie to yourself.
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You're not.
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What you need to do is change who you are and what you do.
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If I'm afraid of classifiers that have one-handed shooting, I need to practice one-handed shooting.
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That's what I did.
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The first matches I went to, Circleville, Ohio, they would have a one-handed stage, and I would hear grown men crying, lamenting, tearing their clothes, and weeping at the early morning sun.
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Oh, I've got to shoot the gun one-handed.
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This is awful.
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And I said, I should probably practice that.
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And those were the first stages that I won't.
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Hello and welcome to Making Shooters Better, brought to you by Laser Ammo.
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Today's guest, Steve Anderson, is a US PSA grandmaster and teaches competition shooting at every level.
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He's the author of three books about competition pistol shooting.
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We'll ask him to talk about those in a little while.
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And hosts his own podcast, The Shooting Show.
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Steve got an appreciation for the mental game early on in his competition career and now devotes himself to helping others avoid struggle as they learn to shoot and compete.
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As a mental management certified instructor, Steve has a unique ability to make a direct connection between mental management and all funds, all forms of handgun competition shooting, particularly USPSA, IPSIC, IDPA, and Steel Challenge.
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Steve, welcome to Making Shooters Better.
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Hello, thank you so much for having me.
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Did did did AI craft that intro for you, or did you actually research all those things?
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I took them straight off your website, mate.
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Oh, that's fantastic.
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Yeah.
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Right.
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Okay.
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So yeah.
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So all those things are.
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Yeah, all those things are true.
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So I I invented the modern dry fire method.
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You know, 20 years ago, um, I was, I was, oh gosh.
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Do you want the do you want the three-minute version, the 13-minute version, or the 30-minute version?
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You can have whichever version you want.
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I want the one that's the most entertaining.
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The one that's the most entertaining is I was working in record stores.
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Okay.
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I was actually, if you Google Slam Circus and click images, you will see four people with very long hair who had a rock and roll band.
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And I uh that so then we were playing rock and roll, and Nirvana came out.
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You remember when when Nirvana came out and leveled the music industry?
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Okay, so that took out my band.
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We were gone.
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We were like the first casualty.
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We were so close to three record deals.
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So after that happened, I started working in record stores.
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And uh you have to Google record stores too if you're younger than, I don't know, 40, right?
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You've never been to a record store, right?
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Used to be a place you went to to get your music.
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Right.
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And you actually paid money and you could hold it and look at it and read it.
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It was so awesome.
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But I was working in record stores, and a guy came in with a K-bar, a K-bar knife and robbed me.
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And he tried to stab me with a K-bar knife over a stolen compact disc.
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Okay.
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So he did 28 days of a six-month sentence for what did they call it?
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Aggravated menacing.
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Not armed robbery, not attempted murder, aggravated menacing for trying to stab me with a K-bar.
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So he gets out of jail, and the prosecutor in Columbus, Ohio calls me on the phone and says, Hey, this guy's getting out of jail.
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You might want to get a gun.
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Imagine that.
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The prosecutor called me and told me to get a gun.
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So I was raised non-gun, not anti-gun, not non-gun.
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We didn't.
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My dad was the high school marching band director and the minister of music at the big church.
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We didn't need guns.
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My dad was famous.
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There was no crime in Ponka City, Oklahoma.
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There's there's there's no home defense, there's no concealed carry.
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So I went out and bought a Smith and Western 5906.
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And I felt a a need to be proficient with this thing.
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Okay.
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And in my mind, it was kind of like having a pet rattlesnake and keeping it secure.
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You know, ooh, this thing is really dangerous.
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I gotta be good with this.
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So I went to the indoor range and I started shooting 200 rounds a week at paper.
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So how old are you when this died?
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Uh 20, 25, probably.
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Okay.
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I was I was fresh out of the rock band.
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Yeah.
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Um, I had just gotten married for the first time.
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Um, and yeah, 25 years old.
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Still very enthusiastic and still pretty dumb because everybody's an idiot until they turn 25.
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And then men at 25 start getting a little bit smarter every year.
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Like we lose some dumbass every year.
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So I'm 53 and I've lost about half my dumbass, but I've still got a lot, you know?
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So I'm now shooting 200 rounds a week at the endorph range, getting good with my with my Smith and Wesson.
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And uh most of it is at a pop can on a string at 25 yards.
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Because they sold those for 50 cents.
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And that was so much more fun than paper targets.
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Okay.
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And then I said, okay, this is the classic gun owner thing.
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I'm gonna buy a 22 so I can save money.
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Well, that's not how it works.
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You buy a 22 and you just shoot more.
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So now I'm shooting 700 rounds a week at a pop can on a string at 25 yards.
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And I've never been to a match.
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I don't even know what I don't even know, I don't even know what a match is.
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And then I went there on a Friday night and they had a bowling pen match.
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And the bowling pins were at 21 feet.
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So think about a pop can at 25 yards versus a bowling pen at 21 feet.
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It was like a barn door, Terry.
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I couldn't miss.
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I came in second at my very first match.
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And then I realized, ooh, if I miss my first shot, I come in second.
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If I make my first shot, I come in first.
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So I started winning this match.
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And my very first dry fire drill was a bowling pin on a piece of paper in my basement.
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And I'd go from low ready to my bowling pen.
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Low ready bowling pin.
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And I started winning.
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And they said, hey, if you like this, you should come try steel challenge.
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I said, What's steel challenge?
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He said, just be here at this time.
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And I was like, eight o'clock in the morning?
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Because in rock and roll, you don't do anything before noon.
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Nothing before noon.
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Like eight o'clock in the morning.
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Is this real?
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So I went, and the first time I heard a bullet hitting a steel target, man, I was hooked.
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I did pretty good.
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And the guy at the gun store, he said to me, You're pretty good, but your draw is slow.
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I think you should drive fire.
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And I said, What's drive fire?
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And what happened next changed practical shooting.
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Because I'm getting goose when I'm just thinking about it.
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You ever heard of that that movie, the the butterfly effect, where something insignificant happens that causes ripples in the pond?
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Right?
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This conversation changed the course of practical shooting because he said to me, You need to dry fire.
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And I said, What's dry fire?
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He's just take your unloaded gun and patch this joint.
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But you need a timer, so I bought a timer.
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And I've I learned how to use part-times, and I I had these 12 drills.
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Well, something else happened after after Steel Challenge.
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He said to me, If you like this, you should try Ipsyc.
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And I said, What's Ipsy?
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He said, Well, you you know where the range is, just be here at eight.
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I was like, eight o'clock in the morning again.
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This is so stupid.
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So I went and on my very first field course, I shot every target twice, including all of the no-shoots.
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I shot every no shoot twice.
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Because I got like a I got like a like an eight-minute news shooter briefing, you know, and they never told me not not to shoot the white ones.
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So that's so that's how it happened.
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And then they said a little later on, I got this, I got this card from USPSA.
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It said A-Class.
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And I went back to my buddy, his name was Vern Walker, and I said, Vern, what's this?
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He goes, Oh, you're A-Class.
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I said, Is that good?
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That's pretty good.
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So, is there anything above that?
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Yeah, master.
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Anything above that?
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Grandmaster.
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Oh, that's what I'm gonna do.
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And they said, You can't do it.
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It's it's just not possible.
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And I said, Well, hang on now.
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I've been playing guitar for a while, and I can do Eddie Van Halen things, I can do Joe Sachiani things, I can do Ingvan Malmstein things.
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I'm pretty sure I can do Grandmaster things.
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And they said, Okay.
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And then nine months later, I was the first Grandmaster in in Ohio.
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Because he said to me, you need to drive fire.
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And so at that time, these were the 99 series classifiers.
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Most of them were some version of Six Freeload Six.
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And so I got really, really good at Six Freeload Six.
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And as a result, I became the first Grandmaster in Ohio.
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That's pretty darn good considering you were only in it for nine months before you arrived there.
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Mm-hmm.
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Well, so I I had a really unique advantage.
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So my father died before I knew he had any flaws.
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Okay.
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My dad died when he was about twelve.
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I'm sorry, when I was about twelve.
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He was the high school marching band director and the minister of music at at the big church.
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He was the most famous man in town because in in Oklahoma, the marching band was a bigger deal than the football team.
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So it was a big deal, right?
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And so he died before I knew he was imperfect.
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And so that inspired me to be, I suppose you could say, larger than life, you know?
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And it never occurred to me that I couldn't play guitar at a Eddie Van Halen level, that I couldn't write a book, that I couldn't be a grandmaster, because my dad did all these things.
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My dad was a grandmaster, right?
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He he actually did the Queen song, Another One Bites the Dust, with marching band and electric bass with the amplifier on a cart.
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So you're watching the marching band, right?
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And here comes boom boom boom boom bum bum boom.
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And the guy's playing electric bass on the football field with the amplifier on a push cart.
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Right?
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That was the kind of guy my dad was.
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So there's no reason I can't be a grandmaster.
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There's no reason I can't write books.
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And of course he had flaws.
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But he died before I knew he had flaws.
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He died a perfect man in my eyes.
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And so it it inspired me to do everything.
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Wanna back up for a second?
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I want to go back to the robbery, because how on earth did it end up at a place where this guy's trying to stab you?
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Did you try to stop him from taking the piece of thing he was trying to?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So we we did used uh CDs, compact discs.
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Right?
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The younger viewers will need to Google a compact disc, how we used to listen to music.
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And that's what killed the music, the music industry, by the way, because they said, oh, you've got to buy all your Beatles records on vinyl.
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Oh, you've got to buy them all again on 8-track.
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Oh, you've got to buy them all again on cassette.
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And we're like, we're done.
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We're done.
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Just put them on my phone.
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So this guy comes in, and his girlfriend was gonna sell me some CDs because this was the big racket was you would buy your Pink Floyd CD for$9, you'd sell it back for$4, and then you'd come back and buy it again for$9.
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And that just repeated and repeated.
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It was so great.
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Um, we thought it was never going to end, but they came in as a couple, and the girlfriend was gonna sell some stuff, and this guy, should I say his name?
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Does it matter?
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I don't think it matters, does it?
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How long ago is this?
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Quite a while.
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20, 25 years.
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His name was Peter Green.
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I'll never forget his face.
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I'll never forget his face.
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So he goes to leave, his girlfriend does the business, he walks around, and do you remember the old sensormatic shoplifting alarms with the the gates by the door?
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Yeah.
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So he goes to leave, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
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And I said, hey, this was a very so I was just imagine I was 20, 24, 25 years old.
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I've got hair down past my waist, and I'm working a record store in a black neighborhood.
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Okay.
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And we are selling uh Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Easy E, NWA.
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Like that's the currency of this place.
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It's it's a rap store.
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Okay.
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So this guy, he sets off the alarm, and I said, Hey, check this out.
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My alarm's going off.
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What do you know about that?
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And he goes, Man, I don't know about alarm going off.
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And I said, Well, it didn't go off when you came in, and it's going off now.
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So something's changed and my alarm is going off.
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He goes, Well, I got this knife.
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And he pulls the K-bar out and he sets the K-bar on the counter.
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And I said, Wow, that's a nice knife.
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And I was actually hearing the crocodile dundee in my mind while this was happening.
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It's not a knife.
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Right, right.
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It's not a knife.
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And I said, Hey, that's a nice knife, but it's not going to set off my alarm.
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Why is my alarm going off?
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So this goes back and forth a little bit more, and he decides he's had enough knife talk.
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He picks up the knife, and I turn into Bugs Bunny.
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You ever seen Bugs Bunny get really bendy whenever somebody shoots a cannonball at him or something?
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So I do, I do the Bugs Bunny.
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He comes at me once, comes at me twice, misses me both times, and then darts out the door.
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So I go grab my Seinfeld-era uh phone with the clickety antenna, you know, clickity-clicketity-click-ity-clicky.
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I call the cops, the cops pick him up, they bring him back, and the cops say, What did he take?
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I said, I don't know.
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They wanted me to lie about what he stole, because if I can't tell them what he stole, they can't get him for armed robbery.
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And I'm standing here going, this guy tried to stab me, it's on video, and you want me to lie about what he stole, I refuse to lie about it.
00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:32.320
Because I have this thing.
00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:33.759
I don't like to lie.
00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:36.080
I really don't.
00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:40.240
Because it if you lie to people, you have to remember what you told them.
00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:42.559
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember.
00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:43.039
Yeah.
00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:44.080
So easy.
00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:46.799
So yeah, stab with a cable, almost stabbed with a cable.
00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:47.600
Almost.
00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.200
So I have a probably what will sound like to you, like an odd question.
00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:56.080
Was he holding the knife ice pick style, or was he holding it like a hammer?
00:14:56.399 --> 00:14:57.840
I uh ice pick style.
00:14:58.000 --> 00:14:58.720
Ice pick.
00:14:58.879 --> 00:14:59.120
Yeah.
00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:11.039
Probably, and this is just speculation on my part because I haven't seen the video, but most people get the power from an from an ice pick positioning with the hand, but they lose distance.
00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:19.039
And unless they've practiced the implementation and usage of that blade in that position, it actually is a lot shorter than they think.
00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:24.879
Which means one of the reasons he was probably not successful was a lack of practice.
00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:27.120
The knife itself served as the intimidation.
00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:28.559
No one ever challenged him before.
00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:41.759
So when he went for it, he completely underestimated how difficult it can actually be to use a knife effectively in an ice pick drill unless you literally are over the top of somebody or close that distance down exponentially.
00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:53.759
And having taught edge weapons for a number of years, one of the things that try to teach is how to hold the knife correctly to give you additional distance so that that doesn't happen if you have to use a knife defensively.
00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:05.279
But in your case, it served to help keep you alive because that Muppet didn't understand how much shorter the distance becomes when that knife is held in that position.
00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:06.399
Isn't that crazy?
00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.080
I have so many thoughts right now.
00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:13.360
So, number one, ghetto gangbangers don't practice edge combat techniques.
00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:16.559
They just carry knives around thinking that they're gonna you're right.
00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:18.639
And it it did sort of serve its purpose.
00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:22.159
It did intimidate me and it did create an escape for him.
00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:22.639
Yep.
00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:27.200
I don't know that he wanted to stab me, he just wanted to get out of there, you know?
00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:32.080
So it may have been kind of a half-hearted attempt just to get out of the store, which is fine.
00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:42.320
But what Peter Green doesn't know and will never know is that him trying to stab Steve Anderson changed the sport of practical shooting.
00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:44.480
And I'm so glad.
00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:50.240
I'm so glad he tried to stab me because I'd probably still be working in record stores.
00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:55.120
Like I'd be, because I'm I'm such a non-quitter, like I don't quit, I don't give up.
00:16:55.279 --> 00:17:04.079
I would be in the last U CD store in the world going, hey, you really should check out this Brad Paisley record because this guy can play really well.
00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:23.200
Well, you mentioned ripples on a pond earlier, and I'm now I'm thinking more like waves, because that one incident, as it would for nearly all of us, it changed the trajectory of your life, which means it changed the trajectory of so many others' lives because of what you teach and what you've written.
00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:36.079
But it's fascinating that you probably only lived, A, because he was only half half committed to the crime, and B, because he had a grip on it that was crap and he couldn't get to you quickly enough to make the uh make the stabbing.
00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:42.960
Yeah, because I I wouldn't I mean, so I don't know how God's will works, right?
00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:53.599
Like I don't know if if God sends us suggestions and puts people in our lives, or if he has an endgame that we're gonna get to regardless of the choices that we make.
00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:58.880
But it it's difficult for me to believe that that was random.
00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:00.000
Yeah.
00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:14.000
And so many things had to happen for me to come because if if if there was a if there was a book about dry fire, my buddy would have recommended it and I would have bought it, and we wouldn't be talking right now.
00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:16.160
But there wasn't a book.
00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:23.440
And the the Brian Enos forums had just been started, like internet forums had just become a thing.
00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:31.279
And there were 200 of us on there, and we were all really polite and really curious, and we were looking for the secret, okay?
00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:36.079
And somebody on there posted about dry fire par times.
00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:45.519
And I was like, oh, par-times, okay, that makes sense because we can't we can't record the shots, but we'll use the part-time to see if we did the thing as fast as we want to do the thing.
00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:47.440
So it's all about par times.
00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:53.119
And the only literally the only thing anybody needs to do, they need to do a couple of things.
00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:57.440
They need to drive fire to get fast, really, really fast.
00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:04.319
They need to use live fire to learn to call their shots, because that's important, for speed, accuracy, and the mental game.
00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:07.920
And they need to get a subconscious stage plan with positive imprints.
00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:12.799
If they do those three things, they will reach their potential so quickly.
00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:17.119
And if you don't believe me, look at the trajectory of Joey of Joey Sowerland.
00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:22.240
Joey Sowerland went from watching John Wick being a national champion in two years.
00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:27.200
He won his first area match one year after watching a John Wick movie.
00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:29.759
Because he was like, that looks like fun.
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:36.960
And then he came to see me and I said, Hey Joe, drive fire to get fast, learn to call your shots, get a subcontract stage plan.
00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:39.200
And he's like, Is it that easy?
00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:40.640
Yeah, it's that easy.
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:42.079
So cool.
00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.599
It is if you put in the bloody time in the practice.
00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:49.039
So I so there's a few words I can't pull off.
00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:53.119
I can't say chow convincingly, and I don't know if I can pull off bloody.
00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:55.839
It's kind of like wearing a cowboy hat at the airport, right?
00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:58.799
But yes, you've got to put in the bloody time.
00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:03.519
And some of it is literally bloody, like your hands are going to bleed.
00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:05.759
Yeah, I can I can pull it off that way for sure.
00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:07.519
Your hands are gonna get bloody.
00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.359
Um, because people want to solve this behind a computer.
00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:16.000
They want to solve it watching YouTube, they want to solve it listening to podcasts.
00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:19.680
You've got to put the rig on and do the work.
00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:23.119
And I learned that from playing guitar.
00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:29.119
Because the first, man, the first month of playing guitar is really messy.
00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:32.799
You know, there's there's no good sounds being made.
00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:39.680
Uh, the the F chord is so challenging because you've got to bar the top two strings and you can't quite get the third finger right.
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:40.880
It's tough.
00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:43.200
But you have to really want it.
00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:46.480
And I wanted it bad enough to put the time in.
00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:53.279
And because I didn't get a record deal, when they said Grandmaster was a thing, I said, that's my record deal.
00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:55.519
Grandmaster was my record deal.
00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:56.640
And I got it.
00:20:57.119 --> 00:20:58.160
First one in Ohio.
00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:00.480
I beat Bob Vogel to Grandmaster.
00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:03.680
And now, quick word for my sponsor.
00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:17.680
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00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:39.440
And now back to the episode.
00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:48.319
So is this a specific match, maybe even a failure, perhaps, where you had to confront your own mental preparation for a match?
00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:51.599
And then what was the turning point if there was such a thing that happened to you?
00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:54.160
So I was a major match choker.
00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:57.759
And I was undefeated in Ohio.
00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:08.720
But because I'm I was working on Record stores, and my boss was such a jerk that if he found out I was going to a major match, he would send me on the road and make me miss my match.
00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:13.839
So I wasn't able to go to a lot of large matches because he was so jealous of my success.
00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:17.359
Um ask me later.
00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:20.079
There's a there's sort of a not safe for work angle there.
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:22.079
And if you want to go there, we will.
00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:24.960
But he was really, really jealous of me.
00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:26.880
And but he would let me go to nationals.
00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:29.279
He wouldn't mess up my my national trip.
00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:39.680
So I wasn't going to very many major matches, and I would go scared because the hype was, oh, major matches are different.
00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:43.200
Okay, so I would go and I'd be shoot scared.
00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:51.920
And I'd shoot my first couple of stages really scared, really slow, slow down to get my hits, and then I would feel and or know that I was slowing down to get my hits.
00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:53.680
And then I'd step on the gas.
00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:55.839
And then I'd make the big mistake.
00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:58.400
And then all of a sudden the pressure's gone.
00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:00.160
Now there's no pressure.
00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:04.240
And my remaining stages would be regular Steve.
00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:07.039
And I couldn't break this cycle.
00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:12.880
And what I didn't realize is that self-image is who you are and what you do.
00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:16.160
And who I was and what I did was major match token.
00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:17.200
That became me.
00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:18.240
I expected it.
00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:20.640
And if it didn't happen, I got even more scared.
00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:22.720
So I had heard about Lanny Basham.
00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:27.359
And at this time I was writing my second book called Principles of Performance.
00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:33.839
And I thought, okay, I don't really want to give Lanny any money, but I've got to get some mental game out.
00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:41.119
So if I interview him for my book, I can ask him my question for free.
00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:45.119
So I called Lanny and I said, Hey Lanny, let's talk.
00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:47.039
And I asked him all the normal questions.
00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:52.319
And then I finally got to my question, which was, why am I choking?
00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:59.359
And the centerpiece was when I went to my very first nationals, they put me on two super squads.
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:02.799
So just imagine going to the nationals for the first time.
00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:09.519
You're a major match choker, and USPSA puts you on the open super squad and the production super squad.
00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:13.440
And I said, Lanny, I don't believe I belong here.
00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:14.880
What do I do?
00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:16.400
He said, quit.
00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:20.079
Quit the sport?
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:22.319
Yeah, quit the sport.
00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:25.599
I don't want you to quit the sport.
00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:27.200
Didn't quit thinking that.
00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:32.480
And that was the beginning of my relationship with Lanny Basham.
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:38.079
And Lanny did not invent the mental game, Lanny discovered it.
00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:44.960
Lanny was sitting under the tree wondering why the apples kept hitting him on the head, and then he discovered gravity.
00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:46.640
Fascinating.
00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:47.599
So that was it.
00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:51.759
I was a major match choker who got put on the super squad for his first matches.
00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:53.920
And that's when I discovered the mental game.
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:05.279
Like if you shoot well, you start to put the pressure on yourself in different ways.
00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:10.000
And one of those ways can be I am a competitive shooter who shoots well.
00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:20.240
And now, if we link our identity to that thought process, anytime we make a mistake, it's literally a crack in the armor of who we think we are.
00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:26.240
Yeah, that's so brilliant because all right, self-image is the armor of who we think we are.
00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:30.799
And you can't lie to yourself.
00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:32.559
You know who you are.
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:35.119
Like you said, you're an edge weapons instructor.
00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:35.599
Okay?
00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:38.319
So if you pick up a knife, you know what to do.
00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:40.799
I am not an edge weapons instructor.
00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:43.200
If I pick up a knife, I don't know what to do.
00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:45.839
That is who we are and what we do.
00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:52.880
And if I want to be an edge weapons instructor, I need to change who I am and what I do.
00:25:53.920 --> 00:26:01.680
But everybody thinks that positive self-talk, they think that you're supposed to lie to yourself.
00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:02.799
You're not.
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:06.960
What you need to do is change who you are and what you do.
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:11.759
If I'm afraid of classifiers that have one-handed shooting, I need to practice one-handed shooting.
00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:13.200
That's what I did.
00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:27.519
The first matches I went to, Circleville, Ohio, they would have a one-handed stage, and I would hear grown men crying, lamenting, tearing their clothes, and weeping at the early morning sun.
00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:29.759
Oh, I've got to shoot the gun one-handed.
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:30.799
This is awful.
00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:32.559
And I said, I should probably practice.
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:35.519
And those were the first stages that I won.
00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:40.160
And I know that I became a grandmaster so quickly on the strength of my one-handed shoot.
00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:42.400
Because I was so good at it.
00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:46.880
After all, it is a handgun, not a hands gun.
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:51.759
It was designed to be shot one-handed on the back of a horse for crying out loud.
00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:56.880
The only reason 1911s have safeties is because they kept shooting horses.
00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:00.000
Did you know that?
00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:01.759
Bad news if you're a horse.
00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:03.279
No, wait, I did not know that.
00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:04.319
It's the only reason.
00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:12.079
The 1908 model did not have a safety, but they kept shooting horses, so they put a safety on it for the 1911.
00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:13.920
We we gotta quit shooting horses.
00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:15.440
We're out of horses.
00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:18.960
There's something to be said for indexing your trigger finger.
00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:27.839
It's so funny though, because I I've taught a number of classes over the years, personal safety being amongst them, and one of the things I teach is how to recognize dangerous individuals based on nonverbal.
00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:29.759
What body language signals are you giving you?
00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:39.920
But one of the biggest hurdles is not necessarily teaching people the various ways that you can recognize somebody is either up to no good, has a bad personality, or perhaps has bad intent.
00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:42.400
It's convincing them that they are attentive.
00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:46.400
Because so many people show up to the classes and they're like, Yeah, I'm not very good.
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:47.680
I don't really pay attention.
00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:52.880
I'm like, well, that's a reinforced narrative that you've built around yourself that you now identify with.
00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:54.640
Let's change the bloody narrative.
00:27:54.720 --> 00:28:02.480
And the same thing I think often happens for competitions of any sort, where you go into it going, well, I'm just not very good, or this is something I'm weak in.
00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:07.680
And of course, that usually hints back to a lack of practice in that particular area as well.
00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:23.119
But the narrative that people create around themselves often is, you know, you're building a your confidence on that on a foundation of clay that the minute the tears start, you know, that that foundation begins to erode.
00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:26.240
You said something so powerful.
00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:29.519
You know more about mental management than you think you do.
00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:34.640
Self-image is the internal narrative of who we are and what we do.
00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:35.200
Okay.
00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:39.759
For example, everybody listening to this program is either punctual or tardy.
00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:42.799
And their friends know it, their associates know it.
00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:48.319
Everybody here is either a morning person or they like to sleep in, and everybody knows it.
00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:51.119
Okay, those things can be changed.
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:58.319
However, for those things to change, human beings will only change for pay value.
00:28:58.480 --> 00:28:58.799
Okay.
00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:01.440
Some people call it new girlfriend syndrome.
00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:01.759
Okay.
00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:06.559
If you get a new girlfriend, you will drive 90 miles to eat sushi.
00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:07.359
Okay.
00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:15.359
I don't like sushi, but under the right circumstances, I will drive 90 miles and order sushi happily.
00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:17.440
Because pay value.
00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:22.799
We have to want something new more than what we're currently doing.
00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:35.119
And I I love how you said that internal narrative because if a guy's interested in self-defense, what you said is let's let's let's be more attentive, you know.
00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:38.319
Let's look at, and I I do that subconsciously.
00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:41.039
I'm always looking for people that are up to no good.
00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:49.839
And the funny thing was, I'm so glad I found competition because I went through this Clint Eastwood phase of wanting to be a gunfighter.
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:55.599
You know, so here I am, I've got my 5906, and I'm like, come mess with me, I'll make your day, right?
00:29:55.839 --> 00:30:01.759
And then I realized I'm probably never going to have another violent encounter.
00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:03.440
It's probably not going to happen.
00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:06.400
Number one, I'm going to avoid it at all costs.
00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:11.519
Number two, number three, it's just the odds are not there for me to get stabbed again.
00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:12.400
Right.
00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:16.000
So I said, well, hey, this is what's so cool in competition.
00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:18.559
I can get in a gunfight every weekend.
00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:23.599
I can measure my skills every weekend and not risk getting shot.
00:30:23.839 --> 00:30:25.039
So awesome.
00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:40.319
But it's so bloody important to test yourself in a situation that can replicate to at least a degree the stress you are potentially and probably going to feel in a life and death encounter.
00:30:40.559 --> 00:31:00.640
Because if you if you can't handle the stress of going into a competition and perhaps screwing it up and doing badly, how in the hell are you going to handle a life-threatening assault where you're trying to get to a concealed firearm in a hurry, perhaps you weren't paying attention, and now your the space in which you have to maneuver is minimal?
00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:10.000
You are not going to handle the stress of that very well if you cannot handle the stress of competition or similar experiences.
00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.880
Yeah, I I've had numerous people.
00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:15.920
I don't know what the current phrase is.
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:22.880
Is seeing the elephant still the term of choice in defensive scenarios or a gunfight?
00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:24.400
So seeing the elephant.
00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:26.079
It's not one I've used, but yeah, it could be.
00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:27.839
It used to be seeing the elephant.
00:31:28.079 --> 00:31:30.799
So I've had numerous people who have seen the elephant.
00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:33.680
Man, it makes it sound kind of dirty when you say it that way.
00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:45.920
But I've had numerous people tell me um that the pressure of competition is equal to or greater than the defensive scenario.
00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:50.799
Uh SWAT guys, contractors, people that have been in gunfights.
00:31:51.039 --> 00:32:00.799
Um and the interesting thing is, I had one guy tell me that competition is actually more stressful because he doesn't know what's going to happen.
00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:04.799
In the gunfight scenario, he's already decided to prevail or die.
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:05.759
Okay.
00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:08.960
Like he's made that decision before he put the badge on.
00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:11.119
I'm going to prevail or I'm going to die.
00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:12.720
And I'm okay either way.
00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:14.400
So he knows what's going to happen.
00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:19.359
In competition, he knows he's not going to die, but he also doesn't know he's going to prevail.
00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:21.920
Very, very fascinating stuff.
00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:27.200
Yeah, we frequently go to conferences, and a lot of the conferences I go to now, they're for Ellie.
00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:29.599
And we'll set up the smokeless range.
00:32:29.759 --> 00:32:35.359
And it is a training tool that should supplement and complement your range time.
00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:41.039
It's a dry fire, but in a specific type or a specific uh set of circumstances.
00:32:41.279 --> 00:32:43.680
And we will get officers to step up and shoot.
00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:51.519
And invariably the ones that seem most relaxed or self-deprecating or have a sense of humor about it will step in, they'll shoot.
00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:54.720
Whether they shoot well, whether they shoot badly, it doesn't seem to matter to them.
00:32:54.880 --> 00:32:57.839
They're willing to try, they'll step into that experience.
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:05.359
One of the things I noticed at a conference I was just at, this was in Reno, Nevada, a week or so ago, there were SWAT teams walking around.
00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:08.079
They had all the gear, like all the Gucci gear.
00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:09.680
They had they were kitted up, right?
00:33:09.759 --> 00:33:11.920
They looked like the epitome of SWAT.
00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:15.839
And we had a SWAT team walk past us six times.
00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:19.839
And we offered, shoot, come have a go, shoot.
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:23.440
And they absolutely refused every single time.
00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:24.960
And I'm like, why?
00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:26.079
I caught one of them later.
00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:27.200
I'm like, what's up?
00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:30.480
You got you guys are supposed to be the SWAT team.
00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:31.920
You should handle the pressure.
00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:35.680
And he immediately said, I don't want to shoot badly in front of the guys.
00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:36.640
Sure.
00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:40.640
And I'm like, are those not the people on your team?
00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:44.240
They should know how you shoot and how you shoot in a variety of things.
00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:45.599
They were not willing to do it.
00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:47.279
It was crazy to me.
00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:53.279
Well, you talk about the internal narrative that creates self-image.
00:33:53.519 --> 00:34:05.279
And the fast anything that happens in military and law enforcement, there's this negative reinforcement culture where they are self-deprecating, they do talk smack to each other.
00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:15.920
However, because there's a team to save, they will find a reserve of strength or skill or determination or whatever you want to call it to save the team.
00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:19.840
The reason they didn't want to shoot is there's no team to save.
00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:23.199
So they don't know what to do when there's no team to save.
00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:35.440
And so when you put an individual like that and you move them from a team environment to a solo environment, they tend to just give up as opposed to finding reserves of strength, skill determination, grit, whatever you want to call it.
00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:40.719
That is a really interesting perspective, and not one I had considered at all.
00:34:41.119 --> 00:34:50.880
Well, think about, so think about, so I was not, I was never, I was never military, but what I think I know about the military is they're gonna break you down so they can build you up.
00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:58.719
And then they're gonna call you a maggot and a worthless fill in your own dirty words.
00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:05.440
But if you get pinned down, you're gonna do anything to save your brother on your team.
00:35:05.679 --> 00:35:13.679
But if you're a competition shooter and you think you're a worthless maggot and there's no team to save, you are just going to give up.
00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:16.719
Because you're not worth it.
00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:18.960
And that's all about self-image.
00:35:19.119 --> 00:35:21.280
Self-image is not ego.
00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:22.159
Okay.
00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:29.920
I am the best mental coach on the planet for practical shooting, but I'm not the most important person on this call.
00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:32.559
You are the most important person on this call.
00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:33.039
Okay?
00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:37.039
Your questions, your perspective, it's far more important than me.
00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:41.840
If it was ego, I would say, I'm too big a deal to be on this podcast.
00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:45.280
But self-image says I believe in my ability to help with it.
00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:57.360
Yeah, now that does change everything because for a number of years I taught personal safety and reading people from the perspective of see the threat coming so you can avoid it, in most cases.
00:35:57.440 --> 00:36:08.159
And I was teaching self-defense at the time, but I believe that most people were not prepared to put in the kind of training, certainly to the level needed, to be proficient in a life and death situation, but everybody can learn to be attentive.
00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:14.800
And for years I heard, you're a little paranoid, it's the military in you coming out.
00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:15.679
I don't need that.
00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:27.599
And then of course, crime started to increase, active shooters, you know, you you name it, it all started to kind of pile up, and people always started coming back, going, Oh, actually, that that might be something I I do need.
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:38.320
But for years I persevered with trying to teach the topics I taught simply because I knew if there was one person show up, and sometimes that was the case.
00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:47.599
I'm like, maybe that one person doesn't end up on the receiving end of somebody with a K-bar or something similar in a robbery because they see it coming from far enough away.
00:36:47.679 --> 00:36:53.360
But it wasn't because of ego, and I'm like, I am so important, I must go out there and talk to people.
00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:55.760
Because honestly, I dislike it intently.
00:36:55.840 --> 00:36:58.159
As an introvert, I'll sh I will stay away.
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:03.119
But as someone with a passion to teach what I was teaching, I'm like, I don't care.
00:37:03.199 --> 00:37:05.920
If one person shows up and I help one person, that's all I'm gonna do.
00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:10.000
Like that, that's that is my calling, it's what I'm gonna do.
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:15.280
And there were lots of people that say, Why in the hell are you still doing this when nobody's showing up?
00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:18.000
And I'm like, because eventually they will.
00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:22.559
So you you were me as the last hairband.
00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:25.519
Like, I'm I hey, look at me.
00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:27.360
I don't don't listen to Nirvana.
00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:31.199
Are you aware that I am putting Stevie Ray Vaughn in Van Halen?
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:33.360
Do you not hear how great this is?
00:37:33.519 --> 00:37:36.719
Like, I literally put Stevie Ray Vaughn in Van Halen.
00:37:37.039 --> 00:37:38.960
How much better can you get than that?
00:37:39.199 --> 00:37:44.800
But what I really like about what you said is you were teaching avoidance, right?
00:37:44.960 --> 00:37:45.440
Yeah.
00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:52.079
So I I have a really good friend who was a contractor, and I think I know what that means.
00:37:52.320 --> 00:37:58.480
He he he he described it as doing things that the military doesn't want their fingerprints on.
00:37:58.719 --> 00:37:59.840
Is that what that means?
00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:01.119
Pretty much, yeah.
00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:01.679
Okay.
00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:08.880
He called it also executive protection, which I would assume is bodyguards for important people that the military can't protect.
00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:10.719
Thinking man's bodyguard.
00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:11.280
Okay.
00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:18.880
And he said what gets people killed is their refusal to believe that what is happening is happening.
00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:28.000
Meaning, if you're if you're driving your Toyota through Bad Dad and you see somebody coming at you, your brain's gonna go, oh, he's not carjacking me.
00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:32.159
Whereas my buddy says he is absolutely trying to carjack.
00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:37.039
And it's that split second of denial that gets people killed.
00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:37.760
You know?
00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:42.960
And the reason the guy with the K-bar didn't stab me was I turned into Bugs Bunny.
00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:47.920
I literally turned turned into a cartoon character.
00:38:48.079 --> 00:38:58.159
And I I just remember, okay, there's a knife on the counter, and because I was a white guy selling records in a black neighborhood, I was a big fan of mutual respect.
00:38:58.400 --> 00:38:58.800
Right?
00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:02.960
There's all this constant tension, there's this racial tension, right?
00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:04.880
But it's it's fine, right?
00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:09.760
They're they're they're getting their rap CDs, I'm selling records, everybody's getting along just fine.
00:39:09.920 --> 00:39:17.119
But when he grabbed that knife off the counter, I knew that the excrement had hit the oscillator.
00:39:17.199 --> 00:39:19.039
Like I knew this is real now.
00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:21.760
And I just turned into a cartoon character.
00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:24.079
But I don't think he wanted to stab me.
00:39:24.159 --> 00:39:26.400
And and and you know, you make an excellent point.
00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:30.159
It was pretty half-hearted, his his attempt.
00:39:30.400 --> 00:39:32.079
I think he just wanted out of there.
00:39:33.440 --> 00:39:34.079
Fascinating.
00:39:34.320 --> 00:39:36.239
Which is good for you, that's the way it went.
00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:44.880
So let's say you've encountered a shooter who's pretty good and they want to move up to where you are, or at least that's their ambition.
00:39:45.199 --> 00:39:46.079
Where do you start?
00:39:46.239 --> 00:39:46.800
What do you do?
00:39:46.880 --> 00:39:48.559
What's the what are those first steps for you?
00:39:48.800 --> 00:39:49.599
Oh my goodness.
00:39:49.840 --> 00:39:51.760
And I know that's a massive question.
00:39:52.159 --> 00:39:58.239
The shooting world is so full of tired, useless dogma.
00:39:58.960 --> 00:40:04.000
So what I try to do is I try to drive my new karma over old dogma.
00:40:04.239 --> 00:40:09.599
Okay, they always say accuracy first, speed will come.
00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:11.760
I want to switch that around.
00:40:12.159 --> 00:40:15.760
I'm gonna say speed first, accuracy will come.
00:40:16.239 --> 00:40:21.199
Because in the beginning, speed, sorry, in the beginning, accuracy is a skill.
00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:25.119
Okay, I have to learn to fire this gun without disturbing the side picture.
00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:26.880
That's a skill I need to learn.
00:40:27.440 --> 00:40:29.440
Takes about a week, right?
00:40:29.519 --> 00:40:31.039
It's it's not that difficult to do.
00:40:31.280 --> 00:40:35.840
I mean, our targets in competition shooting, it's it's it's such a disgrace.
00:40:36.159 --> 00:40:42.320
Our average target distance is 24 feet, and the A zone is the size of a piece of paper.
00:40:42.400 --> 00:40:46.239
Like the A zone is this big at 24 feet, and we can't hit that.
00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:48.159
It's not a skill thing.
00:40:48.559 --> 00:40:48.880
Okay.
00:40:49.519 --> 00:40:55.679
So once we're capable of shooting alphas, we got to get faster.
00:40:56.079 --> 00:40:58.239
But we've already proven we can shoot alphas.
00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:01.519
So we don't need to do that while we're getting faster.
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:02.320
Okay.
00:41:02.880 --> 00:41:08.159
So what what we're gonna do is I believe in three modes of practice accuracy, speed, and match.
00:41:08.639 --> 00:41:08.880
Okay.
00:41:09.199 --> 00:41:14.480
Accuracy just means do I have the technical skill to make the shots my sport requires?
00:41:14.719 --> 00:41:15.679
It's pretty simple.
00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:16.239
Okay.
00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:19.519
But speed is a is a whole different thing.
00:41:19.760 --> 00:41:23.360
Speed means everybody has a speed at which they do things.
00:41:23.679 --> 00:41:27.519
I call it I call it the the the limit of human function.
00:41:27.679 --> 00:41:28.000
Okay.
00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:35.679
Um it's gonna take you some amount of time to get a concealed handgun out of wherever you've got it concealed and point out of target.
00:41:35.760 --> 00:41:36.000
Okay.
00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:38.320
In drive fire, we're gonna challenge that.
00:41:38.480 --> 00:41:42.159
We're gonna say, okay, your current limit of human function is 1.5.
00:41:42.320 --> 00:41:44.320
What would a 1.4 feel like?
00:41:44.559 --> 00:41:46.400
What would a 1.3 feel like?
00:41:46.559 --> 00:41:48.000
What about a 1.2?
00:41:48.400 --> 00:41:48.719
Okay.
00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:52.159
And then we got to find a new limit of human function.
00:41:52.480 --> 00:41:55.039
And that needs to be repeated until it becomes normal.
00:41:55.280 --> 00:41:59.280
Once it's normal, we go back to putting the sign on the target.
00:42:00.159 --> 00:42:06.079
And so the speed mode of practice means yes, I can shoot an alpha at 24 feet.
00:42:06.239 --> 00:42:07.039
That's cool.
00:42:07.280 --> 00:42:10.639
I don't need to do that over and over and over.
00:42:10.880 --> 00:42:13.760
What I need to do is do that quicker.
00:42:14.079 --> 00:42:21.519
And going back to self-image, the first time, so let's say you're you shoot an alpha eight yards, 1.5.
00:42:21.840 --> 00:42:26.800
Well, the first time you do a 0.9, it's not going to be an alpha.
00:42:27.440 --> 00:42:32.960
But the internal narrative, and I I love that that description because it's so true.
00:42:33.360 --> 00:42:36.880
One person would say, Ooh, 0.9, I'm doing great.
00:42:37.039 --> 00:42:40.719
The other person would say, that's not an alpha, I suck.
00:42:41.519 --> 00:42:46.800
And then they go back to the 1.5, and they never get to 1.4, 1.3, 1.2.
00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:52.719
So I say, speed first, and then choose to shoot accurately.
00:42:53.199 --> 00:42:55.199
It's just a much faster way of doing them.
00:42:55.440 --> 00:42:59.920
God, but but the shooting world is full of so much tired old dogma.
00:43:00.159 --> 00:43:07.360
They told me it takes 10 years and a million rounds to make master, and don't even try it for grandmaster because you can't do it.
00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:08.960
And I said, hold my beer.
00:43:09.119 --> 00:43:11.599
It was actually hold my zema at that time.
00:43:12.880 --> 00:43:13.840
You remember Zima?
00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:17.199
It's funny.
00:43:17.360 --> 00:43:20.719
And it's funny to have people tell you what you can't do.
00:43:20.960 --> 00:43:32.079
Like to me, one of the things I've probably made my own life much more difficult than it needs to be is constantly, if somebody says you're not going to be able to do a thing, like, guess what?
00:43:32.239 --> 00:43:33.199
I'm doing the thing.
00:43:33.280 --> 00:43:34.239
Get out of my way.
00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:35.039
It's happening.
00:43:35.119 --> 00:43:35.360
Right.
00:43:35.599 --> 00:43:41.599
But it's funny because that bloodied mindedness is one of those traits that a lot of people don't have.
00:43:41.679 --> 00:43:46.159
They hear that they somebody says it's going to take you 10 years, and don't even try for this because you're never going to get there.
00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:47.599
And they go, okay.
00:43:47.840 --> 00:43:49.840
And that breaks my heart.
00:43:51.039 --> 00:43:59.760
Again, for me, and I don't know what it was for you, and maybe you don't even know, but for me, my dad dying before I knew he was imperfect.
00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:03.039
Was what gave me the strength to write books.
00:44:03.280 --> 00:44:06.079
I recorded my first album when I was 15 years old.
00:44:06.239 --> 00:44:12.800
My mom drove me to the studio, and we recorded four songs in six hours with no overdubs.
00:44:12.960 --> 00:44:17.920
And if you've ever been in a band or been to the recording studio, that is a miraculous achievement.
00:44:18.079 --> 00:44:21.119
Four songs in six hours with no second tapes?
00:44:22.559 --> 00:44:23.199
That doesn't happen.
00:44:23.519 --> 00:44:24.239
Doesn't happen.
00:44:24.480 --> 00:44:25.119
Right.
00:44:25.760 --> 00:44:29.920
So I I never believed anything was impossible.
00:44:30.079 --> 00:44:37.360
And obviously, I know my dad had flaws, but if I had known that before he died, I would not have.
00:45:05.679 --> 00:45:08.880
And pay value is the juice that's worth a squeeze.
00:45:09.199 --> 00:45:16.079
Like, if somebody listening to this program wants to be a grandmaster, they may not be able to articulate why they want it.
00:45:16.239 --> 00:45:16.559
Okay.
00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:19.360
But you have to really want it.
00:45:19.440 --> 00:45:22.239
And if you want it bad enough, there's no limit.
00:45:22.320 --> 00:45:29.599
And my favorite thing about the US PSA classifier system, the weekend warrior can go to the Super Bowl.
00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:39.920
And it is not a perfect system by any means, but I cannot think of another sport in which the weekend warrior can go to the Super Bowl.
00:45:40.079 --> 00:45:41.599
It's so awesome.
00:45:42.719 --> 00:45:44.480
No, and you're absolutely right.
00:45:44.639 --> 00:45:46.960
And that's something else I hadn't thought of before either.
00:45:47.119 --> 00:45:47.599
You're right.
00:45:48.320 --> 00:45:54.960
Put in the training, put in the time, that that opportunity could be open to you.
00:45:55.119 --> 00:46:12.159
So going back to flipping the speed versus accuracy and speed first, and then go back to the accuracy, perhaps in stages, reminds me of something I read on your website about more points per second and how that has influenced so many shooters when it comes to their performance.
00:46:12.320 --> 00:46:13.519
Can you elaborate on that?
00:46:13.920 --> 00:46:14.320
Sure.
00:46:14.480 --> 00:46:19.119
So USPSA is scored on hit factor, and it's points per second.
00:46:19.360 --> 00:46:19.679
Okay.
00:46:20.320 --> 00:46:30.639
And again, going back to decades of old dogma, people think that accurate shooting has to be slow and fast shooting has to be sloppy.
00:46:30.880 --> 00:46:32.559
And they've just made that decision.
00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:33.119
Okay.
00:46:33.840 --> 00:46:40.079
Um more points per second means I've got shooting time and I've got downtime.
00:46:40.320 --> 00:46:50.880
Well, if I shoot really quickly and then I run 30 feet without shooting, my points per second is zero while I'm not shooting.
00:46:51.199 --> 00:46:51.519
Okay.
00:46:52.079 --> 00:47:02.880
So what I learned to do was to keep shooting the gun, reduce the amount of time spent not shooting, as opposed to shooting fast or shooting slow, running fast, running slow.
00:47:03.119 --> 00:47:06.800
The only thing, and people are so tied up about stage planning.
00:47:06.960 --> 00:47:08.639
This is my new crusade.
00:47:08.880 --> 00:47:11.199
Everybody is so worried about stage planning.
00:47:11.440 --> 00:47:17.119
The only universal truth in stage planning is reduce the amount of time spent not shooting.
00:47:17.280 --> 00:47:18.159
That's it.
00:47:18.559 --> 00:47:23.840
There's no other, people say rush the port, hang back, avoid sweet spots, find the sweet spot.
00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:26.000
None of that is going to be universally true.
00:47:26.239 --> 00:47:31.039
But reducing the amount of time spent not shooting is universally true.
00:47:31.280 --> 00:47:34.079
And if you can't decide, congratulations.
00:47:34.320 --> 00:47:35.920
It means it doesn't matter.
00:47:36.800 --> 00:47:40.480
Because a well-designed stage will have numerous viable options.
00:47:40.639 --> 00:47:44.559
A ported design stage will only have one option, and it'll be obvious.
00:47:44.719 --> 00:47:47.280
So if you can't decide, two things.
00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:48.480
Number one, it doesn't matter.
00:47:48.639 --> 00:47:49.119
That's great.
00:47:49.280 --> 00:47:51.599
Number two, go to confidence.
00:47:52.559 --> 00:48:02.880
Because, as you said, self-image, the internal narrative, okay, will have more confidence doing one thing versus doing another thing.
00:48:03.199 --> 00:48:07.920
And the mistake people make is choosing between speed and accuracy.
00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:10.480
That's like if they say, okay, would you rather have love or money?
00:48:10.639 --> 00:48:12.480
Well, can't I have both?
00:48:17.119 --> 00:48:18.480
I'd like to have both.
00:48:20.239 --> 00:48:21.920
If that's on the table, I'll take them both.
00:48:22.079 --> 00:48:22.880
Thank you very much.
00:48:23.119 --> 00:48:23.599
Exactly.
00:48:23.760 --> 00:48:24.960
Why do I have to choose?
00:48:25.199 --> 00:48:31.039
Because when you choose, you by definition, you give up the other one.
00:48:31.440 --> 00:48:33.039
And it doesn't be the case.
00:48:33.360 --> 00:48:36.480
I love, love, love working in IDPA.
00:48:36.639 --> 00:48:36.960
Okay.
00:48:38.719 --> 00:48:40.480
Here's my IDPA qualifications.
00:48:40.559 --> 00:48:40.880
Okay.
00:48:41.119 --> 00:48:44.079
Steve Anderson is now doing IDPA training.
00:48:44.239 --> 00:48:49.119
His qualifications, uh, I shot one indoor match that had two stages.
00:48:49.360 --> 00:48:51.119
That's my IDPA qualifications.
00:48:51.280 --> 00:48:51.599
Okay.
00:48:52.320 --> 00:48:53.760
Freely will admit that.
00:48:53.920 --> 00:48:59.920
However, these guys think that zeros have to be slow, and they don't.
00:49:00.800 --> 00:49:03.360
I was working in Washington State.
00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:06.480
This range, the craziest range I've ever been to.
00:49:06.559 --> 00:49:15.679
Just imagine a shooting range where the subdivision, you can see the second story windows at 270 degrees of the subdivision.
00:49:15.920 --> 00:49:19.679
And one errant bullet gets that range to get shut down forever.
00:49:19.840 --> 00:49:22.639
And everybody in the world wants this range to be shut down, right?
00:49:22.719 --> 00:49:25.280
And I'm teaching this IDPA class.
00:49:25.440 --> 00:49:30.960
I took a guy from 22 seconds to 11 seconds with the exact same points down.
00:49:31.119 --> 00:49:36.400
It was two points down, both runs, by teaching him that zeros don't have to be slow.
00:49:37.039 --> 00:49:39.519
Good shooting doesn't have to be slow.
00:49:40.320 --> 00:49:42.960
Fast shooting doesn't have to be sloppy.
00:49:44.880 --> 00:49:47.599
And the industry wants you to worry about your grip.
00:49:48.239 --> 00:49:49.679
They want you to include your dot.
00:49:49.920 --> 00:49:52.239
They want you to do to do doubles drills.
00:49:52.400 --> 00:49:57.360
And they the holy grail is two shots on one side picture.
00:49:58.320 --> 00:50:00.480
And if you can let go of that.
00:50:16.719 --> 00:50:17.920
Oh my goodness.
00:50:18.639 --> 00:50:18.960
Okay.
00:50:19.280 --> 00:50:23.440
The easiest thing to do is to document.
00:50:24.159 --> 00:50:27.440
So I'm writing a book about the mental game called What Were You Thinking?
00:50:27.679 --> 00:50:32.159
Okay, so my Steve Anderson's next book is going to be called What What Were You Thinking?
00:50:32.639 --> 00:50:42.239
All they need to do is take their best stages and write down what they were thinking before, during, and after.
00:50:43.920 --> 00:50:46.159
And we're going to find some commonalities pretty quick.
00:50:46.639 --> 00:50:50.400
What we're going to find is they knew the stage inside and out.
00:50:51.440 --> 00:50:51.760
Okay.
00:50:52.320 --> 00:50:54.159
They had a subconscious stage plan.
00:50:54.800 --> 00:50:57.119
They weren't thinking very much when they shot.
00:50:58.320 --> 00:51:00.960
And they weren't worried about the results.
00:51:01.599 --> 00:51:08.800
So if we can replicate those three things, we can do that much more consistently.
00:51:09.039 --> 00:51:11.760
So the subconscious stage plan is pretty simple.
00:51:12.079 --> 00:51:20.000
People spend so much time on stage, it's it drives me insane how obsessed they are with stage planning.
00:51:20.320 --> 00:51:23.679
It's it's just it's it's it's an epidemic of massive proportion.
00:51:23.920 --> 00:51:24.239
Okay?
00:51:25.440 --> 00:51:27.119
Oh, should I go left or should I go right?
00:51:27.360 --> 00:51:28.800
So I go left or should I go right?
00:51:29.119 --> 00:51:34.559
And these fragments of indecision cause the brain parts that mess up the execution, right?
00:51:34.719 --> 00:51:37.360
Brain parts are fragments of indecision.
00:51:38.079 --> 00:51:40.000
And it doesn't does it doesn't need to be that way.
00:51:40.079 --> 00:51:43.119
If you can't decide quickly, congratulations, it doesn't matter.
00:51:43.280 --> 00:51:44.239
That's great.
00:51:44.880 --> 00:51:45.199
Okay?
00:51:46.719 --> 00:51:49.199
So we need to get a subconscious stage plan.
00:51:49.360 --> 00:51:55.199
Thinking as little as possible is pretty easy if we choose something to do.
00:51:55.599 --> 00:51:58.639
And I like to tell people to put the dot in the middle of the target.
00:51:58.880 --> 00:52:00.880
And they say it can't be that simple.
00:52:01.039 --> 00:52:03.039
And I say, would you try it?
00:52:03.360 --> 00:52:06.400
Would you just put the dot in the middle of the target and see what happens?
00:52:06.719 --> 00:52:13.760
Because 99% of the problems people have in competition shooting is firing the gun on a poor sight picture.
00:52:14.000 --> 00:52:15.519
Like, what are we even doing here?
00:52:15.679 --> 00:52:17.679
What do we think is going to happen?
00:52:18.239 --> 00:52:18.559
Okay.
00:52:19.119 --> 00:52:26.079
But if we if we fire the gun with an acceptable sight picture and make that our singular focus, that's real easy.
00:52:26.239 --> 00:52:32.880
Because when my conscious mind is focused on putting the dot in the middle of the target, where's my performance coming from?
00:52:33.360 --> 00:52:34.639
Where's it coming from?
00:52:35.840 --> 00:52:37.280
Subconscious skill.
00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:38.320
Okay.
00:52:38.960 --> 00:52:42.400
Now, not worrying about the results, that's the tricky part.
00:52:43.199 --> 00:52:51.440
So the internal narrative, the self-image, your SWAT guys would not do the dry fire thing because they're worried about the results.
00:52:52.400 --> 00:52:52.719
Okay.
00:52:53.440 --> 00:52:56.880
So what we have to do is pre-accept the results.
00:52:57.199 --> 00:52:59.360
And very quickly, you've got four options.
00:52:59.519 --> 00:52:59.840
Okay.
00:53:00.559 --> 00:53:07.440
Um option number one, if you went to a match tomorrow, I'd say, okay, here's your choices, Terry.
00:53:07.599 --> 00:53:08.400
I don't care.
00:53:08.719 --> 00:53:09.760
Could you get there?
00:53:12.239 --> 00:53:12.880
You could?
00:53:13.119 --> 00:53:13.360
Oh.
00:53:13.519 --> 00:53:15.039
Yeah, the I don't care part.
00:53:15.119 --> 00:53:15.840
Yeah, I got it.
00:53:16.159 --> 00:53:16.480
Okay.
00:53:16.639 --> 00:53:18.079
What about it is what it is?
00:53:18.239 --> 00:53:19.440
Is that easier to get to?
00:53:19.920 --> 00:53:21.119
Also, yes.
00:53:21.599 --> 00:53:23.679
I'll do well if I follow my process.
00:53:23.840 --> 00:53:24.559
Could you get there?
00:53:24.800 --> 00:53:25.440
Yep.
00:53:26.079 --> 00:53:27.679
I'm a contender to win.
00:53:27.840 --> 00:53:28.719
Could you get there?
00:53:28.960 --> 00:53:29.599
Yep.
00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:30.320
Okay.
00:53:30.559 --> 00:53:32.320
So you have to choose one of those.
00:53:32.559 --> 00:53:34.719
Or some or or or some variation.
00:53:35.199 --> 00:53:39.199
Because when you're worried about the results, you're going to overthink.
00:53:39.280 --> 00:53:40.480
You're going to overtry.
00:53:40.639 --> 00:53:40.960
Okay.
00:53:41.199 --> 00:53:46.079
Think about being in high school and talking to the super ultra mega hottie.
00:53:46.400 --> 00:53:46.639
Okay.
00:53:47.119 --> 00:53:49.039
She's got the joy-ash jeans.
00:53:49.119 --> 00:53:51.119
She's got the white reebox, right?
00:53:51.280 --> 00:53:53.360
She's got the fuzzy sweater.
00:53:53.440 --> 00:53:55.440
I mean, this is the girl, right?
00:53:58.159 --> 00:54:01.440
You're so worried about the results, you can't talk.
00:54:01.679 --> 00:54:07.519
You have just lost control of the English language because you're so worried about the results.
00:54:08.480 --> 00:54:08.960
Right?
00:54:09.119 --> 00:54:16.320
And I remember, I remember walking down the hall next to the girl I just described, George Jans, acid wash.
00:54:16.400 --> 00:54:25.840
Remember, remember acid wash jeans, white rebox, the fuzzy white sweater, the the cheap drugstore c uh uh perfume.
00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:28.159
And I was like, hey Jenny, how you doing?
00:54:28.320 --> 00:54:32.719
And she turned to me and she said, I have been waiting all year for you to talk to me.
00:54:33.199 --> 00:54:43.119
And because I got to I don't care or It Is What It Is, I was able to say that sentence to the girl that had been waiting for me to talk to her all year.
00:54:43.199 --> 00:54:44.480
I had no idea.
00:54:44.960 --> 00:54:45.280
Right?
00:54:45.519 --> 00:54:47.760
So I just shot my shot, you know.
00:54:49.280 --> 00:54:52.400
That didn't end well, but you know, you know how it goes.
00:54:53.199 --> 00:54:56.079
But at least you were able to formulate a sentence.
00:54:56.320 --> 00:54:56.800
Right.
00:54:57.039 --> 00:54:59.440
Because I wasn't worried about the results.
00:54:59.679 --> 00:55:01.679
But you can't lie to yourself.
00:55:01.920 --> 00:55:08.000
I don't think you could go to a maybe you could because you have kind of a defensive background.
00:55:08.239 --> 00:55:10.960
Maybe you could go to a match and truly not care.
00:55:11.440 --> 00:55:12.480
I couldn't do that.
00:55:12.559 --> 00:55:14.239
I can't get to I don't care.
00:55:14.480 --> 00:55:18.239
For me, it's I'll do well if I follow my process.
00:55:19.360 --> 00:55:26.239
And anytime there's a result that you want, you have got to put it into a process within your control.
00:55:26.559 --> 00:55:32.079
So if you're gonna go to a SEAL challenge match tomorrow and you want to do well, I'll say, Terry, that's great.
00:55:32.320 --> 00:55:36.400
What can you do within your control to shoot as well as possible?
00:55:36.719 --> 00:55:40.320
And what we'll come to is put the dot in the middle of the target.
00:55:41.920 --> 00:55:44.960
And you might say, what if I embarrass myself or my sponsor?
00:55:45.039 --> 00:55:47.679
And I'll say, Terry, you gotta put the dot in the middle of the target.
00:55:48.239 --> 00:55:50.000
And you might say, What if I get beat?
00:55:50.159 --> 00:55:52.800
Terry, you can you gotta put the dot in the middle of the target.
00:55:52.960 --> 00:55:55.199
Because that's something you can do.
00:55:55.599 --> 00:56:03.280
And most of the problem with the mental game is vague ideas that don't have executable tasks.
00:56:05.039 --> 00:56:06.480
Have you heard some of those?
00:56:06.719 --> 00:56:07.360
Yeah.
00:56:08.559 --> 00:56:09.519
Let it go.
00:56:09.679 --> 00:56:11.119
Don't worry about it.
00:56:11.519 --> 00:56:13.519
Uh shoot your game.
00:56:13.840 --> 00:56:15.440
What does that mean?
00:56:15.679 --> 00:56:16.239
Right?
00:56:16.480 --> 00:56:22.000
If you're going to Nashville's for the first time and you call me and you say, Steve, I am freaking out.
00:56:22.159 --> 00:56:26.000
I gotta shoot tomorrow, and I'm I know I'm gonna be first, what do I do?
00:56:26.079 --> 00:56:28.239
And I say, Let it go.
00:56:28.639 --> 00:56:31.440
You're gonna say, that's not helpful.
00:56:33.039 --> 00:56:37.519
But but if I say, Terry, can you get a subconscious stage plan?
00:56:37.599 --> 00:56:39.119
And you'll say, Yeah, I can do that.
00:56:39.440 --> 00:56:41.679
And then I'll say, Hey, can you put the dot in the middle of the target?
00:56:41.760 --> 00:56:42.880
Yeah, I can do that too.
00:56:43.280 --> 00:56:44.880
Now we have executable tasks.
00:56:45.519 --> 00:56:52.000
And so one of the things I'm at war with is vague ideas that don't have executable tasks.
00:56:54.880 --> 00:57:02.400
I wish we could have had this conversation before I went on to Topshot on the History Channel.
00:57:02.480 --> 00:57:02.960
I will tell you.
00:57:03.360 --> 00:57:05.840
You did that! When did you do that?
00:57:06.159 --> 00:57:07.119
Season four.
00:57:07.360 --> 00:57:09.039
And how long ago was that?
00:57:09.519 --> 00:57:10.800
350 years ago.
00:57:10.960 --> 00:57:13.679
No, like 12 or 13 years ago.
00:57:14.000 --> 00:57:15.360
Here's the interesting thing, right?
00:57:15.840 --> 00:57:17.039
First of all, it wasn't my idea.
00:57:17.199 --> 00:57:21.119
Wife is in marketing and she's like, this would be great for your speaking and teaching personal safety.
00:57:21.199 --> 00:57:21.519
That's it.
00:57:21.679 --> 00:57:22.159
I'm in.
00:57:22.320 --> 00:57:32.159
And what I expected to happen was for them, when they introduced me, to say something along the lines of personal safety speaker or body language, you know, expert or whatever the case might be.
00:57:32.400 --> 00:57:43.440
What I didn't expect them to do, and probably I should have seen it coming, was to constantly introduce me as the former British Royal Marine Commando.
00:57:43.840 --> 00:57:45.199
And why was that a problem?
00:57:45.360 --> 00:57:47.760
Well, first of all, it was 20 years ago.
00:57:48.079 --> 00:57:49.760
But yes, I did it.
00:57:49.840 --> 00:57:53.920
But however, that wasn't my identity at the time.
00:57:54.159 --> 00:58:03.920
And there was a, in my head at least, there was the separation between my military career and what I was doing now with the speaking, etc.
00:58:04.320 --> 00:58:18.079
But every time they said former British Royal Marine Commando, I felt an exorbitant amount of responsibility to represent that group as well as possible.
00:58:18.239 --> 00:58:30.800
And it took me out of my head game of I kind of don't care because I'm just a speaker here to try and last as long as possible so people will hire me to come in and teach them how to stay safe.
00:58:30.960 --> 00:58:35.920
To I'm now representing all former British commandos.
00:58:36.079 --> 00:58:39.519
And the weight of that completely screwed my head up.
00:58:39.679 --> 00:58:44.400
And it wasn't until after the show was done, it was all, you know, it's all said and done.
00:58:44.559 --> 00:58:48.960
And my performance was my performance was was was okay.
00:58:49.119 --> 00:58:50.639
Would do I wish it had been better?
00:58:50.800 --> 00:58:51.199
Yes.
00:58:51.360 --> 00:59:00.480
But it it was in hindsight that I realized the amount of pressure I was putting on myself to do well when I had originally gone into this going, I really don't care.
00:59:00.559 --> 00:59:02.400
I'll I'll just last as long as possible.
00:59:02.559 --> 00:59:06.320
I've got some skills, I'll put my sites dead center of the target and I'll send it.
00:59:06.400 --> 00:59:06.559
Right.
00:59:06.800 --> 00:59:16.000
There was there was little pressure from that standpoint comparative to I gotta go in here and represent all former commandos and I gotta shoot brilliantly.
00:59:16.159 --> 00:59:20.159
And the weight of that honestly felt like it nearly crushed me.
00:59:20.239 --> 00:59:28.239
And now, especially after hearing you today, I wish I had to put a bloody call in and gone, help me.
00:59:28.960 --> 00:59:31.840
So there's gosh, there's so much to unpack there.
00:59:31.920 --> 00:59:34.719
This this might need to be like like a part two.
00:59:35.199 --> 00:59:41.440
Number one, that show was always won by the good old boy and never the specialist.
00:59:41.599 --> 00:59:52.000
The US PSA shooters, I don't think, I don't think a US PSA shooter ever won because we don't deal with muskets and buoy knives.
00:59:52.079 --> 00:59:54.480
Like that's that's not what we do, right?
00:59:54.639 --> 00:59:57.519
We shoot race guns at paper targets, right?
00:59:57.679 --> 00:59:58.880
So give me a musket.
01:00:00.239 --> 01:00:00.639
I don't know.
01:00:00.800 --> 01:00:02.239
Give it to Jerry Michelak.
01:00:02.320 --> 01:00:03.199
He knows about muskets.
01:00:03.280 --> 01:00:05.440
He was there when they were invented for crying out loud.
01:00:05.679 --> 01:00:15.519
All right, so the reason you had the conflict is because the former British Marine is not who you are and what you do.
01:00:15.840 --> 01:00:19.519
It was who you are and what you do, but it's not currently.
01:00:19.599 --> 01:00:21.039
That has changed, right?
01:00:21.360 --> 01:00:30.400
You went from whatever a British Marine does to whatever you're doing now, and so you're trying to be somebody you're not doing something that you don't do.
01:00:30.639 --> 01:00:32.719
You don't know how to do that.
01:00:33.280 --> 01:00:36.800
Your conscious mind has changed the channel.
01:00:37.039 --> 01:00:37.440
Yeah.
01:00:39.199 --> 01:00:43.920
And pressure can only amplify what we're thinking and feeling.
01:00:44.000 --> 01:00:48.559
So what happened to you is you're thinking and feeling, I'm not that guy.
01:00:48.719 --> 01:00:50.159
This is not who I am.
01:00:50.400 --> 01:00:55.199
So you had to relearn British Marine things on the clock.
01:00:56.079 --> 01:01:04.800
It's just like when you when you have a stage and there's a close target as the first target, and you think, ooh, I've got a shot.
01:01:05.119 --> 01:01:09.119
Well, your conscious mind doesn't know how to do that.
01:01:09.360 --> 01:01:12.239
It trained your subconscious to get a really good draw.
01:01:12.400 --> 01:01:14.960
And then it moved on to something more interesting.
01:01:15.280 --> 01:01:15.599
Okay?
01:01:16.079 --> 01:01:22.960
So if you attempt to get a really good first shot on the clock, your conscious mind is like, how do we do this?
01:01:23.039 --> 01:01:23.519
How do we do this?
01:01:23.760 --> 01:01:24.880
And you're gonna miss your grip.
01:01:25.360 --> 01:01:28.800
You're gonna fumble it because your conscious mind doesn't know how to do it.
01:01:29.039 --> 01:01:38.079
But if you look at the letter A or the letter or the or the zero or some small spot on the target, your subconscious knows how to do it.
01:01:38.480 --> 01:01:40.239
It's just like tying your shoes.
01:01:40.400 --> 01:01:45.280
If you try to tie your shoes quickly, you're gonna screw it up because you don't know how to do it.
01:01:45.519 --> 01:01:51.039
Your subconscious knows how to do it, but your conscious mind does not know how to tie your shoes.
01:01:51.199 --> 01:01:56.559
It taught some combination of fingers 40 years ago and moved on to something else.
01:01:56.800 --> 01:01:57.760
Fascinating.
01:01:58.000 --> 01:01:58.880
I love this stuff.
01:01:58.960 --> 01:02:00.079
I can talk about it all day.
01:02:00.239 --> 01:02:11.840
But top shot, you didn't you you started out pre-accepting the results and you were in pretty good shape, and then you worried about the results.
01:02:12.000 --> 01:02:12.239
Yeah.
01:02:12.400 --> 01:02:16.639
And worrying about the results will always cause you to overtry.
01:02:16.960 --> 01:02:18.719
It's just like talking to pretty girls.
01:02:18.800 --> 01:02:23.360
If you're worried about the results, you're gonna overtry and you're gonna lose command of the English language.
01:02:23.519 --> 01:02:24.480
Or the British language.
01:02:24.639 --> 01:02:28.960
I mean, English, American, British, you know, these aren't the same languages.
01:02:30.719 --> 01:02:33.199
Jam, jelly, gas, petrol.
01:02:33.440 --> 01:02:34.800
But you no, you're absolutely right.
01:02:34.960 --> 01:02:38.079
And there was also a lot of pressure to do well for the team.
01:02:38.239 --> 01:02:43.599
I didn't necessarily perhaps anticipate the close connections I made to my team.
01:02:43.760 --> 01:02:46.320
So then letting them down became an additional factor.
01:02:46.559 --> 01:02:51.360
But but but all of that, you know, with the identity, etc., absolutely rings true.
01:02:51.519 --> 01:02:54.239
Like I think that's a fascinating insight.
01:02:54.320 --> 01:03:04.639
And I think that for anyone listening here who's struggling with their mental game, wants to up it, improve it, you absolutely have to be the person that they reach out to.
01:03:04.800 --> 01:03:10.000
Now, you have three books, and I want to give you a chance to talk about them because I I was fascinated by the titles.
01:03:10.159 --> 01:03:15.199
So give us the the 30-second elevator thing on all of your books.
01:03:15.519 --> 01:03:15.840
Okay.
01:03:16.320 --> 01:03:23.360
So when I became the first grandmaster in Ohio, you have to remember it was thought to be impossible.
01:03:23.599 --> 01:03:23.920
Okay.
01:03:24.639 --> 01:03:29.760
So don't even think about being a grandmaster because the the internet was in its infancy.
01:03:29.920 --> 01:03:36.320
There was no YouTube, there was no, you couldn't watch Rob Latham shoot a stage unless you were at Nashville's.
01:03:36.480 --> 01:03:43.760
And the tricky thing about Robbie is you can't learn anything from Robbie Latham because always shooting, always moving, never missing.
01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:45.679
Pretty good, pretty good strategies.
01:03:45.920 --> 01:03:48.800
But there's nothing to, there's nothing to see, right?
01:03:49.039 --> 01:03:52.960
It isn't like watching Todd Jarrett, where it's like a caricature of a cartoon character.
01:03:53.039 --> 01:03:55.760
There's leaning and there's there's things you can learn.
01:03:55.920 --> 01:03:56.239
Okay.
01:03:56.719 --> 01:04:04.719
So I just decided to uh put part-times on things, and you can tell I was chubby when this book was written because my my face isn't on it.
01:04:04.960 --> 01:04:06.800
But you can always tell.
01:04:08.079 --> 01:04:12.880
But I this was during the Bill Clinton magazine ban of the 90s.
01:04:12.960 --> 01:04:13.440
Remember that?
01:04:13.599 --> 01:04:16.800
When when you couldn't you couldn't buy magazines that held more than 10 rounds?
01:04:17.199 --> 01:04:19.280
So I have now acquired an open gun.
01:04:19.360 --> 01:04:23.039
So I have a red dot and I have hi-cat magazines.
01:04:23.280 --> 01:04:25.199
And I felt like a criminal.
01:04:25.360 --> 01:04:30.559
I was like, ooh, bazooka in my basement that Bill Clinton doesn't know about.
01:04:30.800 --> 01:04:32.800
And I was addicted to it, right?
01:04:32.880 --> 01:04:38.480
And I learned about part-times, and then once I made Grandmaster, everybody kept saying, How'd you do it?
01:04:38.559 --> 01:04:42.480
Well, I said, I'll have these 12 drills, and I'd write them down, and here's the 12 drills.
01:04:42.559 --> 01:04:44.800
And then I said, Well, maybe I should quit giving these away.
01:04:44.960 --> 01:04:46.000
Maybe I should write a book.
01:04:46.159 --> 01:04:46.480
Yeah.
01:04:46.639 --> 01:04:46.800
Okay.
01:04:47.199 --> 01:04:48.639
So I wrote this book.
01:04:48.800 --> 01:04:54.480
And for those who are listening and not watching, it's called Refinement and Repetition.
01:04:55.199 --> 01:04:56.480
Refinement and Repetition.
01:04:56.639 --> 01:04:58.320
And do you remember Kinko's?
01:04:58.719 --> 01:04:59.360
Yeah, I do.
01:04:59.760 --> 01:05:08.559
I would go to Kinko's once a week, about 10 o'clock at night, and I would literally make the books on the copy machine and spiral bind them myself.
01:05:08.800 --> 01:05:16.639
And the first, the first couple of hundred shipped like this with just a clear, a clear piece of plastic over the top.
01:05:16.800 --> 01:05:20.400
And then sales picked up, and I said, okay, well, we need to get a cover.
01:05:20.639 --> 01:05:21.920
So we've so we did that.
01:05:22.000 --> 01:05:26.000
So refinement repetition is how to make grandmaster in the 90s.
01:05:26.239 --> 01:05:26.559
Okay.
01:05:27.280 --> 01:05:30.639
And then I ran into the to the mental game problem.
01:05:30.800 --> 01:05:31.119
Okay.
01:05:31.440 --> 01:05:34.880
So principles of performance is hey, I'm a grandmaster.
01:05:35.039 --> 01:05:36.480
Now what do I do?
01:05:36.719 --> 01:05:39.760
It's sort of a journal of experience.
01:05:39.920 --> 01:05:44.079
And then get to work is, hey, I've got this pretty well figured out.
01:05:44.400 --> 01:05:50.320
And my thing now is saving people years of struggle.
01:05:50.800 --> 01:05:59.679
Because I remember about five years ago, I went to a class and I was like, hmm, why am I working with mostly 50?
01:06:00.079 --> 01:06:01.440
50 and 60 years old.
01:06:01.920 --> 01:06:03.920
And I looked in the mirror and I went, oh.
01:06:04.320 --> 01:06:04.639
Oh.
01:06:06.480 --> 01:06:13.119
Because well, people that are 50 and 60, they don't have 10 years to screw around.
01:06:14.000 --> 01:06:15.920
They gotta get this figured out now.
01:06:16.079 --> 01:06:20.000
So I'm I'm I'm 50 or 60, I have time and I have money.
01:06:20.239 --> 01:06:20.559
Okay.
01:06:20.960 --> 01:06:24.239
So I can do pretty much whatever I want in this in this hobby.
01:06:24.400 --> 01:06:24.639
Okay.
01:06:25.039 --> 01:06:28.159
But what I don't have is 10 years to screw around.
01:06:28.480 --> 01:06:32.800
So my specialty is saving people years of struggle.
01:06:33.599 --> 01:06:34.079
Right?
01:06:34.400 --> 01:06:42.480
And so shoot the the the the shooting sports, they're at least 75% mental.
01:06:42.639 --> 01:06:43.119
At least.
01:06:43.920 --> 01:06:46.800
And the the better you get, the more mental it is.
01:06:47.360 --> 01:06:51.840
And people think that shooting is different than other things that they're good at.
01:06:52.000 --> 01:06:52.320
Okay.
01:06:52.639 --> 01:06:57.039
So if somebody's good at their job, they have strategy, they know what to do.
01:06:57.280 --> 01:07:01.920
They have skill, they've done it before, they have confidence, they know it'll be okay.
01:07:02.159 --> 01:07:03.360
So pressure makes them better.
01:07:03.519 --> 01:07:05.440
I have strategy, skill, and confidence.
01:07:05.760 --> 01:07:08.320
In shooting, they don't.
01:07:09.199 --> 01:07:15.440
And because these sports have a duality of scoring, there's always a reason to be upset.
01:07:15.760 --> 01:07:21.519
I can have a fast run that's sloppy, I can have an accurate run that's slow, and I'm never happy.
01:07:21.760 --> 01:07:25.280
And because I'm never happy, I have nothing to duplicate.
01:07:25.840 --> 01:07:27.519
So those are the three books.
01:07:27.679 --> 01:07:32.159
Um Refinement Repetition has made hundreds of grandmasters.
01:07:32.320 --> 01:07:33.199
Hundreds.
01:07:33.679 --> 01:07:37.199
Um because the skills are pretty simple.
01:07:38.159 --> 01:07:45.519
You know, and and you you gotta remember this this whole thing started because I wanted to sound like Eddie Van Halen.
01:07:45.679 --> 01:07:47.440
And and I believed I could.
01:07:48.079 --> 01:07:50.159
You see, I've got a Van Halen tattoo right here.
01:07:50.320 --> 01:07:52.559
I actually have two Van Halen tattoos.
01:07:53.199 --> 01:07:55.679
There's one one there and one there.
01:07:56.159 --> 01:07:56.480
Okay.
01:07:58.800 --> 01:08:00.880
I wanted to make Van Halen noises.
01:08:01.440 --> 01:08:06.639
And I never I remember my dad died before I knew he was imperfect.
01:08:06.800 --> 01:08:09.679
So there was no reason I couldn't make Van Halen noises.
01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:16.479
And then when I heard about Grandmaster, there was no reason I couldn't do it, all because my dad died at Perkins.
01:08:17.119 --> 01:08:20.800
I think that learning from you in person would be an absolute blast.
01:08:21.039 --> 01:08:23.680
So where do people go to do just that?
01:08:23.840 --> 01:08:26.560
Where do you want them to connect with you, follow, et cetera?
01:08:26.800 --> 01:08:27.199
All right.
01:08:27.359 --> 01:08:32.720
So we do we do online mental management at least once a month.
01:08:32.960 --> 01:08:39.199
So mental management is a six-hour class held over three typically weekdays.
01:08:39.359 --> 01:08:42.000
We'll do them like on Wednesday evenings typically.
01:08:42.159 --> 01:08:43.680
Um it's just a Zoom call.
01:08:43.760 --> 01:08:44.960
It's super easy.
01:08:45.199 --> 01:08:48.560
And you get basically this, except you get to ask questions.
01:08:48.720 --> 01:08:49.039
Okay.
01:08:49.279 --> 01:08:51.439
So we we present mental management.
01:08:51.520 --> 01:08:54.560
We learned about the conscious, subconscious, and self-image.
01:08:54.640 --> 01:08:57.359
So that's the first step is the online mental management.
01:08:57.520 --> 01:08:57.840
Okay.
01:08:58.000 --> 01:08:59.920
And that applies to any sport, by the way.
01:09:00.159 --> 01:09:07.039
We just we just did our first event for junior athletes, and uh we had these two adorable girls.
01:09:07.119 --> 01:09:09.840
Uh, they have such new, new wave names.
01:09:09.920 --> 01:09:17.359
It was uh Bland and the most catchy, uh like Manchester or something like that.
01:09:17.439 --> 01:09:18.000
I don't know.
01:09:18.159 --> 01:09:23.680
But at any rate, one's one's a soccer player and one's a track uh person.
01:09:24.239 --> 01:09:30.560
And and the track one hates track and doesn't want to do it, but she's good at it, so her parents are making her do it.
01:09:30.800 --> 01:09:35.760
So we we got to work on the mental game for a track star who doesn't want to be a track star.
01:09:35.840 --> 01:09:37.680
It was so awesome, so great.
01:09:37.840 --> 01:09:41.920
But so we do we do mental management every month, uh typically on weekdays.
01:09:42.079 --> 01:09:46.479
That is the single best investment you can make in your shooting career.
01:09:46.800 --> 01:09:53.359
Most people will spend five to ten thousand dollars a year on their shooting sports if they're if they're serious about it.
01:09:53.520 --> 01:09:54.159
Yeah.
01:09:54.640 --> 01:09:57.119
And they'll tell you that the mental game is 90%.
01:09:57.680 --> 01:10:04.960
And I say, okay, will you pay me$9,000, 90% of your budget to solve 90% of your problems?
01:10:05.039 --> 01:10:06.960
And they go, No, I won't.
01:10:07.279 --> 01:10:07.600
Okay.
01:10:08.960 --> 01:10:10.640
But that's the first step.
01:10:10.880 --> 01:10:17.279
And then if you want to do a class on the range, that is the easiest thing in the world to do.
01:10:17.600 --> 01:10:25.760
If you have a match that you go to and you have access to that match director, say, hey, I want to bring Steve Anderson out for a class.
01:10:25.920 --> 01:10:28.159
And he'll go, Oh, I've heard of Steve Anderson.
01:10:28.399 --> 01:10:29.279
Here's how we do it.
01:10:29.359 --> 01:10:32.720
And then you'll send me an email and say, hey, come to my range, do a class.
01:10:32.960 --> 01:10:34.960
You get the class for free.
01:10:35.199 --> 01:10:39.760
Literally, all you have to do is connect me to the range and you get the class for free.
01:10:40.239 --> 01:10:46.479
And I put the and then I put the class on my website, and we have literally the best time ever.
01:10:46.800 --> 01:10:48.560
And what is the website address?
01:10:48.800 --> 01:10:50.800
AndersonShooting.com.
01:10:51.840 --> 01:10:52.479
Perfect.
01:10:52.720 --> 01:10:56.640
On Facebook, Anderson Shooting, YouTube, Anderson Shoot In.
01:10:56.960 --> 01:11:04.880
Um, I just unlocked 1,200, probably, probably 1,000 over 1,200 podcasts.
01:11:05.119 --> 01:11:08.399
You could literally go back and listen to my very first podcast.
01:11:08.640 --> 01:11:09.840
Can I tell you about that briefly?
01:11:09.920 --> 01:11:11.199
I know I know we're almost on the back.
01:11:11.359 --> 01:11:11.840
Absolutely.
01:11:12.079 --> 01:11:12.399
Okay.
01:11:13.279 --> 01:11:17.279
So one of my hobbies is getting divorced, okay?
01:11:17.520 --> 01:11:21.119
And I had been, I was going through my second divorce.
01:11:23.520 --> 01:11:28.000
As you might imagine, I'm a difficult guy to be married to because I do a really weird thing.
01:11:28.399 --> 01:11:31.359
I meet women's needs and expect them to meet mine.
01:11:31.600 --> 01:11:34.159
Like, what's the problem?
01:11:38.319 --> 01:11:46.479
So I was writing these these these articles about my divorce to be like this cathartic healing process.
01:11:46.640 --> 01:11:46.880
Okay.
01:11:47.039 --> 01:11:50.000
Because at my core, I'm probably a writer.
01:11:50.399 --> 01:11:52.560
I love to write songs, blah, blah, blah.
01:11:52.720 --> 01:11:54.960
And so I'm writing these articles for Facebook.
01:11:55.119 --> 01:12:00.720
Facebook was was new, and I'm tying them into shooting at the end so people just don't lose their mind.
01:12:00.800 --> 01:12:01.119
Okay.
01:12:01.279 --> 01:12:05.359
But I'm getting this cult following of people that are like, ooh, Steve, you got to write more articles.
01:12:06.079 --> 01:12:07.039
We love this.
01:12:07.359 --> 01:12:11.039
And this guy, he sent me a message, he said, you should do a podcast.
01:12:11.199 --> 01:12:13.039
And I said, What's a podcast?
01:12:13.199 --> 01:12:15.439
And he said, Well, it's talk radio for the internet.
01:12:15.680 --> 01:12:18.479
And I went, ooh, I love Rush Limbaugh.
01:12:18.640 --> 01:12:19.520
I love Mark Levin.
01:12:20.079 --> 01:12:21.760
I'm going to do a podcast.
01:12:22.000 --> 01:12:27.119
So I wrote the article and I I recorded it and into the microphone.
01:12:27.279 --> 01:12:32.560
And it was like, every life will have a fork in the road.
01:12:32.720 --> 01:12:35.359
And the choice you make will determine.
01:12:35.600 --> 01:12:38.319
And I sent it to this guy, and he goes, It's terrible.
01:12:38.399 --> 01:12:39.199
Don't ever do that again.
01:12:39.359 --> 01:12:41.039
And I said, Hey, this was your idea.
01:12:41.760 --> 01:12:42.800
What are we doing here?
01:12:43.119 --> 01:12:44.479
And he goes, No, no, no, no, no.
01:12:44.640 --> 01:12:45.359
Don't do that.
01:12:45.600 --> 01:12:48.560
Just turn the microphone on and start talking.
01:12:49.039 --> 01:12:50.319
So I did that.
01:12:50.560 --> 01:12:52.640
And I sent it to him, and he goes, That's perfect.
01:12:52.800 --> 01:12:54.000
Keep doing that.
01:12:54.239 --> 01:12:56.239
And that's how the podcast got started.
01:12:56.399 --> 01:13:03.520
Because I was, I was driving all over the world, running record stores and trying not to get stabbed, listening to talk radio.
01:13:04.000 --> 01:13:11.039
But one thing, I think we discussed this off the air, Rush Limbaugh never listened to other talk radio because he didn't want to be influenced by it.
01:13:11.199 --> 01:13:13.600
And that's kind of the kind of the rule I live by.
01:13:13.760 --> 01:13:19.920
I don't want to listen to other podcasts and be influenced by them because I don't want to be artificially steered.
01:13:20.079 --> 01:13:23.680
I don't want to be sent down the wrong fork of the road.
01:13:26.159 --> 01:13:29.600
But yeah, let's so so do the online mental management.
01:13:29.760 --> 01:13:42.000
Um, we're gonna keep doing the ones for for junior athletes, because if if you have a child in your home playing sports, you are that child's mental coach.
01:13:42.319 --> 01:13:47.119
Because their technical coach doesn't know anything about the mental pain.
01:13:47.520 --> 01:13:51.359
And they're gonna make a lot of really well-intentioned mistakes.
01:13:51.680 --> 01:13:57.119
So the parent has to be sort of the filter between the coach and the child.
01:13:58.239 --> 01:14:06.880
Because if if if somebody's struggling, they either don't know what to do, they haven't done it enough, or they don't believe they're gonna be successful.
01:14:07.359 --> 01:14:08.800
It's it's as simple as that.
01:14:09.439 --> 01:14:11.199
And those things can be fixed.
01:14:12.560 --> 01:14:13.680
Fantastic.
01:14:14.079 --> 01:14:18.159
Thank you so much for having taken the time to jump on here for this podcast.
01:14:18.319 --> 01:14:19.840
They were wealth of information, mate.
01:14:20.000 --> 01:14:20.560
It really was.
01:14:21.520 --> 01:14:26.479
Dude, I I'm just telling you, I can save people so many years of struggle.
01:14:26.640 --> 01:14:30.000
I have studied this thing for 25 years, I've got it figured out.
01:14:30.319 --> 01:14:30.640
Okay.
01:14:30.880 --> 01:14:31.279
Fantastic.
01:14:32.000 --> 01:14:33.439
One one thing I do want to ask you.
01:14:33.840 --> 01:14:34.159
Go ahead.
01:14:34.319 --> 01:14:37.279
I'm I'm I'm so sorry to to drag this out.
01:14:38.479 --> 01:14:44.720
I feel like I've I've met my my British twin here, and I want to get to know my my British twin.
01:14:45.520 --> 01:14:46.720
He's far away, mate.
01:14:47.279 --> 01:14:57.119
When when you're teaching self-defense, okay, you are preparing people for a situation in which nobody knows what's going to happen next.
01:14:57.600 --> 01:15:00.880
How can you be sure you're giving them the right advice?
01:15:01.439 --> 01:15:03.279
You absolutely can't.
01:15:04.079 --> 01:15:06.720
Because there's so many variables involved with it.
01:15:07.199 --> 01:15:09.680
And I don't teach uh self-defense anymore.
01:15:09.760 --> 01:15:12.720
For the last 10-15 years, I've taught people how to avoid it.
01:15:12.800 --> 01:15:16.479
Occasionally I'll teach edge weapons class, I teach a lot of pistols and stuff.
01:15:16.720 --> 01:15:26.079
But a lot of it comes down to the avoidance rather than trying to get somebody up to a standard that they can weather the storm of an assault.
01:15:26.319 --> 01:15:33.359
Because for for most people, they've never experienced the kind of pain that comes with an assault.
01:15:33.600 --> 01:15:51.119
So trying to prepare them, at least when I was teaching, a lot of instances for me was inflicting a reasonable slash moderate amount of pain so that they could figure out how to deal with it, to get through it, to push through even when their body went, you know what?
01:15:51.279 --> 01:15:52.720
Hell, that really hurts.
01:15:52.880 --> 01:15:53.760
I don't like this.
01:15:53.920 --> 01:16:01.439
Like, yes, no, you may not like it, but you're already engaged, and turning and running at this junction's probably going to be pretty tough to do.
01:16:01.520 --> 01:16:03.520
You're gonna have to finish, you've got to fight through.
01:16:03.680 --> 01:16:12.479
So there's that mental aspect of sucking up the pain and also then realizing they're tougher than they expect.
01:16:12.720 --> 01:16:16.640
But as far as sort of a blanket, you know, how do we make everybody?
01:16:16.800 --> 01:16:19.600
You can't, because there are so many variables.
01:16:19.840 --> 01:16:20.720
Again, right?
01:16:21.039 --> 01:16:28.479
And you know, that sort of led me to teaching defensive pistol and teaching firearms from the standpoint of this is the great equalizer.
01:16:28.640 --> 01:16:33.600
It doesn't matter if you're outweighed, somebody's you know, necessarily faster than you, or whatever.
01:16:33.840 --> 01:16:38.239
You have the capacity to end this if you feel like your life is in danger.
01:16:38.560 --> 01:16:39.840
Here's the tool to do it.
01:16:40.079 --> 01:16:53.840
So you know, it's sort of a it progressed, you know, along this scale until I arrived at a point where I'm like, okay, yeah, for most people, this is probably gonna be not the answer, but it's certainly an answer, and it's pretty close to the answer.
01:16:54.640 --> 01:16:55.359
That's cool.
01:16:55.520 --> 01:17:00.880
Yeah, because you know, teaching tactics, I I don't know anything about tactics.
01:17:01.039 --> 01:17:04.239
I don't know anything about tactical except what's usually green or brown.
01:17:04.399 --> 01:17:10.159
However, shooting faster and more accurately is something I can absolutely help people.
01:17:10.960 --> 01:17:11.600
Yeah.
01:17:12.079 --> 01:17:15.439
So yeah, and that's the simplest thing to do when you think about it.
01:17:15.600 --> 01:17:26.159
If if I was to stand up in front of someone and say, Okay, I'm gonna teach you how to, you know, jab cross left hook, right kick, elbow, headbutt, you know, throat strike, whatever, how many reps are you gonna have to perform to get that?
01:17:26.239 --> 01:17:27.680
And then how many variables?
01:17:27.840 --> 01:17:31.039
What happens if that person is you know a foot taller than you?
01:17:31.279 --> 01:17:36.239
Okay, well, jab cross to a face on someone that's considerably taller than you is actually very hard to do.
01:17:36.319 --> 01:17:38.880
So now you're changing a target location.
01:17:39.279 --> 01:17:48.640
Okay, that is exhausting, and I'm gonna have to spend six months, nine months, twelve months truly working the physical elements there to become proficient.
01:17:48.960 --> 01:17:55.039
Well, you want to draw your gun real quick, you know, and uh shoot in close proximity to the threat.
01:17:55.439 --> 01:17:55.840
Sure.
01:17:56.079 --> 01:18:02.079
Okay, well, uh, we can learn that, you know, probably in a weekend and in a couple of weeks of practice.
01:18:02.239 --> 01:18:06.000
If you can get that thing in the into the fight, well, you've got the answer.
01:18:06.159 --> 01:18:08.079
And it didn't take you necessarily months.
01:18:08.159 --> 01:18:09.520
So I completely agree with you.
01:18:09.680 --> 01:18:22.880
You know, the simplest answer is often the most um important, and certainly the one in that particular case that will work most of the time, as long as you know you've taken into account how to shoot in close proximity to a threat.
01:18:23.600 --> 01:18:24.319
That's cool.
01:18:24.560 --> 01:18:37.600
Yeah, then that that makes so much sense because you know, in the tactical world, they they talk about you won't rise to the occasion, you'll meet your level of training.
01:18:37.760 --> 01:18:37.920
Yeah.
01:18:38.159 --> 01:18:39.600
And you're 100% correct.
01:18:39.840 --> 01:18:47.920
Drawing from appendix to an attacker at bad breath distance is never going to change, no matter how tall he is or whether it's light or dark.
01:18:48.399 --> 01:18:51.840
That's a that's a really good that's a really good um perspective.
01:18:52.000 --> 01:18:59.840
I just I would I would be so uncomfortable telling people to do something that I wasn't absolutely sure would work.
01:19:00.079 --> 01:19:11.279
And that's what's always made me sort of not skeptical, but nervous about self-defense training is I I can't be sure that what I'm trying to do is is going to save their lives.
01:19:11.439 --> 01:19:22.479
But what you just said is pretty cool because drawing from concealment to a target at close proximity is probably going to be a pretty good idea once that once that green light goes off, you know?
01:19:22.800 --> 01:19:22.960
Yeah.
01:19:23.199 --> 01:19:30.479
And it's just learning to, you know, to fight with that firearm index as close to you as probably humanly possible and know you can still be accurate.
01:19:30.640 --> 01:19:33.760
And that does take just a little bit of finessing, a little bit of practice.
01:19:33.920 --> 01:19:34.079
Sure.
01:19:34.239 --> 01:19:40.319
It just takes getting used to having that firearm going off in close proximity to you and potentially your face.
01:19:40.399 --> 01:19:50.640
And of course, there are steps you can take to minimize that, but that is a significantly easier than say, because what I used to teach was a combination of Muay Thai and boxing.
01:19:50.720 --> 01:19:58.159
And I just left out the bits that I felt were superfluous or or sort of Hollywood crap that would just get your ass kicked.
01:19:58.239 --> 01:19:59.920
I'm like, okay, where's the realism start?
01:20:00.000 --> 01:20:02.159
Where is the where's the practical elements?
01:20:02.239 --> 01:20:06.000
And what do we need to really work here to be proficient?
01:20:06.239 --> 01:20:16.000
And even in that, there were people that were not prepared to put in you know the training necessary to become months, if not years.
01:20:16.399 --> 01:20:20.640
I would say a good six to nine months can get you a fairly long way.
01:20:21.119 --> 01:20:29.279
But the caveat to that is are you you can get there physically, but just like you, I imagine a lot of ways, mentally are you there?
01:20:29.359 --> 01:20:31.439
Are you are you prepared to fight injured?
01:20:31.520 --> 01:20:32.720
Because you're gonna get injured.
01:20:32.800 --> 01:20:34.479
It's an attack, it's not pretty.
01:20:34.720 --> 01:20:36.560
You know, can you push through that pain?
01:20:36.800 --> 01:20:38.239
And there were a lot of people that didn't.
01:20:38.319 --> 01:20:40.319
I had guys all the time rolling.
01:20:40.560 --> 01:20:42.479
I want to learn Muay Thai, it's gonna be great.
01:20:42.560 --> 01:20:48.239
And I'm like, we'll find out how great you think it is after our first sparring session, yes.
01:20:48.479 --> 01:20:53.279
And then you'd see the shock on their face, they're like, that really hurts, and this sucks.
01:20:53.439 --> 01:20:55.359
And I'm like, yes, that's the point.
01:20:55.600 --> 01:20:58.640
You have to be my okay, I'll just detour for a minute.
01:20:58.880 --> 01:21:10.720
My instructor, the very first lesson I had with him, he had me stand in front of him and he did a nice round house Muay Thai kick to the outside of my leg, and I had no idea what was coming.
01:21:10.960 --> 01:21:13.119
He just said, stand there, and he then he kicked.
01:21:13.439 --> 01:21:24.319
And I remember falling to the ground, he went into the house to have a cup of tea, and I was rolling around in the grass for the next two minutes, wondering how my life had come to this to this place, because it hurt so bad.
01:21:24.640 --> 01:21:26.319
Questioning every life choice ever.
01:21:26.399 --> 01:21:26.560
Yeah.
01:21:26.800 --> 01:21:27.600
Question them all.
01:21:27.760 --> 01:21:29.439
But what ultimately happened?
01:21:29.600 --> 01:21:40.479
I got up limping, and he said, When I teach you how to do this kick, and when I teach you how to do this elbow, and when I teach you how to do this, you need to have the confidence that it's gonna work.
01:21:40.720 --> 01:21:46.640
You have to fully commit to the to the implementation of that technique, that elbow, that strike, whatever.
01:21:46.800 --> 01:21:51.199
And you can only do that if you know how badly it hurts on the other side.
01:21:51.439 --> 01:21:53.680
Otherwise, you'll second guess yourself.
01:21:54.000 --> 01:21:55.600
So it was a fantastic lesson.
01:21:55.760 --> 01:22:09.199
And although I didn't go to that degree with my students back when I was teaching, I did do a version of that in a number of different ways to say you have to have the confidence to know if you throw this shit and it hits, it's gonna hurt them.
01:22:09.279 --> 01:22:13.039
And even if they don't go down, you've kind of, you know, it's like a video game.
01:22:13.119 --> 01:22:17.920
You've taken 20% of their power, energy, or even commitment at very worst.
01:22:18.159 --> 01:22:20.159
In most cases, you'll take a lot more than that.
01:22:20.319 --> 01:22:22.640
But you have to be confident in what you're doing.
01:22:22.800 --> 01:22:23.920
And that helped.
01:22:24.000 --> 01:22:28.800
But there are a lot of people that said, Well, I don't want you to punch and kick me or, you know, whatever in the face.
01:22:28.880 --> 01:22:30.399
This is really horrible.
01:22:30.479 --> 01:22:32.479
And I'm like, that's the bloody point.
01:22:35.119 --> 01:22:38.159
Strategy, skill, confidence.
01:22:38.479 --> 01:22:38.880
Perfect.
01:22:39.119 --> 01:22:43.760
That's those are the three pillars of the mental game for everything in life.
01:22:44.800 --> 01:22:45.920
Do I know what to do?
01:22:46.159 --> 01:22:47.279
Have I done it a bunch?
01:22:47.520 --> 01:22:48.800
Do I believe it'll work?
01:22:49.199 --> 01:22:53.039
And what what you discovered was people aren't willing to do it a bunch, right?
01:22:53.279 --> 01:22:58.319
You you're gonna show them what to do, but they have to do it a bunch before it becomes subconscious.
01:22:58.960 --> 01:23:02.880
And then the the confidence pillar is do I believe it's going to work?
01:23:03.199 --> 01:23:18.560
And what's really interesting is people, people will will take mental management um fr from me and they'll say, Wow, this has helped my shooting, but it's also helped my job and my marriage and my relationship with my kids.
01:23:19.039 --> 01:23:24.800
And I say, Yeah, because this is how the human mind works under pressure.
01:23:25.279 --> 01:23:29.760
And then they'll say to me, ooh, check out this thing that's just like mental management.
01:23:29.920 --> 01:23:33.600
And that to me is like saying, Oh, you're Catholic.
01:23:33.760 --> 01:23:34.960
Have you heard about Buddhism?
01:23:35.039 --> 01:23:36.720
And I'm like, I've got mental management.
01:23:36.800 --> 01:23:38.560
Don't send me things that are similar.
01:23:38.720 --> 01:23:40.560
I've already got all the answers.
01:23:40.880 --> 01:23:48.640
If I know if I can create strategy, if I can create skill, and I can create confidence, I can be successful in anything.
01:23:48.800 --> 01:23:54.720
Okay, strategy, skill, confidence, conscious, subconscious, self-image, I can teach you all of that.
01:23:54.880 --> 01:23:57.600
We do the mental management classes at least once a month.
01:23:57.760 --> 01:24:00.800
Uh go to AndersonShooting.com, click on training.
01:24:00.960 --> 01:24:11.039
And again, if you want to do a range class and learn how to save years of struggle in competition shooting, IDPA, USPSA, IPSC, Steel Challenge, doesn't matter.
01:24:11.199 --> 01:24:14.079
Oh, and I can work miracles in PRS.
01:24:14.319 --> 01:24:15.760
PRS rifle shooting.
01:24:16.000 --> 01:24:16.800
Miracles.
01:24:17.119 --> 01:24:23.199
Because PRS rifle shooting, most of it is subconscious, but the wind calls are not.
01:24:23.600 --> 01:24:23.920
Okay.
01:24:24.399 --> 01:24:30.079
And if they can, and I don't I don't know how to do it because I don't think there's a simulator, although people are working on them.
01:24:30.239 --> 01:24:35.279
If you can get subconscious wind calls, you can destroy PRS, because that's the key to everything.
01:24:35.359 --> 01:24:36.960
So I can make magic there too.
01:24:37.119 --> 01:24:39.680
It's all happens at AndersonShooting.com.
01:24:40.000 --> 01:24:42.560
Man, I've had so much fun talking to you, Terry.
01:24:43.039 --> 01:24:43.840
Thank you, mate.
01:24:43.920 --> 01:24:46.000
Again, I really appreciate you jumping on here.
01:24:46.079 --> 01:24:47.680
We've shared a wealth of information.
01:24:47.840 --> 01:24:48.800
So thank you.
01:24:49.119 --> 01:24:49.760
Great.
01:24:50.079 --> 01:24:53.119
As always, don't forget to subscribe, like, and share.
01:24:53.199 --> 01:24:57.359
If you're watching this on YouTube, go ahead and hit that bell icon so you never miss one of our episodes.
01:24:57.439 --> 01:25:02.239
It's a free and easy way to support the show and help us bring you the guests that you want to hear from.
01:25:02.399 --> 01:25:07.039
For now, I hope all of you have a splendid day, and we'll see you in the next episode.
01:25:07.359 --> 01:25:08.479
Cheers so much.