I get very excited when I learn something new or gain a new understanding of something I already know or even a new perspective. That happened to me again last week and here’s how it went down;
I’ve been working on my range a lot recently building some new bays and a new rifle range. One day last week I was using my tractor to move some dirt around and doing some pretty repetitive stuff, move forward get a scoop of dirt, back up with it and dump it into the dump truck then move forward again get a scoop of dirt, back up again repeat, repeat etc. I know you are thinking…what does this have to do with shooting? Bear with me! To shift my tractor from forward to reverse I have to use a lever on the left side of the steering column, push forward to go forward, pull back for reverse. After running the tractor for a few hours I got in my truck to leave, guess what I grabbed to try to make the truck into forward and reverse….the turn signal lever on the left side of the steering column, right where the tractor gear selector was! So we’ve all heard it said that it takes 10,000 repetitions to build a muscle memory. I’ve said in my classes that it may not take 10,000 reps but it takes more than 10 for sure. In this case after running the tractor for a while I had reprogrammed to use my left hand and a lever on the left side of the steering column to make the machine go forward and reverse. When I got into my truck I instinctively grabbed the lever on the left side of the steering column, because for the last few hours I had TRAINED myself to do it. We humans are amazingly adaptive machines and with the right kinds of repetition we can learn to do anything. When I was running the tractor I didn’t sit down on it and see how fast I could shift from forward or reverse or how fast I could run the loader on a pro timer. What I did was very deliberately operate the machine and by doing so and not over thinking it, I TRAINED my mind and body how to instinctively make the machine do what I wanted it to do subconsciously. This new perspective on something I already knew will be going with me to the range and I think it will help me create some better training tools to give the shooters who train with me. I dig it the most when a new thought or idea comes up that will help me be a better shooter and instructor!
And of course you can check out my website for more info on what I’m all about. Thanks y’all!
www.wayofthegun.us
-Frank Proctor
Frank Proctor has served over 18 years in the military, the last 11 of those in US Army Special Forces. During his multiple combat tours in Afghanistan & Iraq he had the privilege to serve with and learn from many seasoned veteran Special Forces Operators so their combined years of knowledge and experience has helped him to become a better operator & instructor. While serving as an instructor at the Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat Course he was drawn to competitive shooting. He has since earned the USPSA Grand Master ranking in the Limited Division and Master ranking in the IDPA Stock Service Pistol division. He learned a great deal from shooting in competition and this has helped him to become to become a better tactical shooter. Frank is one of the few individuals able to bring the experiences of U.S. Army Special Forces, Competitive Shooting, and veteran Instructor to every class.
All this experience combines to make Frank Proctor a well-rounded shooter and instructor capable of helping you to achieve your goal of becoming a better shooter.
Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer some words of wisdom.
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Building habits with an ordinary mindset makes for subconscious effectiveness; you don’t think consciously on what you’re doing or worry about performance so you cut out the middleman of thought and just do it.