Calm. Confirmed. Quick. And now starring Quiet.

My shooting coach and I had an After Action Report (AAR) about my shooting for the past couple tournaments and practice sessions. The main point of it was something like this:

Coach, "So do you realize what you need to work on?"
Me, "Yes, I know where I am weak technically and the drills I know I need to do to improve. I also need to properly deal with my finger injury. I also have my major matches planned out for 2014 and my goals within each one."

Coach, "Do you know what else I think you need to do?"
Me, "No, what? Not hurt my finger?" (laughs)

C, "Well why did you hurt your finger?"
M, "Showing off. Trying to alpha male the other dudes around me. Make a statement. Kinda like physical trash talking."

C,"And how did that work out for you? Or the times you talk trash? Or that time we went to Alabama and you were sure you were going to win and you got smoked? You realize you can't do that, that sort of thing. Has it ever gotten you any gains? Have you ever won after that type of behavior or attitude?"
M, "Well no, but it's who I am. It's my personality. I love doing that kind of stuff."

C,"And again, how has it worked out for you? What you need to be, and what I think of, is being a 'quiet professional'."
M, "OK, you're right. Hubris and my attitude has screwed me in the past. I will work on this. I have a mantra I use when things are going bad or I need to calm my jitters, so I will find a way to add this to it."

So the saying I previously said to myself before matches to ease my jitters and to focus on the task at hand was "Calm. Confirmed. Quick." Calm was to not let my mind wander. To breath and focus on the task at hand. Confirmed was my way of being in the moment. Seeing my front sight, seeing my shots. Knowing what I was doing, not doing things prematurely. And of course Quick. To then also do this stuff as quickly, but not too quickly that I make errors, as possible.

And now it is time to add Quiet in there. Be a quiet professional. Let my shooting and results do the talking. To act like how I do when I'm teaching kids shooting for NRA camps. How would I act if they were watching? I need to be a quiet professional.

Like today, some of my competitors who know me well tried egging me on. Getting me going. And normally I jump at that sort of thing, getting all trash talking and showing off and such. I resisted as best I could, since this is a new change for me, doing probably 60% less of that behavior that I would have otherwise.

The result? First place in my division of 16 shooters and first OVERALL of 25 shooters. Calm. Confirmed. Quick. Quiet. I was probably 70-80% of where I'd like to be on all of those attributes today. It was my first real day back with my finger injury after all.

And while the competition was admittedly light at this particular match, I still had to beat everyone else.

Veni. Vidi. Vici.