Kids With Guns and How They Can Help You Succeed

Kids with guns

What can they teach us about success?

Gunpowder has a strangely pleasant smell, charcoal and sulphur

On a windless summer day, it hangs in the air

As a kid, shooting a gun is exciting

There were twelve kids including me that day, each sitting at a small, numbered tables in front of a firing range

Our mission - shoot 5 bullets, and put 3 of them into a target, 50 feet away, in a cluster that fits under a dime

Our instructor, an older guy named Frank, gave us a clear warning: not many of us would achieve this today, maybe none of us

The bolt-action .22 is very satisfying to shoot

You load a single bullet and click the bolt upwards first, and then forward with a ka-chunk

After you fire, you reverse the process, and pulling back on the bolt ejects the shell, spitting it 6 feet out to the right

Each round went the same

Load a single bullet, aim, fire, eject, load the next bullet

When you're done, put your rifle down and lean back

Then, instructor Frank would gather the paper targets, and his trusty dime, and check them

Pop, pop, pop, pop pop, pop - the applause of a dozen kids shooting

Then silence

I put my gun down and leaned back and -

Pop...

Oh, not everyone was done. I guess one kid still had bullets left

I looked down the line and everyone was leaned back, eager to see their results, except for one kid in booth 3, who seemed to be in no hurry at all

Pop...

Booth 3 finally puts his gun down and leans back. We all rushed to bring our paper targets to the Frank

One by one, he checks with his trusty dime, and shakes his head

Back to the line we all load, aim, fire 5 bullets, and then lean back and wait for booth 3 to finish

Each round, Frank would go through the paper targets, and shake his head

That is until the 5th round

I felt like I really nailed it in round 5

The initial thrill of shooting a gun had tapered off, and I was really focused on shooting the same spot with each squeeze of the trigger

Frank continued his evaluations, either shaking his head or having no reaction at all until he said "A ha! We have a winner!"

My eyes went wide, my heart sped up, anticipating the rush of victory

"Congratulations booth 3!"

Booth 3?? That kid took forever! What the heck how did he do it before anyone else?

Ok, well, fine, I don't know what he was doing or why but I know what I'm gonna do

I'm gonna take twice as long as everyone else

Next round I loaded my slowly, aimed slowly, focused on just breathing, and aiming, and felt the pressure of the trigger under my finger as I eased it back, felt the firing pin pounce, ignite the propellant, and pop the bullet out into the distance

I made sure my pace was slow enough that, when everyone else was done firing, I still had 2 shots to take

3 rounds of that, and Frank lifted his dime again to say "A ha! We have a winner!" as he held up my target

So what's the lesson here?

Not only can you learn from people who are doing what you want to do, you can improve dramatically quickly

And you don't even really have to know WHY they are doing what they do

I was too young to recognize what booth 3 was doing at the time, but I knew that I wanted the result he was getting, so I copied him

Looking back of course, it's clear to see that he was slowing his breathing, taking the proper time to aim, and squeezing the trigger slowly - all these things lead to more accurate shooting

All I knew was, he was taking longer than everyone else, so that's what I did

As a result, I achieved the result I wanted

And you can too

If you have an income goal, or a business goal, or ANY goal, you can learn from people who are already doing what you want to do

Want to make $10,000 a month? Find someone already doing it. Better yet, find 5 people already doing it, and do what they do.

As adults, we have the benefit of being able to dig into WHY the things they are doing are working, which will lead to a deeper understanding

But in the absence of that, it will benefit you greatly to simply duplicate their efforts

Our egos sometimes tell us that our thinking is somehow different, and special, and must be the key to our success

While it's true that everyone has something unique to offer, it's also true that there's no reason to reinvent the wheel

If you learn what successful people are doing, and do it yourself, success will find you