The life lesson that I learned from a sniper...

During my time in the Marines, I had a few opportunities to train with and learn from some of the Scout Sniper guys.

In the spirit of transparency, I didn’t necessarily decide to hang around these guys because of their incredible personality or a desire to learn…

…I really just wanted to play with all of their cool stuff!

Much to my delight… they actually let me stick around to shoot and run some drills with them! (Yes, it was fun shooting targets at 1,000+ meters!)

While they were teaching me their shooting tips and tricks, one of the snipers told me this: 

“Aim Small, Miss Small.”

The idea of “aim small, miss small” is that if you narrow your attention to a smaller portion of the target, your missed rounds will still be closer to the center of the target than if you decided to aim at the entire object.

Why am I talking about how to shoot?

It’s because I want to teach you how to activate a “flow trigger.”

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, go back and read my last email! -

When trying to drop into a flow state, you can use something called a “trigger.” This trigger is the stimulus that pushes your brain into that state of hyper-awareness and focus that we call flow.

Science currently knows of 22 different triggers that can activate flow, but one of the most readily available flow triggers is “Narrow, driven focus, with no distractions” AKA “Aim Small, Miss Small”

The more pointed and concentrated on a task that you become, the more likely you are to get into flow, and the more likely you are to achieve whatever goal you have set. 

Just like in the shooting world, if you aim at a smaller target and you miss, the odds are good that you have missed by less than if you were focused on the bigger picture.

Here’s the bottom line:

Set your specific goal/task. Minimize possible distractions. Attack that goal with intensity and focus. The more specific the goal, the better the outcome usually is!

Have a Wonderful Day!

-Caleb