Life Lessons Learned with a Shotgun

“Both eyes open; see it, shoot it.”?“If you miss, CHANGE something; don’t do the same thing again expecting a better result.” These are the words of Gil Ash, one of the top shotgun instructors in the country, who spoke them hundreds of times when I was learning how to shoot sporting clays with a 12-gauge sporting gun some years ago.?Gil is one of the earliest proponents of instinct shooting which involves getting your conscious mind out of the way and freeing your brain to make the physical connection for when and where to shoot.?This training, along with very careful gun handling and safety protocols, made me a much better shooter than I could have ever been by myself.?In learning this method, you don’t close one eye, you don’t look down the barrel, you don’t aim.?You don’t think about "leading" a fast or distant bird (clay). That’s right, you don’t aim, you don’t lead; in Gil’s words, “See it, shoot it.”?One of the key principals he teaches is Peripheral Acceptance, which is not some hoity-toity metaphysical term; what he means is that you keep the muzzle of the gun in the periphery of your vision, and the further out in the periphery you keep that muzzle, the better you can see the bird, giving your brain the chance to calculate where to put the barrel where it needs to be to hit it.?That calculation, with practice, repetition, and a quiet mind, is unconscious to the shooter.?I think of it as Zen and the art of shooting.

To train?Peripheral Acceptance, you learn to keep the muzzle of the gun in your peripheral vision, but not in line with the expected flight of the bird.?He even had me at times hold the muzzle 90° from the flight of the bird.?Even this far out from the path of the bird, your brain can calculate the proper speed of the muzzle to get to the break point as the bird simultaneously arrives at that same point.?If you miss, and you will, he coaches you to change something; anything.?Put the muzzle in a different place; move the break point where you shoot; even change your stance.?The changing of a variable gives your brain a chance to recalculate and increases your chances of hitting the bird.

Lastly, one of most interesting characteristics of shooting is the amount of time you see your target coming.?Generally, the shorter amount of time you have sight of the bird, the better you shoot.?If you can see the bird coming at you for a long time, you almost always overthink the shot, get in the way of your brain, and then inevitably miss.?Shortening that time improves your shot.

These learned skills for shooting readily apply to personal and business life.?Quieting the mind allows your mental circuitry to function more efficiently; focusing on the issue rather than the mechanics of problem solving will help to crystalize your perception of that issue.?Widening your peripheral vision will help you see the entire picture, allowing the mind to focus.?If you do something and it doesn’t work, CHANGE something; don’t keep repeating the same response expecting a different result.?Another benefit of widening your peripheral vision is clearing out the clutter, helping you to see your target more clearly.?Finally, don’t overthink it.?You’re a leader.?You’re a problem solver.?Your initial response to an issue, if the mind is quiet and clear, is usually the correct one.?Learn to trust that and don’t keep staring at a problem without action.?

See it, shoot it.