The Importance of Instant Feedback

Getting instant feedback is critical because it tells your brain whether or not it’s doing what you want it to do.

Typically, the only feedback that we see the average performers give to themselves is beating themselves up for their brain not doing what they hadn’t told it what they wanted it to do in the first place. All they do is complain about the misses. When they do something perfectly, they never give themselves an “attaboy.” They never break down what they just did to remember what it felt like.

They have no post-shot routine. They’re not building anything. It’s just something that’s going to randomly happen, and that’s the way they shoot, and that’s why they’re full of fear. They don’t know why things happen, don’t have a clue.

The poorest performers do not set goals. They just go shoot typically a certain number of targets (50, 100, 200) because targets are sold in hundreds and fifties. Mediocre performers set goals that are too general and focus on achieving a good outcome. “I have fewer misses. I shot a good score today. I felt good or I beat somebody.”

The best performers set process goals that, if achieved, will yield top-level performances.

Working on being smooth, working on soft shoot pressure, working on fluid movements, working on being in sync with the bird, working on specific breakpoints, working on visual transitions. Keeping your eyes still in the focal point when you call “pull,” working on everything with a routine, pre-shot, post-shot, and correction routines, working on tempo, working on rhythm, working on being early in the breakpoint.

All of those things should be goals that you have every time you go out and practice and every time you go shoot a tournament.

 

This is an excerpt from the February 2012 Coaching Hour podcast. You can listen to it and read a written transcript, along with more than 20 years of archived episodes with your Knowledge Vault membership.