First, my story (the less important part):
Blood. Sweat. Tears.
Blood, sweat, and tears.
Blood:
I'm sacrificing my body for this. My right index finger is now heavily scarred due to crushing it with a wrench accidentally, but then intentionally not letting it heal because it interrupted my training schedule. I've gashed my hands countless times... digging them into sharp corners of a sight, pinching them during a load, and other miscellaneous nonsense. I have several meetings with trainers in the upcoming weeks on how to prevent severe elbow tendonitis. If there isn't a way, I will continue on regardless.
Sweat:
Every day. There is no off day. It might be cooking in the summer sun or working hard in a winter coat, or numerous hours indoors - pushing too hard for the A/C to keep the body cool.
Tears:
Mental break downs on the range. Weeks of hard work not adding up to the numbers I hoped for and expected. Frustrated to the point of barely breathing.
Sacrificing a social life because I'd rather train than go to the bars after work. Gone all day on the weekends either at the range, or driving numerous hours to pick up cases of ammo.
I'm hungry. I'm pissed off. I want this so badly that I can feel my soul shake. On game day, I show up ONLY with intentions of hunting and murdering IPSC targets, and to do it faster and better than my competitors.
(Important part)
But, I can't do it anymore...
I've lost focus. Almost entirely. I can't seem to motivate myself any longer. There's no gas left in the tank.
Many people have told me to take a couple days off. I did. Upon my return, it was no better. The fog created by lack of focus/motivation is still there.
I tell myself I need a nemesis. I'm fueled by competition. I need somebody to compete head-to-head with frequently. Somebody who pushes me to work harder and perform better. But I don't have that. I can't even use competitions as my "nemesis" as I'm lucky if I can shoot one per month.
It's also not what I need. It's what I want.
What I need is to focus, to find a way to motivate myself.
How do you maintain a strong mental focus when what you are working towards is so far away? Whatever your goal is. It can be a victory of any kind: promotion at work, overcoming an addiction, anything.
When you know that the opportunity is so far down the road, how do you stay focused on something that far ahead?
It's like school: we coast by until we know a test is coming up, then we kick it into high gear and do the hard work. But, that won't work here. What I want to accomplish requires pushing myself to Mach 1 every day of the week. I'm not doing that. I can feel myself slowly letting go - and I know it's because I'm losing focus. Training sessions are becoming shorter, and particularly important range days are becoming spaced further apart.
So I ask my brothers, what do you do to maintain focus? Especially for something you know you won't see any large benefits for in the near future?
How do you keep the energy and metaphorical fire at a substantial level?
Blood. Sweat. Tears.
Blood, sweat, and tears.
Blood:
I'm sacrificing my body for this. My right index finger is now heavily scarred due to crushing it with a wrench accidentally, but then intentionally not letting it heal because it interrupted my training schedule. I've gashed my hands countless times... digging them into sharp corners of a sight, pinching them during a load, and other miscellaneous nonsense. I have several meetings with trainers in the upcoming weeks on how to prevent severe elbow tendonitis. If there isn't a way, I will continue on regardless.
Sweat:
Every day. There is no off day. It might be cooking in the summer sun or working hard in a winter coat, or numerous hours indoors - pushing too hard for the A/C to keep the body cool.
Tears:
Mental break downs on the range. Weeks of hard work not adding up to the numbers I hoped for and expected. Frustrated to the point of barely breathing.
Sacrificing a social life because I'd rather train than go to the bars after work. Gone all day on the weekends either at the range, or driving numerous hours to pick up cases of ammo.
I'm hungry. I'm pissed off. I want this so badly that I can feel my soul shake. On game day, I show up ONLY with intentions of hunting and murdering IPSC targets, and to do it faster and better than my competitors.
(Important part)
But, I can't do it anymore...
I've lost focus. Almost entirely. I can't seem to motivate myself any longer. There's no gas left in the tank.
Many people have told me to take a couple days off. I did. Upon my return, it was no better. The fog created by lack of focus/motivation is still there.
I tell myself I need a nemesis. I'm fueled by competition. I need somebody to compete head-to-head with frequently. Somebody who pushes me to work harder and perform better. But I don't have that. I can't even use competitions as my "nemesis" as I'm lucky if I can shoot one per month.
It's also not what I need. It's what I want.
What I need is to focus, to find a way to motivate myself.
How do you maintain a strong mental focus when what you are working towards is so far away? Whatever your goal is. It can be a victory of any kind: promotion at work, overcoming an addiction, anything.
When you know that the opportunity is so far down the road, how do you stay focused on something that far ahead?
It's like school: we coast by until we know a test is coming up, then we kick it into high gear and do the hard work. But, that won't work here. What I want to accomplish requires pushing myself to Mach 1 every day of the week. I'm not doing that. I can feel myself slowly letting go - and I know it's because I'm losing focus. Training sessions are becoming shorter, and particularly important range days are becoming spaced further apart.
So I ask my brothers, what do you do to maintain focus? Especially for something you know you won't see any large benefits for in the near future?
How do you keep the energy and metaphorical fire at a substantial level?