Last year, my most‑read post was my “By the Numbers” breakdown comparing my stats across three activities—sporting clays, gym workouts, and biking—for 2023 and 2024. Gary Larson, the cartoon genius behind The Far Side, once noted that people are most interested in what other people do. He was right. Numbers tell stories, and we relate […]
2025 “By The Numbers” Read More »
Several months ago, my good friend Susan Coffman asked me what my priority was for 2024 – was It fitness / time at the gym, biking, shooting clays, etc.? My off-the-cuff response to her at that time was “none of them”! I think that was really true – I was not as singularly focused on
2024 “By The Numbers” Read More »
Why do many of us choose to compete during our leisure time activities? We could choose to sit on the couch and watch others compete on our device of choice – but we don’t! Weekend after weekend, we are out on the field doing our thing, measuring our performance against our peers and our
Celebrating Achievements! Read More »
A Reader asked me (more than once) if I was going to report back on my own progress on my objectives from 2023! Since the big ball dropped a couple of days ago, I guess this is a good time to do that! My personal objectives were pretty straightforward this year. Here we go: So
2023 Year in Review Read More »
Yesterday, I checked off another box on the 2023 goals. My workout buddy, Giacomo, and I completed our first sprint triathlon. For those of you not familiar with triathlon distances, a sprint is the shortest of the series. This particular one consisted of a 250 yard swim, a 10 mile bike ride and a 2
I am a Triathlete – and the Flip Side of the Coin! Read More »
It’s been a great two weeks for being able to check off a couple of objectives – both related to health and fitness! Last Saturday, May 20, 2023, I completed a solo century ride (100 miles) on my bicycle! Then, today (5/28/23) my workout buddy Giacomo Campinoti and I each crushed 3 sets of 10
Two Objectives Met! Read More »
By now, you probably have heard rumblings about ChatGPT – an “AI Chatbot” that was recently released for general (free) use. Coming off the heels of just having read a few books on artificial intelligence, I was curious to see if AI could take over my blog posting duties and give me a vacation! Getting
This Post Brought to you by Artificial Intelligence! Read More »
At the end of last year, my neighbor and I had gone out together on a bike ride for fitness training. At the end of the ride, he asked me if I would be interested in joining a gym. He was quite frank in telling me that he was having a little trouble getting to
Buddy-up to Improve Your “Stick-to-it-ness”! Read More »
Happy New Year! I had debated as to whether or not a post on goals was necessary at the start of this year as it seems we have covered that territory before. If you want to refresh your memory of some of the past posts on goal setting, you might wish to click on the
2023 is Here! What is the “Why” in Your Goals? Read More »
This is the last post for 2022 (was that applause I heard?)! since the year is rapidly coming to an end, I thought it might be interesting to dust off my sporting objectives for the year and see how I made out. Note that they really weren’t that dusty as I look at them monthly
2022 – The Year in Review Read More »
A few months ago, I wrote a post entitled “What Does Your Mental Game Look Like?” You can link back to that thread HERE if you missed it. Around that same time, I was enjoying some text thread banter with fellow shooters and friends Doug Parsons and Chuck Laughridge in which I told Chuck he
You’ve Caught the Big Possum Read More »
In three previous posts, I have discussed developing one’s own self-image statement. I happened to notice today that I crafted my own self-image statement one year ago! If you missed those three previous posts, you may want to check them out in order to appreciate some of the background information that led to the development
My Personal Self Image Statement – One Year Anniversary Read More »
In my second post on the blog, I wrote about a user manual on goal setting I had created as part of my coursework when working towards by Sport Psychology degree. If you missed that one, you can find it here. In that post, I mentioned some tenants of good goals as suggested by experts
How Audacious Should Your Goals be? Read More »
Today’s post is number 62! Taking a look back we have covered a lot of territory. Looking through the posts, they can be grouped into roughly 10 categories as follows: Goal Setting Self-talk Visualization Stress Management / Emotional Regulation Mindfulness / Meditation / Focus Confidence Fitness / Eye Training Performance Logging Self-image Pre-shot Planning So…
What Does Your Mental Game Look Like? Read More »
Some 40 years ago (has it really been that long?), I found myself in a freshman economics class (EB201) at NCSU where I was introduced to the concept of “Utils”. Utils are an arbitrary way of measuring enjoyment. In class, we used utils to compare how much enjoyment was derived from having a salad vs
How Many Utils do you get From Your Sport? Read More »
The ball has dropped in Times Square, remnants of Christmas Trees are at the curb, and the holiday decorations are being boxed up. What else is it time for? Writing your 2022 goals and objectives of course! If you have not written goals before, there are several posts related to just that here on the
2022 Has Arrived! What are Your Goals for the Year? Read More »
In a previous post, I introduced Deena Kastor’s book “Let Your Mind Run – a Memoir of Thinking my way to Victory”. Deena Kastor is an Olympic medalist in the Marathon. The book tells of her early successes in running, and how she nearly decided to quit running after hitting near-burnout. After her collegiate career
“What is Your Philosophy?” – “What are Your Values?” Read More »
Just a quick post to thank all who have commented on the publishing of my feature article in the September 2021 edition of “Clay Target Nation” covering the topic of “Performance Logging”! If you have interest in giving the article a read, you can find it on page 59 of the digital version here: https://www.claytargetnation-digital.com/publication/?i=717594
“Clay Target Nation” September Edition Read More »
Recently, I had the honor of having lunch with Brian DeMott, master class competitor and former PSCA shooter. I had reached out to Brian after observing him shoot on a couple of different occasions noting how confident he appeared as he prepared for each shot and how smoothly he executed each pair. I introduced him
Two Hours with Brian DeMott – Self-Image Building and Mental Management Read More »
Photo by Alexander Schimmeck It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is the first day of May and 2021 is one third of the way behind us! Now would be a great time to pull out those goals you wrote back in January and see how you are doing! Ideally, you have been doing that periodically
May Day – Time to Dust off those Goals! Read More »
In her bestselling book “Mindset – the New Psychology of Success”, Carol Dweck explores two different world views – one that supposes a person’s capabilities are “set in stone” at birth – a “fixed mindset”, and one in which a person’s capabilities are really not fully known and subject to change based on efforts made
Performance Logging your way to Success! Read More »
Many thanks to two fellow shooters who elected to provide some feedback on their own goal setting process for the coming year. May their comments inspire others to put their thoughts into words, and their words into actions! First, lets hear from Grant O’Neal – a fellow shooter who like myself, adopted sporting clays later
Community Feedback on Goals Read More »
It’s that time of the year again! The final week of the year. Time to reflect on what went well, and what needs improvement headed into the new year. How many of us have come up with a new year’s resolution that is forgotten just as soon as the confetti is cleaned up from the
New Year’s Resolutions Read More »
Those who shoot NSCA (National Sporting Clays Association) registered events know just how challenging it is to move up the ranks. It takes 60 “punches” to progress from “D Class” where shooters begin the journey to “Master Class” – a journey involving navigating through 5 classes (D, C, B, A, AA, and Master). Punches are
NC Shooter’s Meteoric Rise from D-Class to Master Class in 17 Months! Read More »
I got a comment that my post on goal setting seemed pretty complicated! It need not be! At the risk of suffering some personal embarrassment, I present to you the first set of goals I developed for myself before the start of the 2019 shooting season. Note that I did not adhere strictly to all
More on Setting Goals – A Sample! Read More »
One of my class assignments was to create a “user manual” for goal setting – the following is the text that made up the manual – a little dry in places – but I did get an “A” on the assignment. Take a look! There will be more posts in the future regarding goal setting!
Goal setting – the first step to using mental skills! Read More »
