LCP Monthly (07/18/2020) Stage 1/2/5/6 "Lessons Learned"

As I started diving deeper into CAS, I remember watching video after video of fast/prominent shooters and being impressed but admittedly intimidated by their skill. I know that they got to that point with time, patience, and plenty of practice, but I still occasionally find myself getting discouraged by my "bad" stages.

I felt that it would be a misrepresentation of myself as a newer shooter if I only shared videos of my "good" stages, especially from this match since I'm fortunate to have so much footage from it. My middle four stages featured several newbie mistakes that I made and need to work on, and I always appreciate everyone's advice to help me with that. I'm hoping the lessons I learned are helpful for other newer shooters too:

• I shouldn't let misses get to me as much as they currently do (e.g. the head-shaking and under-the-breath comments). It drags me out of "the zone" which often leads to only more mistakes. Several people have pointed this out to me, but I appreciate The Outlaw Travis James for specifically talking to me about it after TO'ing me throughout this match. (As others also joked about it: No need to give the spotters confirmation of every miss I make!)
• I really need to brush out my side-by-side between every stage so I don't have as much trouble shucking those hulls out.
• I need to put the shotgun on my shoulder to keep it at eye-level while reloading.
• I should continue to always load two shells in a side-by-side even if there's only a single target to hit. Put another way that I've heard before, "never underestimate your own ability to mess up!"
• I need to pull the rifle into my shoulder more to get a better mount and keep it stable when attempting to shoot fast.
• I need to remember (or at least consciously recheck) the condition of my rifle before attempting a reload so I know whether to load from the top or from the side. For example: Make sure the lever is completely open before attempting an over-the-top reload or it simply won't work. When attempting an into-the-side reload, push the cartridge all the way in the FIRST time in a smooth motion.
• It is much easier than I thought to lose track of your pistol/rifle ammo count on "knock them all down" and "round count" stages.
• I should really consider formally sighting in my revolvers. Not only is it essential for those occasional precision-based stages, but it would hopefully help to reduce my misses on typical stages too.
• Once again: I need to work on not letting any of these flubs rattle me so much to where I start "train-wrecking"!