In 2008, one of my favorite authors, Malcom Gladwell, wrote a book called “Outliers” where he laid out an idea called the “10,000 rule.”
Gladwell was building on a 1993 paper by Anders Ericsson and claimed that, regardless of the field, “you need to have practiced, to have apprenticed, for 10,000 hours before you get good.”
In the 15 years since, both Gladwell and Ericsson have come out in articles, papers, interviews, and books saying that the 10,000 rule is incorrect. It’s not a rule at all.
But belief in the 10,000 hour rule just won’t die.
It’s discouraging.
And it causes a lot of shooters to “put in their time,” and “pay their dues,” and “grind out reps” to get good when there are much, much better ways to learn life saving gun skills.
It’s amazing how many shooters think that they need to do 45 minutes to an hour of dry fire per night or shoot 1,000 rounds per week of live fire.
You don’t.
Not when you train smart.
What does smart training look like?
One example that I love is 80% training. Several top instructors use this example.
In 80% training, you don’t try to become a world champion shooter.
Your goal is to become 80% as good as a world champion.
Then, you develop 80% vision skills that you combine with shooting.
(combining the skills is key)
80% balance skills that you combine with shooting.
80% awareness and threat identification skills…
80% stress modulation skills…
80% movement skills…
80% empty hands skills…
80% improvised weapon skills…
Why 80% and not 90% or 100%?
The reason we strive for “good enough” rather than perfection is the law of diminishing returns.
For most skills, it takes more time and energy to go from 80% to 85% than it does to go from novice to 80%.
In fact, it’s probably easier to hit 80% at ALL of these skills than it is to hit 90% in any single one.
And 80% in several skills is much better than 100% in any single one.
Let me share an example.
A grand master USPSA shooter was visiting a school that I used to work with.
My boys and I used to love watching him shoot on TV. He could make 2-3 A-Zone hits from the holster in under 1 second.
They put him in some self-defense scenarios where there was a CLEAR threat…like an attacker with a bloody kitchen knife, 10 feet away, saying he was next.
In these clear-cut scenarios, it took him 5, 10, and even 15 seconds to start his lightening fast draw stroke…even though he had best-in-the-world shooting skills.
He had shooting skills nailed.
But he didn’t have the additional skills built to fight and defend himself with a gun in the real world…yet. (He does today.)
Why?
Because he didn’t have access to a training system that taught him how to learn and combine all of these skills…
But you do.
It is the missing link that can take you from being good shooting a gun to having the lifesaving skills needed to fight with a gun.
There’s 2 parts.
There’s a free part where I’ll tell you how to DIY it. That’s what the link is for.
And, if you’re not the kind of person who fixes the transmission on your car or services your air conditioner, I’ll tell you how you can get a done-for-you, step-by-step plan you can follow to build these skills in record time with minimal effort.
Head on over now by clicking >HERE<
Questions? Comments? Fire away by commenting below.
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