The Dead Pair Podcast

266 Not letting one miss ruin your round, PT 2 of Slow Down Stupid, w/Tracy & David.

• Season 6 • Episode 266

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Tracy Wright and David "Riblet" Radulovich return for part 2 of our deep dive into the SDS Method - "Slow Down Stupid".   In part 2, Tracy, David, and Jason dive deeper into the mental side of shooting: How frustration affects performance, how to build a repeatable pre-shot routines, and how to identify what actually caused a miss, and how to reset before one mistake becomes two, three, or 10!

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SPEAKER_00

Welcome back, everyone. We are now here part two. I don't know what David, I think we're gonna call this SDS with David Ribblett and and Tracy Wright. So, Tracy, I tell you what, and also everyone, there's no tourney talk again this week. Bunch of stuff happening. It's but it's all coming up. Casey emailed me, said she's got a bunch of stuff coming, but it wasn't available yet, and I didn't want to announce it too soon. Also, we have got a huge make a break update coming. Ed Pritzel's gonna join us for that one. Give everybody the update on the scores on that, so hang tight. Tracy, would you kind of, if you would, summarize a little bit where we left off last week? I want to dive right back into this with David because I want to know how pressure affects everything he was talking about. But would you give us a little brief summary, sir?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, you know, basically kind of in in lieu of your win at Ohio, has kind of led us to discuss process, pre-shot routine. What are the keys to consistency? And I think that we've got one of the kings of consistency, you know, David with us, and he has put up some incredible performances. And so I think we're trying to dive into David's brain. Scary place.

SPEAKER_02

For me too, I'm gonna have nightmares. What's that? I said for me too, I'm about to have nightmares tonight.

SPEAKER_03

No, but it's uh very interesting. It's great to get this perspective.

SPEAKER_00

This is what makes me mad about David, though, because I know what he's capable of, yet we only see glimpses of him at a tournament throughout the year, you know, and it's like, dude, you could be the next goat. What are you doing? You know, it's well, I got my guitar and I got my code that I'm writing, and I got my car, I've got to find a generator to plug into. And you know, we get we get all this stuff. Doesn't it make you mad though? Don't you want to see our buddy Dave on the course more often, Trace?

SPEAKER_03

Well, absolutely. I think David already is a goat, but I think that yeah, I'd love to see David win even more and and reach his potential. I think it's extremely high.

SPEAKER_00

Well, when I said goat, when I said goat, I meant greatest of all time. We all know he's got a head like a goat. I just was no, that's an elephant. Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, I was gonna send him one of our new flat bills because I know he likes them, but we only have extra large in their snap back, and he'd have to sew like extra snaps and give it.

SPEAKER_03

That's a hat extender, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

A hat extender. So, okay, so David, where we left off, you were talking about how all of that changes pair to pair and the amperage and everything else. But then when we had started that conversation, you were like, you almost need something on the line, you need that added pressure. So how does that affect things? Like you're pair to pair, but then somewhere in that round, if that's an important tournament to you, that pressure starts to add to it, right? Am I am I correct in saying that?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I I mean here here's an objective way of looking at everything that I'm saying. It is a fair criticism to say that everything that I'm doing is trying to take a is trying to manipulate a weak mental state into being able to perform well. Because you could like if you talk to dare here's people that would have a very much a large contrast to the way that they approach the game mentally to me. Derek Mine, Mike Wilgis, Brandon Powell, George Digweed, all of those guys probably would not be able to understand not intellectually understand, but but they would not be able to competitively relate to the way that I experience shooting. And to them, hearing another competitor say that they struggle with uh feeling engaged and feeling pressure is uh it can be interpreted as like a defeatist mindset because you can start you it's essentially like starting the round not feeling like you can win and trying to manipulate your mind into performing well. It's a totally fair criticism. And the uh it's one that I like to experiment with a lot to because that's a very val to me, that's very valid because I need to make sure that I'm not actually doing that to myself, you know? And so to answer your question about how pressure influences all of those things, the answer and the answer to it is that it's comp it literally is completely random. And it it is random.

SPEAKER_00

Wait a minute, random in what aspect?

SPEAKER_02

Like what what do you mean it's in a way that's very frustrating to me, which is that like what I feel pressure on or from is not something that I can predict or make sense of.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Um like it is completely not at my own con in my own control. I can I have had days, Jason, where like a perfect example of this is the what was the US Open that Wendell just recently won? It was like 2024 U.S. Open. Yeah, that was it in Arizona.

SPEAKER_00

Tucson, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

In Tucson, yeah. So I w was, I think, tied with him going into the last day. And I like every day, the fur the US Open is a tournament that I generally really care about because I'm a big golf fan and that's a big tournament in golf, and so that the title translates to me in shooting, and it and I like how it moves around, and just so like what you were talking about with the Ohio State Championship. To me, I would rather win a US Open than a national championship every day. Not because it's a bigger tournament, because it's not, but it's just because I care about it more, and it's very evident by my performances at the nationals compared to the U.S. Open. I've won three US opens, become runner-up at three U.S. opens, and I've won zero national championships. And the but so this is a US Open. I would say to me, this the second most important tournament to me that I care about. And I was pressure-wise, it was perfect the first two days. Like I I went out, started the first station on the first day on Friday, and like I got nervous and and like my hands were shaking as I'm trying to load the gun. And I'm just like, thank God, this is awesome, you know, because that's a rarity that I feel that way when I start a tournament. And when I do, it's like a blessing, you know, honestly. And and was able to harness that and have it work for me all round the whole round. And then I go into the second day, same thing. And then I'm looking at the scores, and I'm going into the US Open on Sunday, on the first US Open that we ever had with a pro squad. And, you know, so the squads get rescheduled. I'm on the first, the very first squad for the US Open. It was like Mike Luongo, Derek Mine, myself, Wendell Cherry, and maybe Gebin. I I don't remember who the fifth or six fifth person was. But so the that's like the perfect scenario for me, you know, like a pro squad at a major event that I care about, that I'm I'm easily in contention to win. And every day on the way to the course, the first two days, like as I'm driving in, I I get emotional. Like the I like it uh overcomes my body. Like it's almost like you, you it's almost like this weird feeling where you feel like you're about to cry and you don't know why. And and it's just because it means a lot and it's important and you care and you've sacrificed a lot to be there. And I'm driving to the tournament on Sunday morning completely flat, no emotion. And as I'm driving in, it's like I was like, oh, this is not good. I have to figure out a way to get that back because I don't know why. I got myself to the place that I really care about, and I'm in the perfect place, and all of a sudden I don't care. And I start the round, no, no zero emotional impact of the environment around me, uh having a hard time focusing, and it was stumbled around to try to find something to get it to work, and in in three stations left, I was at the point where I was tied for the lead, and then I came to a station that I it was hard and it was an opportunity. It was targets I'm really good at. Opportunity for me to take the lead and completely flat again, and I couldn't focus like attention-wise, I like didn't have the ability to get in tune with the bird. I think I dropped three targets, and at that point I was like, what can I do now to get Wendell to win? You know, and the it that makes no sense. You know, it should have been the complete opposite of that. If there was any days that I should have no emotional response, it'd be the first two driving to the club. And uh when I see a target that I'm super hyper confident on, I could shoot from the hip and run a hundred straight and know that I could beat anybody in the world at it was this true pair of tower targets that I lost. I didn't care. And and so it's just like you know, the pressure is completely random. And when I get it, I try my best to keep it, but I can't always well I got a question for Tracy.

SPEAKER_00

Now, I obviously pressure does the opposite to me, but what David's talking about there, like having it and losing it, the feeling, right? Yeah, Tracy, you know what I'm talking about. You you show up at the club, the the gun feels right, the moves, everything just feels effortless, and you flow, and it's like I could shoot with my eyes closed and hit these targets, right? Yeah, and then you come to well, like I did on Sunday of the highest eight, everything felt wrong, the gun didn't feel right, I was tired, I was not seeing targets good, and I in that mental state, it's like I'm fighting, it's like, how do I get this back? And that's why you know I told David, like every single target on Sunday was a fight. I had to work for every single target and keep clawing and fighting because I there was a lot on the line for me, and I didn't want to give up. But so how how does a person even begin to get back to that mental state?

SPEAKER_03

You know, the the the way the only way that I have been able to manipulate my mental state is through other people. And and you know, for instance, you know, I was in Montana at one point in time, I was on a squad, it was a state, a state championship. It was the first time I'd shot with this group of people, and I remember going, oh my god, it's got the energy of a funeral. I mean, if like I just walked into a morgue here, yeah, and I was like, wait, you know, I'm not shooting, you know, I'm down quite a few targets, the first three stations. I'm like, I gotta change this. And so I spent the next couple of stations rallying the troops, basically, trying to bring everybody up, telling them, good job, nice job, high fives, all this stuff to bring them up, but as a collateral effect, it brought me up. So before you know it, uh we're five stations in, and the entire squad is a totally different squad. So I think you have to take kind of a backdoor approach on trying to change your own status, your own mental status. And you've got to change those around you for the best, for the better, you know.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um, and I think that's really the only like highly successful way that I've done it. You know, I think the process is kind of the, you know, the process and pre-shot routine are kind of designed to kind of mitigate the amount of of change you get from day to day. But but I think that the best way to go about it is by changing your squad mates or bringing your other guys up.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you know, like I said, pressure affects me opposite what it is, David. And, you know, something, you know, credit to Brandon Powell. One of the things that always stuck in my mind, he said, is you gotta shoot like it doesn't matter when it matters the most.

SPEAKER_03

Now, yeah, for somebody like it was kind of like that with shootoffs for the longest time with me. And then you find this, you know, I think it was it might have been, you know, from shooting with Mike Wilkins. Mike Wilkes is one of the best competitors I think I've ever shot with in my life. He lives it, he breathes it, he's just an absolute competitor to the core. Whatever game he plays, he's going to compete at a high level because he knows how to be a competitor. But it was really, you know, it was really about learning to harness whatever emotion, whatever you're feeling at that moment, and turn it into positive energy. And it's very much what David's talking about, you know, taking a subpar emotional status and turning it into a good one. Yeah. Um, once you learn how to utilize it, it was like every time I got pulled for a shootoff, I was like, oh yes, I'm really gonna shoot well. You know, I looked forward to them because it was this ultimate energy. It was hard to duplicate in, you know, from box or station to station. But learning to convert whatever emotion or energy that you're having into a favorable emotion and learn to convert it into fuel, I think, I think it's highly possible. And uh, and it sounds like you know, David does it all the time, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, to varying degrees of success.

SPEAKER_00

Well, but I mean, you know, uh I mean, a lot of people listening to this. Now, look, I I'm very good friends with David, and I understand him probably more than most, but at the same time, I'm also I don't want to say simple-minded, but like I I have a more simplistic approach to the to to things, okay? And like I'm always telling David, everything we do together, he's got this complex way of going about something, and it's like David, I keep stressing the kiss method. Keep it simple, stupid, you know, and but that's just David, and he he thrives on that kind of stuff. A lot of now listen, a lot of listeners, David. You're sitting there giggling, a lot of listeners feel the same way, and that's why half of the comments I get absolutely love having you on. The other half are telling the man, he just loses me. Okay, and it's not that so it's not that these other people like me are simple-minded. That's not what I'm saying. It's just they have a more simplistic approach to it. So if you take everything David's explained, Tracy, and you had to simplify it for a student or anybody that's listening that maybe David did lose a little bit, could you could you simplify it for us? How do they get that back? How on you know, based on the way David does it.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I mean, and that's to me, I have always simplified kind of where you need to be based off brain speed. And I had a really unique experience where I had a you know, working in a psychiatric treatment center for behavioral children for almost 30 years. Wow. Taking so many clients to neurofeedback or a neuropsychologist, really, and working with that neuropsychologist to basically capitalize on all the perfect moments for that client. How do we get this client to the next level? It was so incredibly valuable, you know, because we're we're working with so many different people with so many different diagnoses, and most of our clients have multiple complex diagnoses. So, and they might have uh 30 to 40 different behaviors attached to three or four very complex diagnoses, and you know, two or three of those diagnoses can drive the same behavior. So you really have to kind of dissect where they're coming from. But my job was really to simplify things as much as possible, and really getting a glimpse into this neuropsychology and basically seeing what is the appropriate brain speed and how do we identify when we're not in that perfect place.

SPEAKER_02

Tracy, are you talking about like like like brain weight, like Hertz frequency?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, to a degree that can measure basically that measures your brain frequency, your brain speed, and then you can learn to identify with coping tools. You know, basically, like I found active listening very effective in helping me identify. That's why I I I had kind of a one or a one-second pause that I had to fill. So basically, if I didn't force myself to create this space, a lot of times I would fill it intermittently. But if I forced myself to have a one-second pause, I had to routinely fill it with that same coping strategy. That coping strategy basically allowed me to identify am I moving too, am I too quick psychologically or am I too slow psychologically? And that would help me basically make the adjustment. So basically, I could either speed up my routine, I could get more aggressive, I could slow down my routine, or I could get maybe a little bit more feel-oriented to slow me down a little bit, or I could select maybe a different method or whatnot that would allow me to spend a little bit more time with the target, maybe give my hands a little bit more feedback or whatnot. But basically, I I've been to a point where I keep it as simple as possible because I think like what you're telling me, do you feel like, David, that some of these liberties that you can take, and the reason why you react differently to pressure is because the absolute number of rounds and the number of tournaments that you've been able to go to in your life? So do you think it would be different for somebody who only gets to shoot 5,000 rounds a year?

SPEAKER_00

That is a great question. You know what I mean? That is a great question.

SPEAKER_03

Their reaction to pressure, their reaction to kind of the nonchalant attitude or that day three numbness is probably gonna feel different to that person, don't you think?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I I actually think about that a lot. And what I think that it is is because I I haven't I mean, I've been shooting for 27 years now in the NSCA, and I just crossed 100,000 targets, and like I typically shoot between four to six thousand registered birds a year, and which is actually fairly low compared to your peers, don't you think?

SPEAKER_03

I I think a lot of the people competing against you are probably shooting eight to over ten thou, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, some of them are like 15 to 17. Yeah, and the um what I attribute that to is actually now I I've been if you like I think Wendell's been shooting for 32 years, Zach is probably a little over 30 some years. So I'm I'm basically you know, Bill McGuire's around 30 years. I'm if you if you look at the guys that you think of having done this for a long time, have only been doing it four years less. And but I'm much younger. And so what that means is that I I haven't shot a whole lot quantitatively, but but when I did start doing it, I was at the age where my personality was hugely influenceable, and the malleability of like my neuroplasticity, my I mean, my personality formed around competing. Because as a nine-year-old kid, I'm every I mean my whole world was this. And if you you know, every all of those other guys, I mean, other than other than like Anthony and Corey, and maybe Brad, but still with those guys, I think I started as when I was younger, and so what I so it is kind of for me, what I think that caused that is that it has nothing to do with any experience that I got through a volume of shooting, but what it actually was was that within two to three years of my shooting, I realized it it like I made the connection in a very simplistic sense that negative emotion hurts my rounds, and I need to learn to suppress negative emotion, whether that be anger or fear or anything like that. And so basically at the end. Age of 10, I learned that in shooting, I need to be able to control and suppress a negative emotion, which then at that age, if you get good enough to do that to win major championships, by the time I was 12, I was winning you know major events. And so if you get that good at that in a game in which you can sign up to practice the equivalent of psychological cognitive behavioral therapy, you can I unintentionally became very good at becoming self-aware of my emotional state and self-regulating it in a way that actually was is very detrimental to life because you uh I uh I never thought about the impact of being super good at suppressing, which then leads to repressing negative emotion in a game and how that would impact everything else that you go through. And but I did learn the importance of an insane level of emotional and physical self-awareness. And I think that that's why why I'm able to do that, and why that I actually just default to that, because it's actually a very intuitive part of my personality, which is also why I think it's dangerous for other people that haven't had similar things. You know, like for example, I can take a brand new shooter in a lesson, and I get this type of people a lot because the people that listen to me on podcasts, generally the people that think, oh yeah, I would like to take a lesson from that guy, are people who like are into like meditating or you know, like I would say jokingly hippie stuff. And the uh it's true though. Um I mean, I do I am filming this in a Tesla at a supercharger. Oh my god. Uh the uh with sandals on, by the way. And uh and so um, like they could be a brand new shooter, but be someone who practices like yoga or meditation or mindfulness and uh and immediately have success in doing this crazy approach mentally to shooting.

SPEAKER_00

But see, that's that's also really interesting. Go. I'm sorry, David. Hold on thought there a second, but that's also where some of that disconnect comes from. If you don't mind my asking, you're what 31, 32? Three, 33. Okay. Look at the amount of people, a lot of which are listening to this podcast, yeah, that at that age just started shooting. You've done this your whole life and you started at a young age and you've developed all of this through that, and they're listening to this going, what in the same hell is this guy talking about? You know, but but and and it's no look, you've got students, I'm sure, that are your age or a little older that just started shooting. You know what I'm talking about, right? Yeah, but that's that's that advantage you have, and guys like you and Bill and Wendell and and all the people you've named that have shot for that long, they have that catalog, right? They have that card index in their brain.

SPEAKER_03

And and even though that you've got you said, did you say under a hundred thousand registered targets?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I I j I literally like last week got the pin in the mail for a hundred thousand.

SPEAKER_03

See, that's exceptional because most of the guys I think that you're shooting against are pretty close to 175 to 200,000. You know, yeah. So would you say that in your shooting development that you've shot more? I mean, how many US opens and how many nationals have you shot, David? Have you shot every every national since you started?

SPEAKER_02

I think maybe two years, I would say I'm at like almost 25 national championships, probably almost 25 U.S. opens.

SPEAKER_03

And see, and I I think that makes a difference as well. So are you shooting, you know what I mean? Is somebody shooting club level shoots, state level shoots? Are they shooting US opens and nationals? You know what I mean? Um because I I truly feel like like if I go to a nationals, at the end of the week, I'm shooting probably better than I did all year. Or if I go to a worlds or if I go to a US Open, at the end of that week, I'm shooting better than I did the entire year.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I completely agree. The it definitely has to impact that. And I think also that's a little bit why like the overexposure to that thing is why, you know, that example I gave of the US Open where I got flat, you know, that was probably my 21st one or 20, yeah, 22nd US Open, you know. And and it's easy to disassociate if that's the case. It's hard to disassociate if if you're there and what you're experiencing is is like, holy cow, what a crazy experience, you know. Yeah. It's so in your face that you can't forget about it.

SPEAKER_03

Yes. Yes. Yeah. And so, you know, and that's why I teach, I think, very, very systematically. I have kind of a curriculum. I teach variations where I try and teach my students to identify their own brain speed, and I start to kind of give them tools to start playing with that, you know, so they can go, oh wow, I I didn't hear, or I can't hear the birds, or I can't hear the wind, you know, and then I teach them to couple it with a visual aid. So look for wind, look for birds, and then try and couple that with sound. And then it usually helps kind of bring them to the right place. But so so, yes, Jason, I teach kind of a very simple in in my mind, a fairly simplistic approach to consistency in that fashion. But I think that David has shot at a very high level for a long time, and I think that you've had a an opportunity to to be in a lot of different situations. Certainly.

SPEAKER_00

Well, there's one thing that I go ahead, David.

SPEAKER_02

I think it would be important to say that I would discourage just in case that that gets cut off and you can't hear it well, I would not encourage anybody to start off trying to do what I'm talking about. I think the only way, and uh, and it's the way that I went through it, and it's the only way that I think I got to where I am. The only I mean the another thing that I do equally as much as I shoot and teach is I do a lot of you know coding and stuff on the computer. I'm a massive nerd. If you're trying to test a data set, you have to have and you're trying to understand the quality of it. You can't do a hundred different tests one time, you have to run the same test a hundred times to understand if if the consistency of it creates the same output every single time, and only then will you know what is good or bad. And so I o I uh hugely believe that you it when you're starting out, you need to like I I think I think in this sense, I I would I would I wouldn't I don't like the word simplistic or something only because it seems like it's devaluing that when in reality is it is the foundation of what I am doing. I would not be able to do what I'm doing now if for 17 years I didn't have the exact same 36.2 second pre-shot routine that I could repeat exactly every single time and get to the point where I had thousands of examples that had different outputs. You know, does that make sense?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I confess I actually timed you at Nationals one time and it was exactly the same every single every single time.

SPEAKER_00

So based on the new rules, he's had to shorten it quite a bit.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00

I I just figured out Tracy, uh I figured out how to fix both of you. Tracy, your lottery ticket is to take David on as a student. David, you're what's gonna fix you. You need to go to your parents' house, collect any inheritance you have left, and book a flight to Washington.

SPEAKER_02

As long as I'm gonna require him to sign a release form before he starts teaching me.

SPEAKER_00

And an NDA.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no, I don't care about the NDA. Nobody wants to listen to it anyway.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Oh, I can just hear it now. I can just hear it now. Tonight on national news, two sporting clay shooters stuck with gun barrels in their mouths. So anyway. No, okay, so let's, you know, I we're all about trying to help everyone. So if we're breaking this down, we this whole conversation started up because of my win and you know the conversation that David and I had. And so how can we break this down? How can we simplify this for someone? Why don't you take the lead on this, Tracy? And David, you kind of fill in any blanks or or jump in when you can. Tracy, if if you if somebody's wanting to put together, call it a pre-shot routine, or or just a routine in general, what are the what are the what are the key elements of that that you feel based on what you and David are talking about, that need to be included to help someone develop something that works for them?

SPEAKER_03

I think, you know, I think that that self-awareness piece, and I know that David has talked about this in depth, but I think that self-awareness piece is critical.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And I think that with that self-awareness, you are going to understand how to utilize the tools in your pre-shot routine. I think you're gonna understand how to better develop a process around each shot. I think that the conversation through this conversation, I think that we've identified that we all experience kind of similar things in a different way and differently in our environment. And I think identifying our own set of tools is going to be critical. I think having a really concrete process, and I think that we've all kind of discussed that when we shot our best, we had a pretty good process and we had a pretty good understanding with some anomalies with David. But but I think that ultimately, if you want to expedite your learning process and if you want to become a better shooter, I think the more detailed and systematic you are about how you approach it is gonna help you accelerate your learning curve.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's all, David. That's all you have is yeah. That's the first time in recorded history. That's all you have is yeah.

SPEAKER_02

No, one thing that I want to say is the uh I because I don't want it to get buried, is that something that Tracy mentioned that is I don't think people realize how important that it is. And he the I may be conflating two things, but you were talking about the one second pause and how you know like that that comes from like active listening and brain speed and everything. And the literally, if if you if people want, I mean, really, I think that's probably the most important thing said on this whole podcast. Because the if you if you want a simplified version for what somebody can take out of this whole conversation to help them immediately improve, it's that. And the reason is because that of the of the thousands of people that if you add together that Tracy and I have stood behind to watch shoot in a lesson, or that we can just observe out on a course during a tournament as we're driving through the through the event, the biggest problem, well, probably not the biggest problem, but a massive problem that so many people have is that I would say actually are I would argue that every human being has, is that we get so easily swept into this reactive closed loop system of not being able to step outside of it and observe actually how we are thinking and how the fact that we're completely just responding without thinking, it's almost like a vacuum, yes. Complete vacuum of responsive output that that most of the time has zero evidence for the purpose of doing it. And if that statement even makes sense, and if people can do in whether it be in between each pair or before they walk into the station, I I would argue doing that before every pair. If people can just add one second to stop what they're doing and just completely shut down the the conscious monologue of what's happening in their head and the physical process that they are doing to ground themselves and reset so that the beginning of the next pair is a choice instead of a domino effect from the previous one, that that in itself will solve so many problems that they're completely unaware of. Like literally, that it you it will stop so many things that people don't even realize are happening. Yes, just by doing that. Uh really, that's probably the most important thing that was said on the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00

And that's where I'm gonna jump in here a little bit because and listen, people, I'm not advocating for doing what I did, okay? The the two guys I got on the phone here with me that could shoot blind from the hip and smoke me. But what what I'm what I am doing is don't undervalue what you did.

SPEAKER_02

It was pretty cool, Jason.

SPEAKER_00

But well, but what I'm getting at is I mean, look, as far as results go, I'm humble enough to know that I'm not anyway. My point is mentally, it was that taking a step back. That's the one second pause, right? Yeah, I literally, if if I did something stupid, right, missed a target. I in fact, one at one point I iced a pair. I literally did take a step back, pulled the gun back over the rail. Of course, I'm conscious of my 20 seconds, right? And I just I was like, just reset, dude. You gotta stop here a minute. What did what just happened? Okay, we know, all right, now we know what happened. It was a visual thing, but it was that reset. It was that pause. Where I'm at now, I've learned to do that in the round, and I did. I still I told you, David, I started on Thursday when I started shooting, I started implementing that and it and it obviously paid off. But where I'm at now is how can I do that going into the box to prevent that from happening, to prevent having to take that pause, right? So the pause now is coming before before I make my plan, you know, like I before I even see the show birds. That pause is coming then. And that's where I was confused as to how do I make this work, right? What are the steps needed? And that's where I value the conversation that we're having right now. Both you and Tracy have laid things out here, and I hope the listeners are following along and and taking and you know, heeding what your warnings are, more or less, of what you need to do because it works, and it's you're absolutely right. We're so reactionary, we fall in this vacuum of load the gun faster and get mad and try to shoot faster. And and look, I've done all that for years, it obviously didn't work. I mean, I started shooting it way before either one of you did. I started shooting in '94.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, I was a year old.

SPEAKER_00

Shut up, David. I'm hanging up on you. But well, I mean, look, yeah, I had a 12-year vacation from shooting, but what I'm getting at is nothing I've done's worked, right? And getting mad doesn't work, getting frustrated doesn't work, trying to I'm just gonna drop two in and let it eat. Well, that obviously doesn't work, you know. I mean, you you can't you gotta take that pause. It it's it's that one-second pause, it's the step back, and then now, like I said, I'm at the point of let's let's fix that before it's broken.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's I think the framework of kind of what myself and David have been talking about, and what you're in and you discussing your experience of your really exceptional performance, I think it's having the framework set around your shooting to where you truly identify those things and you truly become more self-aware than you have in the past. And I think that a lot of people discount it, they'll try it, they get a routine and they're like, Oh, I didn't shoot very well, and it was the first day or whatever. And they really didn't get anything out of it because they didn't do it for an extended period of time to truly learn to self-identify and to truly learn their true process and to be able to make modifications to it, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Understanding that support, yeah. Understanding that alone. I mean, look, it was only two years, maybe. Well, maybe it's been three years ago now. Dave was on a podcast, that whole be where your feet are thing, right? Being self-aware, being present, all that stuff. I didn't even understand that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well, that's probably more my fault than yours.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, but it's like be where your feet are. I my I'm always where my feet are. What the hell are you talking about? Right. So, but I I didn't understand, I did not comprehend that self-awareness. And now I do, right? And there's a lot of people listening to this that are probably going, what the hell are you talking about, dude? I know who I am and where I'm at. It's a little deeper than that. Okay, you're gonna need more than that.

SPEAKER_03

It's kind of like what David said. He was in such a unique situation, and you know, and without me, you know, honestly, being a shooter made me much better at my job at the treatment facility, and working at the treatment facility made me a much, much better shooter. You're stressing, you know, vice versa. A quick stroke I ever would have ended up where I am without that experience, you know, and and David certainly had a really unique experience, you know. So that's why I think that's where the value comes from, you know, guys like David, who have had, you know, who are tremendously insightful and who have really, really respect and value, and and and I think you know, their teaching, I think that's where you really get the value from from guys like him.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I'm sitting here laughing, Tracy, because you your job is in psychology. A quick trip on a golf course through or go on a golf cart through the sporting clay course. We'll see if you're in psychology, it's really gonna help your job. So you you just summed up sporting clays all together.

SPEAKER_02

Oh man. But yeah, I think thanks. I I thank you, Tracy. I appreciate that. I really honestly, you know, I I feel the same way, you know, about you. Uh, because I mean, what everything that we're talking about here is not a shooting thing. It's it's uh it's a human thing. And the I mean think about like for people that are listening to this, what what we're talking about here with just the simplistic thing of the one-second pause to ground yourself and and and exit the reactive loop, that is an answer to anger management, to social anxiety, to uh panic attacks, to uh public speaking, to I mean, literally everything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um driving on the road. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, everything. And the I mean you go if you have a I mean what what Tracy's talking about here, uh, you know, with your career experience in psychology, I mean those the the the those are applications that have been, you know, researched and tested and used in human psychology for decades. And there's a reason why it works, and there's also a reason why there is a need for it. And one of the one of the things that I try to take so seriously, and which is why I I it's so valuable to have somebody like Tracy, uh at both outside. As a coach and the on a podcast is because like the I think a big mistake that a lot of us do as shooters, not just coaches, but as shooters, a lot a big mistake that a lot of us do is not recognize the bridge between life and shooting, and how all of the things that revolve around, you know, everybody says that you know the game is 90% mental or what Yogi Berra's famous thing of you know 50% of the game is 100% mental or whatever it is, or whatever any of those things like that. The like if that's true, which it is, and everything that we're doing in the game is applicable in other parts of life, there's two really valuable takeaways from that. Number one is you don't have to look just to shooting coach to understand the psychology, because in all actuality, that's probably the worst place to look because we're the least educated. And then the second thing is you don't have to be in a tournament to practice it. It's a thing that every day in life, if you get frustrated with your spouse or you get you know, you're nervous walking in front of a uh board to give a presentation, uh, the same exact physiological change in your body is happening as it does on the course. It's for because of a different variable and an external uh input, but it's the same thing. And so you can just like the whole you know monologue that I went on about starting this game as a kid and and mastering uh I would actually I shouldn't say mastering, but getting really good at a skill for a game ended up bleeding into my life. That was only because the game happened before my life, but the reality of it is it's the complete it's also the complete opposite. And if you start the game later on in life, how your life happened influences the game, and so that means that in life you can practice the game, and the uh it's super super valuable.

SPEAKER_03

I love it, absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

Hey, uh have you guys, and and we we're gonna wrap this one up here. Have you guys seen well I know you haven't because I just released it. Have you guys David? You've seen the cooler, the big frig cooler. You you need to check the video out. I just released really, really cool. And for the the dead pair listeners that are attending the dead pear blast, I am giving away three of them a 10-quart, a 20-quart, and a 45-quart with the dead pair insignia on it. So we're gonna add that to the list of goodies at the shoot. You guys are still coming, right? You promised you were. You told everybody.

SPEAKER_02

Is it is a cooler come with El Hefe energy drinks in it?

SPEAKER_00

We can make that happen, David. Oh, yeah, I can make that happen. And let's listen. You there's always a con with you. It's you're you're willing to do something as long as you get something else extra added to it.

SPEAKER_02

Listen, my brain works in mysterious ways, Jason.

SPEAKER_00

David, that's a rhetorical statement, brother. The whole world knows your brain works in mysterious. The whole your brain is a mystery, let alone how it works.

SPEAKER_02

All statements were rhetorical, but maybe I'm just confused.

SPEAKER_00

Oh man. Yeah, no, seriously, guys, get signed up for the dead parablast. It's coming quick. We've got something special. I'm gonna have Jake Spangler on. We're gonna announce that's gonna happen the day prior to the Dead Pair blast. This is kind of big news that's coming out. Really cool thing we're putting together with Midway USA Foundation. Of course, all of our sponsors, Kohler Arms. Listen, they could probably even make a ribblet for you if you if you really want to be like David.

SPEAKER_01

Then make sure you cook it right.

SPEAKER_00

Oh goodness, Fioki Ammunition. Love us some Fioke USA. We're fueled by Fioke here on the Dead Pear podcast. Ranger, both of you, David. I think you got to check out the new Ranger hyper shots, they fit your big head pretty good. Tracy, have you had a chance to check those out yet? I haven't I haven't been able to get them in my hands yet.

SPEAKER_03

I'm telling you, I'm looking forward to it though.

SPEAKER_00

You you'll love them.

SPEAKER_01

They're awesome. I don't think I've I I've I have not a brand new one, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I showed them to you at the um checklinks back in February. You thought they were cool. That's right, yeah. Yeah. Atlas traps, American-made atlas traps. Tracy loves him some Atlas traps. Tracy, what do you got? Eight, nine, ten of them now? I got eight of them. Eight of them. I want to buy about 300 more. You know what? We're gonna make that happen on this phone call as soon as we get done here recording. Oh God, you're talking about scheming, Jason. I don't know about that. Yes, and we're gonna give it the riblet discount. Rhino chokes. Listen, I'm trying to get Scott Dixon on here, give us an update since the fire, but they are up and cranking, they're rolling, they're still in full production. But uh thankfully everybody's okay and and they're getting things turned back around. So, but love us some rhino chokes and barrel porting. Gun and trophy insurance. If you guys are not insured by gun and trophy, you are doing yourself a huge discredit. David, have you checked them out yet? Mm-hmm. Okay, good. Tracy.

SPEAKER_02

They I was uninsurable.

SPEAKER_00

What?

SPEAKER_02

I was uninsurable.

SPEAKER_00

I wasn't talking about life insurance. Nobody would give you a life insurance policy. I'm talking about for your firearms, Midway USA Foundation. I I cannot say enough good things about them and what they do for you shooting. Over 500 million dollars to you shooting this year. So wow, yes, 500 million dollars, half a billion dollars. Yes, sir. Wow, yeah, yeah. Taconic distillery. Hey, listen, everybody's heard me brag about the pre-made old-fashioned. Guess what? Now they got pre-made Manhattan. So they've got some new blends they came out with that are absolutely I mean, just the best. I love them. They're awesome. Check them out at Taconic Distilleries.com. Both them and Ranger, you get a 10% discount. Use the code DeadParaton at checkout. Long range, love us some long range and Neil Chadwick. Thank you for supporting the show. The absolute best in Target technology when it comes to remote controls and receivers, target tag software. It's awesome. Tracy, you got you got a T8, don't you? Or no, you run the MT4300, don't you?

SPEAKER_03

No, I'm a T8 right now.

SPEAKER_00

Your T8? Okay. Well, we're gonna fix we're gonna fix that because with the 300 traps, you're gonna need to handle more than eight traps.

SPEAKER_03

So we're gonna have to upgrade. But so far, that T8 has been a great control.

SPEAKER_00

I love that thing. That's my personal control.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, yes, super simple, really easy to use. It's fantastic for training, training by yourself.

SPEAKER_00

And if you got four students, David, you can hit all eight traps at one time. Have like a four-man flower. Yeah. All right, there's another sale before we hang up the phone. Score chaser. Listen, if you're signing up for a tournament here in the United States, I guarantee it's the Score Chaser. Thank you to Casey Chase and all the girls over there. We're going to give you an update next week on Trinity Talk OdoPro Technologies. We got something coming with Dr. Grace. I'm actually recording with her this week, so look for that coming out. El Jefe Energy, they have finally made their way to the East Coast. I saw them in Georgia when I was traveling up from Ohio. They're coming. They're in fact, the wife looked it up on the phone, and some of the distributorship is now happening in southern Ohio and now it's in Florida. So bear pelt vest. Did you did you see my new bear pelt, David? That new El Jefe Vest I got? Yeah, no. Oh man, I think sharp. I'm not gonna show it to Tracy. He's gonna have to come to Dead Pro Boss to check it out.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, come on. That's dirty pool.

SPEAKER_00

See, I got a little con in me too every once in a while. And of course, make a break. We've got a big update coming from Ed. Like I said, there's we gotta get caught up, man. We're like three state shoots behind on results. So he's gonna come on with us. And I mean, I love hearing from Ed. He's so well spoken. And Ed's a man. He is, except for when I call for one seven, I keep hearing one point. It's like, come on, Ed. So but seriously, thank you to all of our sponsors. Listen, we say it each and every week. Take someone new shooting, take them to a tournament. There's a new video out. I just taught, I just took conservative K, who is a big, huge online influencer. I just took her out shooting her and her son for the first time. They had a blast. She's hooked, they want to go buy a gun. His son or her son wants to go to some tournaments and check that out. I mean, look, all it took was taking them shooting one time. She has never fired a shotgun. She is a rep for the NRA. She shoots rifles and pistols all the time. Never fired a shotgun. Took her out to blackjack. Thank you to the folks over there for being so welcoming. And she's hooked. She's ready to buy a gun and start shooting. So that's all it takes, folks. It's that simple. It's the only way we're going to grow this sport. It's grassroots stuff like that, right there, that makes it happen. Guys, this has been awesome. Thank you very much for joining us again for part two. Really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you, David. Thank you, David.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, thank you, Tracy.

SPEAKER_00

Well, guys, it's you guys are always welcome back here. David, you're, I mean, we we have to, I gotta get permission statement when it comes to me.

SPEAKER_02

I'm not so sure. You might need to hire personal security.

SPEAKER_00

Well, well, I gotta get permission slips from the listeners, you know. You've but it's always it's always a good time being around David. I'm telling you, we have a blast. We were laughing so hard the other day on the phone about wrecked the truck. But we it's it's the three by three. I get three hours of conversation every three months, and I I'm about two and a half minutes from losing my 3D privilege for the next month. Yeah, what we we're in August. I got September, October. Damn it, I'm not gonna be able to talk to you until November, man.

SPEAKER_02

I'll talk to you after the Nationals, let you know how it went.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, my birthday's in November, so you can at least call for that, right? That'll be a good one. Maybe we'll see.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Oh man, this is it's always fun having you guys on. Really appreciate it, Tracy. I'm sure we'll be talking to you sooner or later. You've been an awesome co-host and appreciate you filling in for the big man here and there.

SPEAKER_03

It's a privilege, it's an honor and a privilege.

SPEAKER_00

Well, we we appreciate you, brother. All right, folks. Listen, thank you very much. I don't know to say congratulations or sorry for taking two episodes with David, but either way, we got her done. And I hope everybody learned something. Don't hesitate to write us suggestions, ideas, comments, concerns. If it's about David, I promise it won't go to spam mail. Until next week, my friends, can't wait to catch y'all back here on the Dead Pear podcast.

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Jason Rambo

Host
Head Shot

Sean Alley

Co-host