My greatest competitor

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Most weekends I can be found on the range - I train new and existing shooters, operate as a range officer, practice and compete. I sometimes just go there to hang out with my bros and bro-ette's and tell lies too, but usually I'm trigger-pulling.

I greatly enjoy my time there as it breaks me out of the everyday grind of work and life issues - It forces me to concentrate, to focus on the task, and that means I can eliminate some of the other stuff that rolls around in my noggin mostly.

This was the case last Saturday when I turned up to compete in a club IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) match - A run and gun shooting discipline that simulates practical, real world, shooting scenarios; It's fast-paced and involves a lot of shooting in short periods of time. Sometimes 30-40 rounds in only 20 or so seconds including magazine changes and the running.

I'm pretty good at it, not the best mind, just pretty good; I shoot so much, and have done so for so many years, so it's not surprising I'd get good I suppose.

I've been competitive all my life and always wanted to perform at my best no matter what I was doing. I don't see the point in aiming to be bad, or average at something. You've heard that saying, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing well, right?

As I've gotten older though, it's less about crushing my competition and more about optimum performance...I chase my personal best instead of needing to destroy the other competitors. Make no mistake, there's been times in my life when slaying the opposition was my only objective, but not anymore. Does that shift come with age? Hmm, I think not for me...It comes with wisdom, and wisdom doesn't always come with age.


After the enjoyment of shooting comes the enjoyment of making more ammunition. Here's some of the 500 I made tonight. So satisfying.

Seeking my personal best requires the same diligence and effort as crushing competitors though...The difference is in the mindset and attitude, not the work that goes into it.

No one likes the feeling of losing I think, me included, although I've done my fair share of it. I used to hate losing despite being a good loser, able to deal with it well; I also won gracefully and with humility which is important. But losing wasn't my desired outcome, winning was.

That was a while ago. These days...Meh, I'm just there for fun. It doesn't matter if I'm playing Jenga or slinging lead down range at a furious rate, running and gunning, I just want have some fun...It's not like my life depends on the win. At the range and competitions all around the country my aim is my personal best and to represent well.

On Saturday I shot myself into seventh place out of 43 shooters. Hmm, not too bad. More importantly was my percentage against the winner who is given 100% as a total. Everyone else is graded off that percentage. I shot at 71.491% of the winner...I'm ok with that. But did that beat my personal best? You bet it did, by a fair margin. So...I declared that a good result.

I'm comfortable and confident with my abilities, and [mostly] the man I am. I've no need to prove anything, least of all at the range. What means the most to me is working hard towards gaining optimal performance, to beat my personal best.

My greatest competitor is myself and I work hard to perform the best I can against my last result - In everything! It's a nice way to be I think and I often wonder what my life would have been like had I reached this conclusion twenty years ago. Maybe I would have achieved greater success.

How about you? Are you a go for the jugular competitor or a who cares what happens type, or maybe even a personal-best seeker like me...Comment below and tell me.


Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.

Be well
Discord: galenkp#9209



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44 comments
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I try to do my best. Being liked by everyone is impossible. So I at least want to like myself and what I do. If others like it as well that's great. if not it is their loss😜 Of course opinion of some people is still more important to me than others.

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I think presenting the best version of yourself is possible when you are the best version, or work towards it. That promotes self-respect and that often creates an attitude which brings one's best out. I don't see any problem in wanting to be one's best version...It's all positive.

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following footsteps like this are definitely great for one improvement. try your best and try again

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I guess it depends on how competitive you are. I had decided from childhood somewhere that I suck so it was always about personal best for me as I couldn’t compete against anyone else 😅

Even to this day I run at least internally screaming at most things that sounds like they might be competitions or challenges.

Well done on beating your personal best by a fair margin! And more importantly that you had fun doing so 😆 Now you have a new best to best 😆

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(Edited)

Fun is always good...Now I've got to work harder to smash that personal best again...Still, I don't mind. It's all fun to me.

Some people like competition, don't find a challenge in it That's ok, like me now I guess. I don't see the point anymore. Back in the day I'd use it as the focus-point. Now, rather have a laugh and head to the pub with some bro's after for some burgers and a drink.

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On Saturday I shot myself into seventh place out of 43 shooters

I hope it didn't hurt too much...lol

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(Edited)

Just a few aches and pains, nothing I'm not used to.

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...I shot myself into seventh place

...you said you shot yourself!!! - I'm confused!(I don't know where 'the 7th place' is on the body,, either)

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It's after the sixth but before the eighth.

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gotcha! - Are they both painful places, to?

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Depends what happens when shot there.

Die: No pain.
No die: Pain

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wow. I feel like I know you already. the fact that you see yourself as your greatest competitor, you will always have more room for improvement and its good as you become older, you are wiser.

also that's a lot of ammunition, lol. five hundred of them. you get to fight another. thanks for sharing

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There's always many facets or elements that make up a person and sometimes I show some of mine. Over the years I've changed, developed and grown due to the passing of time, age I mean, and the experiences life throws up. This is just one of those elements of me, a thing that is part of me, but not the sum and total.

Yeah, 500 rounds will last me about two weeks...I have a store of ammunition and never let it drop below a certain number...This, for rifle and handgun ammunition. It's just how I am. Generally prepared.

Thanks for your comment.

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that's growth. keep it up and thanks for the awesome piece. its an awareness post that people needs to learn from and also advisory on how to face life

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I'll keep the growth going...One just has to nurture it and feed oneself the right things to keep development going.

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Recovering perfection seeker. Hard to guess, I'm sure. Not just competition with others or myself, but with perfection. Of course impossible to live up to consistently, but definitely a part of impaired thinking that many of us were trained into. At least able to recognize and let go at 90% or better now as good enough (most of the time, lol).

That's a decent ranking, doing things with others better is always a learning opportunity, and keeps things interesting. How boring if at the top all the time!

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Yeah, me too actually Kris...Anything less than perfection was unacceptable to me...I saw the light though, and changed the pursuit of perfection into the pursuit of excellence. Small shift, massive difference. You seem to me like someone who doesn't value sub-standard results in yourself but we have to rein that in, morph that into a continual-improvement ethos instead I think. Well, for me anyway.

I was happy with how I shot on Saturday and have had a few messages, once the results came out, from people saying WTF. Well, I put some effort in, a lot actually. I worked harder, focused and...Surprise surprise...It paid dividends. I was also sporting my new Oakley's...I mean I always wear Oakley's but these are prescription sunglasses, bi-focal. The front sight focus is now ** in focus!**

Seriously though, this, the glasses, and the effort made for a good day. Those that beat me...Some of the best shooters in the State, at national level also really. I was shooting for 65% of the winner which would have placed me around 10th. So...Yeah, I was happy.

It's funny though...One can't look at the rankings and assume a shooter isn't good because they were outside the ten...That would be a mistake. Any one of those shooters on Saturday could operate with the best of them and there's incredibly small margins of time or accuracy that splits them. I'm talking tenths or even hundredth's of seconds sometimes...Millimetres where accuracy is concerned.

I god lucky on Saturday and performed...Skill? Speed? Accuracy? Strategy? Yep, all of them...But attitude too.

I know you know what I mean.

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I am one of those funny guys, as once I hit top spot then I lose interest and I don't continue in whatever I competed in. I think in your game you have to be pretty good in order to hit top spot and you were wise to change the focus onto yourself. I am sure that you have also hit top spots in other activities in your life.
To me it's a brief moment of satisfaction and then it's gone, forever.

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(Edited)

I've spent many years being number one in shooting events, and other things, and being far lower also...It's just how it is...There's always some new big-dog looking for a shot at the title and that's how it'll always be. It's all good...I'll win sometimes and not at other times...That's the way life is. For now I'm happy to seek continual improvement.

Shooting doesn't define me as a person. I'm many other things besides. Winning or losing doesn't define me either...The fact I seek improvement and show persistence and ownership, stand up and keep walking, does. It's one of my enduring (and probably annoying to others) attributes. I'm stubborn. Knocking me down rarely goes well for people. I just get back up.

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So well said here and yes, fall down, get back up, dust yourself off and continue. No tears, no moans, just the raw courage to try again. Such is life my friend.
We are also difficult to be defined, as there are so many different facets to us and I blame the 3 guys in my head hahaha. Each one has his own habits, hobbies and ways and all that I have to do is to act like the Ref lol.
A little bit of madness, wrapped in humor and presented to the world.

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Zac, there's so many shining examples of that get back up and walk ethos.

It's not just that kid who gets teased, but keeps on going or the operator who pulls his mate from the burning Bushmaster after it hit an IED, shooting at the enemy the whole time. It's not just the woman, beaten by an asshole husband, who stands and just moves forward through life...The couple who lose a child to sudden infant death syndrome or the person who suffers cancer but refuses to let it define them. It's people like this who I respect most. These are the true hero's to me...The every day people who simply stand the hell up and keep walking.

I'm sorry, I'm somewhat passionate about this ethos right now...I've been knocked down, recently and in the past, and I got the hell up...It wasn't easy, no, it was hard...At times I wanted to stay down...But it's not an alternative in my mind...So I moved, I stood up and...Took that step. Then the next...Knowing that being knocked down again is possible.

Fortitude, persistence and the stubbornness, the refusal, to let adversity win seems to be fading from human nature...It's sad.

I'll stop now.

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Always bad news to get knocked down Galen and I hear your hurt in here. It always leaves a bad taste in the mouth. I don't know what happened and this is not the place to discuss it, but hear this, I know that you are excactly the same as the people in the situations that you have mentioned and that you will never lay down, regardless of the odds.

We share that as believe me that I have been in situations that will make your hair stand on end, but here we are talking to each other today, which in my book states that we have both made it and we will continue to make it.
I cannot give you any advice here, in fact even if I could, I won't as we have to work through these things for ourselves.

Fortitude, persistence and stubborness have become strangers to many and we see them begging at the traffic lights every day. They ask for money for food, but if you give them food they throw it away, as they want money for drugs, so that they can hit a high and escape from their lack of fortitude, persistence and stubborness.

I will also stop now!

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The world is a tragic place...I wonder if it has always been so.

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Tragedy has no time limits my friend and since the beginning of time it has attacked and affected mankind. Believe it or not, it is tragedy that opens us up to ourselves.

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You're a wise man Zac.

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Nah Galen and I am sure that you will also disagree if I were to call you wise.
We are just a bit experienced in life my friend.

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Experienced. Yes, that's a way to put it. I think with you it's that you always put your message across so calmly...I'm more, excitable with it...But I'm a passionate man and that comes out in all versions of me I guess.

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Passion has also played a big role in my life Galen until I suffered two bad burn-outs at Papillon.
Marian called me a trojan all of the time, as I am one that goes to extremes.
Thankfully time and common sense started to calm me down and now I am only a whisper of what I was before.

I think that one day, as you go into your late 60s the same scenario will start to emerge in your thoughts and you will have a lot to offer others. Just in a different way lol.

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I can imagine you working so hard like that; You probably get so focused that you forget all else.

You over estimate my value Zac, it's nice of you, of course...But I am a very average fellow.

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I am not known for underestimating things Galen and average you are most definitely not.
But let's leave it there, as each to his own thoughts 😉

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Great job. I love shooting but don't really do it much anymore. As a kid I lived with a bb-gun in my hand. Poor birds.. I must have killed hundreds. My brother in law is a cop, and he took me to his range a while back. After I out shot him he was like, "Hmmm... first time on a range huh?" lol.

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Lol...That's cool! Shows up at range, kicks ass and takes names. ✅ Way to operate bro.

One thing I never do is talk myself up at the range. I'd rather my results, good or bad, speak for me. It's bloody hilarious when I'm there and there's someone talking a big game...

You know, when I was in the army I did this, I did that... (Even though I may know that dude was in transport.)

I let them go, feign interest...And then the shooting starts...And, home-boy can't hit shit, doesn't know the right grip, has no strategy, moves l like a slug and so on. They go fairly quiet after that...Talking a big game means one needs to finish somewhere above the bottom of the list...And it's best not to do at all.

My range is military run and the one thing a person doesn't want to be doing is talking oneself up...One never knows who is listening and who they are, or were.

OK, so sorry about all that...Someone was celebrating his own amazingness on Saturday (and was shit) and your comment reminded me.


Now...Cops...And I intend no disrespect to your brother in law or any cop as many are my mates...They often can't shoot very well.

You're probably in the States where many may be ex-mil but here that's not the case.

They shoot 20 rounds a year at the range, often my range, and they qualify with a very low standard being the pass. They get to the station and each day approach the armoury and check a gun out...Not the same gun each day...They check-clear, holster and go about their day. They then un-holster, check clear and turn it back in after a dry-fire to show clear. They may not touch that particular gun again for weeks.

I shoot 250-350 rounds a weekend, from a holster, under pressure, running, crawling, prone, kicking in doors, on moving targets and stationary etc...So...I kind of know how to shoot and am very familiar with it all, the gun and the process. It takes me about 1.2-1.3 seconds to draw, aim and put a round on-target accurately...A cop?...I shudder to think.

It worries me when cops are sent out into the field without the right skills. That's when problems occur. It's not their fault though, it's the governments fault.

It's funny you know, last week I had a mate with me observing who wants to join my range...He made a comment about it being laughable when people say about cops, why can't they shoot people in the leg. Yep, it's miraculous they hit anything at all...Shooting under pressure, in volatile and violent situations is bad enough as it is...But doing so without the right (continual) training and practice is a recipe for disaster. I feel sorry for cops. They shoot someone and it often ruins their career...It needs to be addressed.

So...Please don't think I'm being critical of your bro-in-law. I'm not. I respect him for wearing the blue and putting himself in the line of fire so that society doesn't have to. Please tell him this.

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Yep, in the states. He is ex-military (military police). That has been awhile ago and he is now a pretty big wig in the San Antonio TX police department. Good guy who like you say put himself in harms way to protect us.

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Respect to him, for his military service and police service. It's a difficult job, that thin blue line.

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I've never felt overly competitive. I distinctly remember at school, playing team sports, getting to win didn't seem worth having to make the other guy lose. I didn't want him to feel bad.
Guess I just wasn't born with the gene. I do enjoy the satisfaction of the perfectly placed shot, the 3 point swish or the perfect team in a Splinterlands match.
The older I get, and the better I get at losing, the less sympathy I have for those I beat at stuff. So I'd say I'm slowly acquiring a taste for it.

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Yep, it's a bit like that these days...There seems more value to be found elsewhere. The momentary feeling one gets from winning, which is possibly more about seeking other people's validation anyway, isn't as enjoyable as other factors. Sure, I don't like coming last...But it's all relative. If I came last at a World IPSC Shoot I'd not feel so bad I guess, considering the calibre of entrants.

Meh, I've got more interesting and important things in my life than winning on the range.

Thanks for commenting.

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I am the same, I always compete with myself and I believe that this type of competition gives the best results instead of trying to crush others
!ENGAGE 10

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We think the same in that way it seems. Personal best over beating the competition...Excellence over perfection.

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Thank you for your engagement on this post, you have recieved ENGAGE tokens.

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