The thunderbolt plan

No, not dark as in evil, underhanded or despicable...Sun Tzu means cloaked, kept from view - secretive - and closed off that they remain uncompromised...And when those plans are initiated they should hit hard in an unrelenting and uncompromising manner. That's good advice, certainly in war, but it could also apply to other aspects of life. I like the concept of it a lot for many reasons.

I've written often about the beat my personal best ethos I apply which basically revolves around continual improvement.

It means my greatest competitor is myself leaving me largely unconcerned with what others are doing - I can't change or effect what they do, but I can myself and so that's what I do. Although, I have engaged in PSYOP's [Psychological operations] to destabilise the competition at times; it's fun to PSYOP people.

Anyway, this continual improvement ethos extends to many aspects of my life including the shooting sports I engage in.

With this strategy I find better results through lack of external pressure and can rely on training, practice and my own attitude and state of mind to deliver the results. I'm not easily psyched out by others and I believe it's because of this strategy. I'm detached from them and [usually] impervious to their PSYOP's.

I don't usually deploy in a shooting competition with the intention of winning because of the above ethos; winning is done internally, by improving personally irrespective of where I place on the rankings, Sure I sometimes PSYOP myself, allow myself to get psyched out by my own actions and thoughts, which actually happened in a recent event, but generally not. So having said all of that...Fuck it...Today I struck like a thunderbolt upon the enemy and sent them all to hell. [Actually not all the way to hell, just lower on the results table than I was.]

I arrived at the range with my war-face on today. Not literally, figuratively. I went to win, to demoralise and crush the enemy. [i.e. my mates and other shooters.]

The plan

Here I'd like to outline a strategic set of plans and scenarios that explain the mission...But I cannot. The sum and total of the plan was simply: Fucken win. Yes I know, it's not much to go on and not very technical, but that was my mood and I simply ran with it.

The competition was typical; a run-and-gun handgun event meaning a series of staged scenarios which simulate real-world situations that need to be shot accurately and quickly. It's a lot of fun. It's sort of like this video of me but with different stages including shooting in an urban village complex - You know, kicking in doors and all.

Fortunately I shot far better than I did in that video I linked above and ended up winning the day in glorious style...Vanquishing the foe...Kicking asses and taking names.

I'll be honest and say that it came down to strategy and execution more so than speed and accuracy today, although a good deal of the latter two elements are always required. If you look at the video above you'll see me make a couple of fundamental errors that cost time and in this sport they split competitors by tenths and hundredths of seconds so every little moment counts towards one's overall result. I'm fortunate to have made a few good decisions on strategy today and reaped the rewards. [There's always multiple ways to complete a stage and each shooter devises his/her own based on many factors.]

Today I achieved mission-success; I destroyed the enemy on the field of battle and then...We went to the pub for burgers and a beer.

Yeah, the field of battle is such that we all walk away fortunately; the alternative isn't quite as fun. It was a good day and it satisfied a little itch inside to dominate those fuckers just a little bit - It puts a target on my back though as they'll be gunning for me next time but by then I'll be back to my continual improvement ethos and I'll let them duke it out for top honours. It felt good today, for me anyway...The sixty or so others...Not so good for them. 😁

How about your Saturday? Don't let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, drop them here below like a thunderbolt!