A couple of weeks ago my wife suggested we should ‘refresh’ the front of our house because some of the shrubs were overgrown. Without thinking through the endeavor ahead of time, I said ‘yes dear’ and somehow it was at this moment I thought to myself what have I gotten into?! The very next day, as I was getting ready for work, I found a Bob Ross looking sketch of the front of our house with our new landscaping plan. I am still not sure how long this took her to draw, but I admit, it looked great. Shortly after admiring the sketch I asked her who was going to do all of this work, those famous words came out of my wife’s mouth, “Sweat Equity”.
I am not sure if any of you have actually tried to dig out a 15 year old juniper ground cover that has had an abundance of water over the years, but I had finally met my match. The trunk of each of the shrubs was a full foot in diameter. After an hour with a shovel and a pick axe and little progress from claiming my first trophy, I decided I had enough. I grabbed a 30′ chain and my trusty Dodge Ram and decided to justify my manhood. With two wraps of the steel chain and a slight pressing of the long pedal, the first one popped out. This process proceeded to go on for anywhere between one to a couple hours a day for three weeks! I lost count after 40 shrubs were yanked from the Georgia clay. Somehow we left only four shrubs as a gentle reminder of where we started this mission.
After five weeks from start to finish we put in the work necessary to get the desired results. Some of the best shooting performances I have had lately have been a direct result from putting in the work, a little bit every day when I can spare a few moments. A year ago, if you would have asked me if I would shoot in the mid 60’s, I would have said it was not possible. If someone asked me if someone could shoot Rimfire Rifle in the low 60s I would have said highly likely. Just like the landscaping at the front of my house, what seemed to have been a daunting task took a little bit of work every day. Before I knew it, I had reached my goal. At risk of sharing the ‘secret’ to success, you have to get up and work at it a little bit every day. If you are not, someone else is going to be at the top.
As I share this insight with you, keep in mind what your priorities are. Life is short, keep your goals in sight, and work hard to get to where your potential will take you!
See you out on the range soon!
Steve
Steve Foster - Competitive Shooter 