Until I shouted, “Pull!”

I remember it as if it was yesterday…

It was a freezing cold January morning, the ground was crisp underfoot with a white hoar frost and I remember thinking what a good job that I had my thick socks and hiking boots on so at least my feet would stay dry and warm. The coach came over to me introduced himself and we talked for a few minutes about safety and the safety equipment that we had to wear – glasses and ear protection, but NOT gloves even though it was freezing cold!

After that, he took the gun out of the gun-slip case and held it open so I could see there was nothing in the chambers and I could see down the two barrels to the ground – it was clear (empty) and I could feel the excitement gathering in my chest. He handed the gun over to me and asked me to check it was safe and then to close it and mount it pointing down the range. He then checked and adjusted my stance and grip and told me to pull the stock tighter into my shoulder.

We then practiced swinging the gun and following his finger and getting my stance and site picture correct whilst keeping control of the gun, after which he demonstrated the target and we practiced a couple of dry “shoots” using inert cartridges where I shouted “pull” and then tracked onto the target, swung through the target and squeezing the trigger.

Once the coach was happy with my performance, he placed a “live” cartridge into the gun, checked the barrel selector and told me I was good to go.

I closed the gun with a firm “Click” and made sure my finger was resting above the trigger on the woodwork as I had been instructed. I went through the whole stance setup as I had been taught and controlled my breathing although I was full of anticipation …

I remember how focused I was and how quiet it seemed around me until I shouted, “pull”.

In a couple of seconds, my coach quickly visually checked me and pushed the remote control button … the automatic clay trap action whirred and tinged and the spring arm clattered and suddenly an orange clay target leapt out of the trap and began quartering away from me. I jerked the gun onto the target, followed it for a split second and pulled the trigger. The gun “Boomed”, and punched back into my shoulder, smoke belched from the end of the barrel and I popped my head up to see the orange disc still moving away from me – I had missed!

My coach said, “No problems, you fired too early and missed behind – remember to push through the target and then fire, let’s try it again”.

I missed the second behind and chipped the trailing edge of the third, but the fourth target … I smoked it!!

After twelve shots I was emotionally drained – I had experienced fear of the unknown, trepidation, more fear handling a “live gun”, surprise at the noise and recoil, coughed at the smoke, disappointment at missing, elation and pride at hitting the targets and in the end, the satisfaction at having learned something new that hearkened back to the primordial hunting instincts we all have.  All of that along with a deep respect for the coach who had taken me on such an emotional roller coaster in just under an hour, safely and without any fuss.  He really enjoyed seeing people learn a new skill and connecting with their inner emotions and fears.  Because guns are dangerous, he had to take some additional precautions but that didn’t stop him from enjoying it and helping me to enjoy it too.

That’s why I became a coach

That’s why I became a coach and is why I am still a coach today. I don’t coach shotgun anymore – no call for it in Bahrain (more’s the pity), but I coach Business executives and particularly Project Management in corporations.

Not very dangerous I hear you say, but you would be surprised at how many companies have suffered catastrophic loss and significant setbacks due to projects not being delivered or not delivering the planned benefits properly into the organisation.

Projects are the way that organisations evolve and change their DNA and I coach the executive management and I coach the project managers to encourage properly thought out processes and procedures coupled with the application of proven techniques and the benefit of my thirty odd years of experience in delivering significant IT change.

These days, we are taught from an early age that anything is possible and that you must use a positive mind to get what you want. I agree this helps but to see real lasting change that moves you and motivates you to take action that changes your life – you need a coach!

You are right, we can all do it – but are you really going to give a twenty something graduate a shotgun and a box of cartridges and say off you go and expect some kind of accident not to happen?