Maximum Effort

Contrary to popular belief, there is a substantial body of evidence suggesting that both the human body and mind are naturally inclined toward conserving energy, often expressed as a predisposition to leniency or reduced effort.

Looking at it from a physiological perspective, evolutionary biology indicates that energy efficiency was critical for survival, as food sources were not guaranteed; thus, the body developed mechanisms to minimize unnecessary exertion. This is reflected in neural reward pathways that favor rest and low-effort behaviors when immediate survival is not threatened.

Psychologically, cognitive science has documented what Daniel Kahneman termed “System 1 thinking,” a bias toward mental shortcuts and heuristics that require less effortful processing. In behavioral economics, this appears in the “default effect,” where individuals tend to accept the path of least resistance rather than exert energy to change a situation. Combined, these findings suggest that the tendency toward doing less is not merely cultural or individual weakness but is deeply rooted in biological and cognitive architecture designed to optimize survival under conditions of scarce resources.

To rise above the default setting of ease is to step deliberately into the uncommon realm where excellence thrives. If the goal is to push yourself toward that next skill level, then you must overcome these tendencies toward leniency and reduced effort. What are some tricks of the trade you can use to stay ahead of the curve? Fortunately, there are three readily available tools you can safekeep and use in your training kit. These are mental, physical and intentional.

Mental Fortitude

Mentally stay connected to the shooting process—bring stability to alignment and press without disturbing that alignment. It’s imperative to follow this process mentally as opposed to chasing its results—the measurement of how long it took you to complete the task (time) and the measurement of how well you executed the task (accuracy).

The mind is inherently lazy and leans toward the least amount of effort—it is predisposed to cut corners and find short cuts. One trick to help you counter this is to stay in the game mentally. First and foremost, don’t drift toward the results, stay mentally focused on the process and nothing else.

How many times have you flawlessly run a plate rack in great time only to blow the last and final plate? Because you were locked on mentally through the first five and as you move into plate six, you think “Hey, that was a great time, I got this!” and check out mentally before follow-through on that last round. You put your mental feet up on that mental ottoman—nobody was at the wheel and the result? A solid miss.

Second, be sure to differentiate between process and technique. The shooting process is what you are doing, any technique is how you are doing it. The mind stays process focused whereas the body executes technique.

Physical Connection

Physically stay connected to the gun and to the technique. For example, if shooting with carry optics, your objective is to stay hard-target focused and aware of the dot. However, as time marches forward you may tend to relax that hard-center-target focus and even shift more focus to your dot than to where it belongs on the target.

Another tool is instead of pitting yourself against the timer on a set par time or simply tracking the time, push yourself to maximum effort off the clock. Remove the measurement element altogether and learn to lean on your maximum effort as opposed to a clock. In training you pit you against yourself against your own personal maximum effort as opposed to a predetermined set standard.

Intentional Effort

Combining your mental connection to the process with your physical connection to the technique affords you greater control which comes only from making the gun behave exactly the way you intend for it to behave. A good example of this is recoil recovery on the same target or a different target. Intend for the muzzle to rise, recover and realign in a straight line (most efficient). Prevent stray rounds from squirting left or right form the center of your intended point of impact. Avoid under travel or over travel on transitions. Make the gun do your bidding—what you intend for it to do.

At the end of the day, the true contest is not fought against a timer, a target, or even a standard—it is fought against the quiet, ancient pull of our own biology and psychology urging us to do less. 

Evolution may have wired us for conservation, but mastery demands resistance to that inertia. The mind will drift, the body will soften, and both will whisper that “good enough” is sufficient. But in the space where discipline overrides leniency—where mental focus remains locked on process, where physical connection holds steady, and where intention dictates every outcome, skill is forged into something greater than instinct.