Therefore, since the world has still Much good, but much less good than ill, And while the sun and moon endure Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure, I’d face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good. A.E. Housman I spend a lot of time talking about the importance of training and competition. I've done a fair bit of both, though not as much as I'd like. Over time, I've thought about the advice I would give myself if I were able to go back to my very first time. If you've hung around many training-oriented message boards or popular instructors, some of this probably won't be news to you. But I wanted to capture it from my perspective. And while I was at it, I also asked members of the community to chime in as well to see if I was missing anything. To my surprise, we all pretty much had the same perspectives. I think this stems from the kind of introspective and thoughtful person that tends to read the blog and listen to the podcast. My Progression Like many firearms enthusiasts, I followed a general progression. It wasn't always seriousness, personal capability, and developing an edge. In the beginning, it was "Oh, that's cool...I want it because it's fun" Then it was, "I want to impress the internet." I spent days and weeks obsessively researching just the right part to assemble something that was worthy of kudos from total strangers. Eventually, it became, "I should learn to use this well." Today, it's, "This is but a powerful tool backing a broad skillset." For this episode, I want to focus on that period as I transitioned from trying to impress strangers on the internet to instead focusing on building skills. This is where I started seeking out training and competition, even if informal. I read a lot of after-action reports, tips, tricks, and books. When I finally got out to start my training, it turned out that I still had to learn (and re-learn) of a lot of what others had already said to me. The Three Keys There's a lot to unpack in this topic, so I want to focus on three key areas: * The instructor * Your equipment * Learning mindset These are intentionally broad because there's a lot to each one.  Each of these areas has several little lessons learned over time, and I simply can't get to them all. But I will share a few of the most important. As I said before, this isn't just coming from me, either. The lessons here come from members of our community over in The Everyday Marksman Discord server as well. So let's get into it. The Instructor If you're like me, and training isn't paid for by your employer, then you don't have unlimited funds to spend on just anyone who calls themselves an instructor. So, first off, you have to know what you're signing up for and what you plan to take away from it. Is this a marksmanship-focused training course, like an Appleseed event? Are you signing up for something a bit more "tactical?" It might sound obvious, but you are going to learn things in one that you probably won't in the other. Of all of the tactical classes that I've been to, marksmanship was little more than a footnote in the curriculum. It was encouraged, maybe talked about or even expected, but ultimately wasn't the point. Likewise, the marksmanship classes tended to focus on the raw fundamentals of position building, sight picture, breathing, and the other elements of good shooting. However, they would not be something you go to in order to learn to shoot, reload, or manipulate your weapon quickly. I'm not saying one is better than the other. In fact, you should probably learn and practice all of them as tools in your toolbox. But what I am saying is that you should make sure you know what you plan to learn...