“You can’t control the outcome, but you are 100% in control of the effort. If you don’t like the outcome, change your effort” – Larry Elder

A few months ago my husband and I decided to start having a date night once a week. 😊 We wrote a list of all the fun things we’d like to do so we didn’t have to go through the whole, “what do you want to do? I don’t know. What do you want to do?” conversation, and going to the range made our list.

To be honest, it had been a while since we shot, so I felt a little rusty at first. Within a short time my confidence was back, the guilt of knowing we hadn’t shot in a while was gone and the feeling of it being a project to gather all of your stuff to go to the range was also gone. Sometimes it can feel like a project, when it should just be routine.

The range we’ve been going to has a Ladies Night, so it’s a bit cheaper that evening. They also have a punch card, so we’re getting close to a free something, but my concern is more about living a life long enough to fill 10,000 of those. Punch card, or not, I’m still practicing.

My encouragement to you is this: make a date/appointment to go shooting. Make time to gather what you need leading up to the day you selected – prep beforehand to ease effort. Put together a bag you can leave all of your stuff in for next time. Go for an hour and be done. Make it easy, not a big ordeal. Then make another “date” for yourself to go.


“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” —Benjamin Franklin

– Tricia Ellison
Fortress Staff Instructor
DTI Instructor
Presenter, Pretty Loaded