So lately I’ve been thinking about Things I Do and (more important) about Things I Don’t Do. That second column is important, because nobody can be everything to everyone.
|
Things I Do
|
Things I Don’t Do
|
- Focus on self-defense skills
|
- Focus on competition shooting skills
|
- Teach and learn for a living
|
|
- Function as a bridge between the new shooter and the serious training world
|
- Badmouth other instructors
|
- Help beginning instructors improve their teaching and shooting skills
|
|
- Problem solve – help ccw people find their specific ways to carry, and help businesspeople design or refine products for the ccw market
|
- Badmouth small businesses or small business owners
|
- Tell the truth with as much kindness and discretion as I can
|
|
- Focus on principles of gear selection
|
- Focus on individual product reviews
|
- Tell others about the work of good people who are doing good things
|
- Live by advertising income
|
- Share information about good products I’ve found that solve some specific problem
|
|
- Write how-to’s and tutorials that teach people how to choose good gear, or how to use the gear they already own
|
- Write articles telling people they need to buy more stuff
|
- Tell people when they really do need to make an investment in their equipment
|
- Pretend bad gear is as good as good gear
|
- Provide realistic but optimistic information about tough subjects
|
- Deny or sugarcoat unpleasant truths
|
- Honest homework, honest research
|
- Plagiarize or take shortcuts
|
- Focus on what the student needs, and on what the shooting community needs
|
- Focus on my own tiny little world, and miss the bigger picture
|
|
|
|
Do you have a similar list? Please share it with me — either in the comments below, or by linking from your own blog. Thanks!
