THE STORY
From our seats in the planetarium, I visited outer space with a 4-year-old. The globe-shaped theatre was dark and quiet as we were immersed into the night sky of our solar system. “And this is the International Space Station,” said the narrator over the room’s sound system. Once again silence settled over the room as we panned around the ISS. Suddenly, Nora’s voice filled the room, “IS THAT WHERE JESUS LIVES?”
I was so proud of her attempt to learn, even if it was a glorious failure.
Perhaps you can relate in the way you're training. You're searching for the answers and putting in the work but you're not seeing the results you expect. It can feel like floating through space, trying to connect the stars, hoping to draw connections so you can actually improve.
If you can relate to this feeling of not knowing the best way to structure your training to improve your scores, keep reading.
NEUROPLASTICITY, LEARNING, AND THE 85/15 RULE
Neuroplasticity is our brain’s ability to change in response to our experiences. It’s part of all forms of learning, whether it's a new language, music, or movement, like shooting a bow.
One of the key principles of neuroplasticity is this notion of making errors to promote learning and improve a skill. While it might seem counterintuitive, the scientific literature tells us that whenever we’re learning something new or working to improve on an existing skill, if we make an error, while it can feel frustrating, that state of frustration actually activates particular areas of our brain to be more alert, so that during our next reps, we have a heightened level of focus and a higher probability of getting it right-- learning and improving the skill, regardless of what it is.
It really makes sense when you think about it. Why would your brain change at all if it's performing everything perfectly? When you make errors, you are in a better position to learn and improve immediately after.
Are you familiar with 'The Goldilocks Zone'? Essentially, it's an idea which suggests we are the most motivated to train when we are working on tasks that are right on the edge of our current capabilities. It’s the sweet spot to maximize our potential to learn, improve, and stay motivated. Now, thanks to science, The Goldilocks Zone has been quantified. A recent scientific study that was published in the journal, “Nature Communications” titled, “The Eight Five Percent Rule for Optimal Learning” clearly defines that zone for us where our motivation to learn is maximized and our learning potential is also at its best. The title of the study kind of spoils it- to optimize learning we need to be training tasks where 85% of our attempts are successful and 15% of our attempts are failures. It's called the 85/15 Rule.
IMPLEMENTING THE 85/15 RULE IN TRAINING
Now that we've established how we learn through making errors, and identified the success/failure rate for learning at our natural best, we can design an appropriate and effective training routine.
FINDING YOUR TRAINING BASELINE
#1) Setup a target - 80cm (Compound) or 122cm (Recurve/Barebow)
#2) Adjust your sight to half of your competition distance.
#3) Compound and Barebow will shoot a 720 scoring round from 25 meters. Recurve will shoot from 35 meters.
#4) Shoot 72 arrows and count the number of total 10s.
ANALYZING THE RESULTS
There are several ways we can measure success and failure in our training; however, for the purposes of this example we will define 10s as success and everything outside of the 10-ring as failure. Our training goal on a 72 arrow scoring round is shooting 61 of 72 in the 10 ring, that's an 85% success rate. Keep in mind, I'm speaking in averages, shooting between 58-64 arrows in the 10 ring is also acceptable.
Shoot less than 58 tens and you should move 5 meters closer to the target.
Shoot 65 or more tens, you need to move 5 meters away from the target.
Repeat this process until you're 85% successful or until 58-64 of your arrows are 10s. The distance you're shooting from when you've hit this goal is your ideal training distance. At this distance is where you'll experience both success and a healthy dose of failure.
CONCLUSION
We are so reluctant to accept failure and tend to avoid it at all costs. However, a dose of failure is a critical part of the learning process. Train smart enough to be a failure. When you do something, do it epically. If you’re going to burn, burn brightest. Fail epically, and ask boldly, "IS THAT WHERE JESUS LIVES?"