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If you want to kill 'em right, you gotta take your time….
Speaking to his biographer, Wyatt Earp said this, in the Saturday Evening Post.
While it is unusual to post about violence on a positive thinking blog, trust me and read on. There is method to the madness.
"The most important lesson I learned… was the winner of a gunplay usually was the man who took his time…"
"When I say that I learned to take my time in a gunfight, I do not wish to be misunderstood, for the time to be taken was only that split fraction of a second that means the difference between deadly accuracy… and a miss."
"Perhaps I can best describe such time-taking as going into action with the greatest speed of which a man’s muscles are capable, but mentally unflustered by an urge to hurry or the need for complicated nervous and muscular actions which trick-shooting involves."
"Mentally deliberate, but muscularly faster than thought, is what I mean."
Want to be the best at what you do? Be relaxed, while you draw on that hair trigger. Renaissance courtiers and philosophers called this "sprezzatura," or "studied carelessness." Wikipedia explains it further: "a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it."
In the common parlance, you've got to practice hard, sharpen your chops, and when it comes time to draw, don't give a damn about it, while giving a damn.
Master Swordsman Miyamoto Musashi explained it this way: "To wield the long sword well you must wield it calmly…"
"…when the enemy is agitated and shows an inclination to rush, do not mind in the least. Make a show of complete calmness, and the enemy will be taken by this and will become relaxed. When you see that this spirit has been passed on, you can bring about the enemy's defeat by attacking strongly with a Void spirit."
Here is the method to the madness. All that we do, all that we seek to learn or accomplish, from the ball court to the work place, can be done masterfully if we do it with Sprezzatura.
You can read more of Wyatt Earp's comments here.
