Don't Beat Yourself Up...

As I write this, I’ve been awake since 3:30 am. It’s now almost 7:00 pm. I had to get up early to catch a flight to Kidabra.

Hopefully, this newsletter will be somewhat coherent. Truthfully, I already had the week of Kidabra’s newsletter written and scheduled for you, loyal reader.

You’ll receive this a couple of weeks later.

But as I was waiting for my flight at the airport, I received an email from a client that inspired me to write the issue you’re reading. Here’s a part of the email:

“Once again, your show last week was fabulous. Alison, the little girl with coins coming out of her ears, cracked me up. Her laughter is still in my head and still making me smile.”

The show she’s referencing was my Summer Reading Program show I just did. My client then went on to book me for a Halloween show.

I don’t include this to say ‘Look how great I am.’ Quite the opposite. The volunteer she references above was very difficult.

Most of the time I’m really good at picking the right volunteer. When you’ve been performing professionally for a long time, you develop a sixth sense of who to pick for which trick.

In this case, I picked the wrong kid.

She was too young for the routine and wouldn’t hold still. I brought her up for a Miser’s Dream routine. But I had a hard time keeping her focused.

She was much more interested in loudly telling the audience how much fun she was having chewing the large plastic novelty necklace around her neck.

Fortunately, I was able to deftly focus her enough to get through a shortened version of my routine.

I’m very hard on myself. In my mind, the routine had been a disaster. Since it was early in the show, I hoped my client (and the rest of the audience) would forget as the show progressed.

I was wrong.

Not only did they not forget but that routine stood out in their minds because of the little girl’s reactions to the coins appearing.

And that is the lesson.

When you care a great deal about your shows, you want everything to go perfectly.

But it rarely does. Perfection does not exist. Real life is messy. Especially in magic shows. People react in unexpected ways.

Instead of focusing on what went wrong, you’ve got to pivot quickly and adapt as best you can.

Learn to think on your feet.

When I am breaking a new routine into a show, the first thing I do is imagine all the things that could go wrong. Then I try to imagine how I’d handle them.

I’m pretty sure I’ve written about that part of it before (Again, 3:30 am). But the major takeaway is this:

Cut yourself some slack. If something goes wrong during a show, use it as a learning experience. Repair the damage and move on as best you can.

I think there are two main ‘branches’ of magic. On one side, we have the kind of magician who buys a trick and sticks it in their show the next day.

And I know this is true because I’ve had some folks want me to overnight tricks to them. Case in point, I used to sell a mentalism routine that came with a few off-the-shelf props. A very well-known mentalist wanted me to overnight it to him.

Seriously, if I told you who this guy was, your jaw would hit the floor.

Then there is the other branch of magicians. The kind that completely scripts out their show. They rehearse meticulously to make sure everything with a new routine is as tight as possible. Then they start performing.

To me, this is the way to go. I’ll freely admit I’ve been part of the former group sometimes. But I always get better results when I’m part of the second group.

There’s one part of the second group that isn’t so great, however.

They tend to beat themselves up when something goes wrong. And they’re super hard on themselves.

Yes, we must treat our craft seriously. Yes, we must prepare as best we can.

But in 99% of cases, if you have done your job and prepared to the best of your ability, you will be much harder on your show and yourself than your audiences will.

This was a big revelation to me years ago. Here it is: People only know what they see.

Unless you have repeat viewers, no one watching your show has any idea what will happen.

What does this mean?

Relax. Do the best job you can. And know that any flubs, difficult volunteers, or whatever will likely be forgiven and/or forgotten by your client much faster than you will.

My point?

Treat your magic as a craft. But don’t be too hard on yourself.

No one is perfect.

Heck, I even saw Penn Jillette have to deal with a split up the back of his pants for nearly half of his show.

Work hard on your magic. But don’t forget to enjoy yourself too,

Have a great week!

--Cris

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Need help in multiple areas? I can help you with your website, direct mail, email, or other marketing strategies. I also offer consulting services for crafting magic routines or even entire shows. Want to find out more? Shoot me an email at cris@theprofessionalmagicianclubpro.com.

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