I have been a magic hobbyist for quite a while now but can never progress to anything more, reason being is that i am overwhelmed by how many resources there are on the art which causes me to get distracted easily. Does anybody have any advice on how to not get distracted and become motivated to progress? Thanks.
Advice on progressing as a card conjurer.
- Thread starter Josh93
- Start date
Pick a book or resource. Learn it. Don't just read through a book once, or watch a video once - learn it, practice it, perfect it, perform it.
Stop getting new stuff just because you want to learn how to do the trick. Pick something, and stick with it. When I got The Royal Road to Card Magic I studied it, and nothing else, for 8 months until I had everything down.
If you find your attention wandering, ask yourself - why am I getting bored? Maybe you're not as into this as you thought you were. Maybe you're just more curious about the secrets. I don't think there's anything wrong with that (It's just very expensive to be a secret collector legally).
When I study it's because I'm genuinely interested in learning these things. When I perform, that interest is driven even harder. Make sure you're interested in what you're learning, understand why you're interested in it, and really learn it and then - Perform it!
Stop getting new stuff just because you want to learn how to do the trick. Pick something, and stick with it. When I got The Royal Road to Card Magic I studied it, and nothing else, for 8 months until I had everything down.
If you find your attention wandering, ask yourself - why am I getting bored? Maybe you're not as into this as you thought you were. Maybe you're just more curious about the secrets. I don't think there's anything wrong with that (It's just very expensive to be a secret collector legally).
When I study it's because I'm genuinely interested in learning these things. When I perform, that interest is driven even harder. Make sure you're interested in what you're learning, understand why you're interested in it, and really learn it and then - Perform it!
Honestly, when you find a trick or 2 you like; learn it. But then also stop looking at other resources.
My advice would be to separate out "Practice" time and "Research" time. So, feel free to read a load of magic books, watch DVDs, find out about all the latest tricks, and even play with some moves or effects you find interesting, but be clear with yourself that this isn't Practice, this is Research. One day it may prove useful, but this isn't what's going to help you progress to the next level. Practice time is where you take your small handful of tricks (maybe three or four) that you want to absolutely master and work on them. Run through the moves over and over again. Write, rehearse and refine your script. Go back to the moves and refine those to make them more consistent with your script. Run through in front of a mirror. Run through in front of a camera. Then run through in front of people. Work on those tricks until they become a solid working set for you. Only then, go back to the knowledge you've accumulated in your Research sessions and see if there's a new idea or addition you can add to this foundation.
I know there is so much out there these days, but being an old guy, I would say, stay away from "Tricks" and study skills and techniques, instead. As an example, if you take time and really master the "Card College" book series, you could do much, much, worse...
What I'll usually do (and keep in mind this is just what works for me, and it may not work for everyone) is I'll keep a notebook of stuff that I've seen and possibly like to learn and I'll keep that separate from the notebook of stuff I'm practicing now. Once I'm sure I've got whatever it is I'm working on good enough where I'm performing it regularly, I'll go back to that previous notebook of possibilities and pick something else out of it to start learning and practicing. I've found that, for me, this keeps me focused on one thing at a time so my attention isn't divided all over the place. (like it was when I was first starting out...man that was a crazy time)