How often do you get nervous?

Feb 17, 2009
143
0
Bethlehem PA
Every time Im about to do something for someone I get nervous and my hands start to sweat and my heart starts to beat fast and I start to shake a little. Its like my mind and body try to tell me Im about to lie and decieve but it's almost like my mind rejects the idea of decieving someone because lying and deceipt may be dangerous. I feel like a secret agent trying not to blow his cover lol. I think you have to force your mind to beleive it's ok what your doing. That it's just harmless deciept. Anyone have similar issues?
 
Feb 1, 2009
976
0
Manchester, UK.
A while ago when I was going to perform Laced, my leg started shaking and I was completely offput, luckily they couldn't really see it and the trick still worked out ok. After that I just said to myself "What's the worst that can happen?" and I've never really been overly nervous since.
 
Sep 17, 2007
84
1
I always get nervous before a set. And when it's done, I feel higher than a kite. Part of the fun of being a performer. :)

It's natural to be nervous before a performance. In fact, if your not nervous, then you probably shouldn't be performing. Nerves mean you care. You want to do a great job.
 
Apr 28, 2008
596
0
I used to all the time, my hands would shake and sweat and i'd perform sleights terribly and nearly drop cards, flourishing in front of people was basically impossible. As I performed more and more that completely went away, doing sleights in front of people feels the same as when i'm practicing them at home. You just need to keep going out there and performing and it will quickly go away.
 
It happens to me all the time. High speed heart beat, and hands shaking.
I'm a beginner so I have to gain confidence, and feeling I can flash or do something wrong makes me feel this nervous.

I'm working on it though, the more I perform, the more it's coming. I keep thinking "you're gonna amaze them, they have no clue what you're gonna do and so on..." but well, being nervous doesn't dissapear like that ;)

And yes when people are amazed after a trick, it helps gaining that confidence, and it's right, it makes you feel higher than a kite, and I just love that feeling.

So take a deep breath, be confident in your moves.

Oh yeah and also, I used this nervousness to my advantage. For some tricks i act like a nervous person (in fact i'm just natural lol) and act a little bit clumsy (oh god I lost your card; oh i think i missed it etc.) and when the climax comes, people are lilke "you lier, you pretend to be nervous but you're not" and I say "Yes, part of the act, dude" ;)

Could be another option ;)

Good luck!
 
Aug 2, 2008
496
0
Cincinnati
I am naturally an anxious person, so I get super nervous to perform for people. Its funny because I can stand in front of a class and teach them how to find derivatives, critical points, graph polynomial functions, etc, and not be nervous. But if someone asked me to show them something, my heart beats rapidly and I get super nervous. Still trying to work on that. I'm sure everyone got that way at one point. We all just need to keep performing and get over it as much as possible.
 
Jul 25, 2008
97
0
Upstate New York
This happens to me all the time. I try to fan cards and my hands are so sweaty that it looks awful even with bicycles. It usually happens when I perform for random people but every once in a while when I perform for my family (aunts and uncles) it happens. Once I get in to it, and show a few tricks with great reactions I'm calm, cool and collected :D
 
Aug 31, 2007
1,960
1
34
Long Island/New York
My hands don't get sweaty or shake, but my knee throbs like hell.
Kind of embarrassing, but I wear loose jeans. ;)
The best thing to do is to just keep performing, and hopefully you won't get so nervous because it will become second nature to you.
 
Nov 2, 2008
266
0
Arkansas
it comes and goes for me. Sometimes i feel great in front of ten people and other times i'll get the shakes. i don't know why i just do.
 
Oct 22, 2008
789
0
yah well when i used to perform it didn't madder where it was my hands would always shake! but now I sort of got out of doing it. It's just something you get out of if you do it enough times. But ofcorse if I were to do a big performance like infront of around more than 100 or 200 so people i would always be nervous but its extremely normal, so don't think it's not.

-Jake
 
Apr 7, 2009
24
0
yeah i get nervous alot right before i perform, but it's normally only with newer tricks. if it's something i have done alot then i'm not as nervous as i am when i'm doing something for the first time. Once you realize you have something down, your confidence grows and the nervousness will go away. When i first started doing magic, i set up a performance where i had 12 of my friends all watching. now this made me nervous as hell, but when i was done i was on top of the world. And i knew if i could perform for 12 people up close, then doing it for one or 2 would be a walk in the park.
 
Mar 24, 2009
60
0
Heres my story:

I'm in magic for 2 weeks, my first performance was in Easter when I was asked to show some tricks by relatives and friends, since I'm a total beginner I didn't want to however I had to show what I had been doing for 2 months lol so I started with some self-working tricks, that way the audience wasn't any more focused on figuring out how I do it but they were focused on having fun and thats when you should start doing other tricks, their not watching your every move, they are watching the trick as a whole, also if you get to control the crowd your nervousness should cease, I was still nervous then but thats normal, thats where patter goes in, it misdirects people and you can do moves slower, more natural and that is basically how you do it, for example I was performing Triumph there and to drop their attention I was talking about the creator of triumph Dai Vernon, people find it interesting...
 

Ashrei

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2007
350
2
I actually perform for the feeling of my adrenaline rush. I really enjoy it for some reason.
 
Sep 3, 2007
1,231
0
Here's a +1 on it's just natural. We all worry about if we will mess up or whether they will like us or hate us. Crap, my heart starts beating fast every time I make a post on T11.
 
Mar 14, 2009
19
0
Pittsburgh, PA
Last year, I was performing at a school talent show. I was so nervous that my entire left arm fell asleep. I'm left handed. I had to do The Thing by Bill Abbott. But after everything went off without a hitch, I didn't get nervous anymore. So, I guess I only get nervous in when I start doing a trick, but once I know I'm doing well, I begin to relax.
 
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