Is failing worth it?

Jun 2, 2013
99
0
Hello, T11, it has been a while since I have posted my own thread. I have spent quite a while reading up Leil Lowndry and Joseph Campbell (as suggested by Steerpike) to help better myself when performing in front of people. However, I still have fear of failure...and because of that I still spend a long time staying holed up practicing sleights and improving routines and coming up with patter.

I feel that at this stage I could wing it on the streets and see the results, but I don't know if I will regret getting found out, or if it will really help me to face failure. (I still shudder from a memory when I messed up a torn and restored...even though my audience was very kind, and I was able to pass it off as a joke.)
 
Nov 1, 2007
145
0
Hello, T11, it has been a while since I have posted my own thread. I have spent quite a while reading up Leil Lowndry and Joseph Campbell (as suggested by Steerpike) to help better myself when performing in front of people. However, I still have fear of failure...and because of that I still spend a long time staying holed up practicing sleights and improving routines and coming up with patter.

I feel that at this stage I could wing it on the streets and see the results, but I don't know if I will regret getting found out, or if it will really help me to face failure. (I still shudder from a memory when I messed up a torn and restored...even though my audience was very kind, and I was able to pass it off as a joke.)

Sounds to me like you need to suck it up and get out there brother. You're performing for strangers. If you think you've gotten the practice in (and it's debatable what constitutes sufficient practice - Ricky Jay would tell you only after a year of practice should you perform) then the experience you really need is crowd control. That is the hardest part of impromptu magic in a public place. Failing is worth it if you intend to become a better magician because real world experience is the name of the game. Be eager to get out there and be at peace with the fact that you sure are going to fail, but you'll walk away having learned something that is not easily teachable.
 
Jun 2, 2013
99
0
Well I have definitely practiced many basic moves for over a year now, but I've only practiced actual routines for a couple months tops. I'm still trying to think of a good patter that can entrance an audience while giving me room to set up my audience for misdirection. I think that if I play it cool, I can probably manage a street audience of 2 people, and a fixed audience of even 500. I was just questioning if I am at the level where I can perform live to strangers on the street (which I almost never have).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jan 11, 2013
168
2
Dubai
Go and do it. To help calm your nerves a bit just see it as a practice session, these people arn't paying you to do it and they weren't even expecting to see magic when they left their house. So if something does go wrong whats the big deal, you wont ever have to see these people again? You can sit in your room and practice all the moves and routines but until you start performing to people you will never truly 'learn' the trick. Take misdirection for example, you can sit in your room and practice a routine and say to yourself 'ok this is the point where i have to direct someones attention' you go out to perform it for real and suddenly you realize your rehearsed timing for that moment doesn't happen as you've practiced it, so you have to think on your feet a bit. Ok it hasn't gone as you had hoped but you've learned something. So you take that experience to the next performance of that effect and improve on the last and so on and so until you have a much better version of a routine than the one you started off practicing. Every magician not matter what level they are at have to go through this process and every magician has been through a performance where things haven't gone right or as planned but you learn from that experience and move on. Failures if looked at in the right way make you a better magician in the long run.
 
"Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence." -Colin Powell

I really don’t need to go on here.

Go out, and perform. Failure is where you improve. Failure pushes you past the guy sitting in his room doing tricks to his mirror. Failure is nothing more than a result and from results we learn and eventually succeed.

Instead of fearing FAILURE, embrace the opportunity to get RESULTS, be it "good" or "bad" - take it , learn from it and improve.

Every single person on this forum who has ever performed HAS FAILED!!!

go out there and fail - it’s all part of succeeding.

Good luck!
 
Sep 1, 2007
723
2
Max Maven mentioned on one of his tapes, that his confidence came from finally failing in front of a crowd - and realizing the world didn't end.

Get used to failing. I tend to enjoy going for risky effects now, because I know I can find a way to back out, but it would be a miracle if I hit.

Just throw yourself into the flames, I promise you'll be ok.
 
Failing is 100% worth it. Because you can't be successful without it. But magic is fun, just relax and do it.. the more you relax the less of a big deal it is and if you do mess up just make a joke and continue. Entertaining is the purpose. You could do that by just messing up every trick, but people would still like if it you did it in a entertaining way.
 
Dec 17, 2014
1
0
Coins across, sympathetic coins, copper silver transposition are all great! They're also angle proof, which makes them great choices for strolling.
 
Jan 28, 2014
12
1
Nope, its not worth it.

unless your one of the lucky ones who has everything fall freely into their laps, your going to destroy yourself chasing a madman's dream.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
Nope, its not worth it.

unless your one of the lucky ones who has everything fall freely into their laps, your going to destroy yourself chasing a madman's dream.

I'm guessing your username had a "Fox" in it on E.

I can't recall who said it, but "I find the harder I work, the more luck I have."

The thing about show business (whether professional or not) is that it really comes down to who is willing to do the business part skillfully. There's a reason "business" is the longer word - it takes up more of your time. But as Eric Mead says, the Show comes first.
 
Searching...
{[{ searchResultsCount }]} Results