JLM tip. Do more of what works.

[meggisonj]

The basis of expanding your knowledge? Do more of what works. Tweak it, build it, try it, repeat.

I couldn't classic palm a coin.. so I bypassed it. (I spent years trying.)

I couldn't palm a card.. so I bypassed it. (I spent years trying.)

I could talk my way out of situations.. so I used it. (effortlessly)

I could entertain people without cards, coins, or props.. so I used it. (effortlessly)

Do more of what works.. and you will perform great magic (effortlessly).
But to know what works, you have to perform.
Your move.

 

[Josh Burch]

I feel like a better idea would be to try new things, challenge yourself and challenge the status quo. Sure, move on if you don't want to perform tricks which require palming but if you do want to perform these effects then push yourself to learn them. Hundreds of magicians have done so and you can too.

Robert Frost said, iconically:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Maybe the extra effort that it takes to learn these difficult moves is the same effort that it would take to take the road less traveled.

 

[meggisonj]

Mark Nizer says to "Play to you strengths" (professional juggler of 40 years). I was trying to be a busking juggler.. and he said.. "but your not a juggler." then he told me to play to my strengths.

It doesn't matter to the audience if you perform a classic palm or not. They only care about your strengths and how they feel when they are leaving. Which have a lot to do with weaknesses.

I'm not saying to just give up on the hard stuff. I'm still working on the classic palm. But there's not need to kill yourself if you're not getting anywhere.. just bypass it and play to your strengths.

You have a life time to master magic.. but how you spend today is the only thing that matters tomorrow.

 

[RealityOne]

Play to your strengths.... yes. But, as Richard Bach says, "argue your limitations and they are yours."

If you are having problems with palming coins and cards, you aren't learning from the right sources. I could teach you to do both in an hour on Skype. If you are interested, send me your Skype name in a PM.

 

[Justin.Morris]

I very much agree. Do what you are good at. Jim Collins in Good to Great says that if you work at what you are bad at then you will become good at best, but if you work at what you are good at, then you can become great.

However, you can't know what your strengths are unless you try and work hard at a lot of things. And you can't become great at things unless you persist through failure and work hard to get there.

 

[meggisonj]

Thanks for the thought Realityone. I may take you up on this later.

Justin Morris. Thanks for the feedback. Its true isn't it?

We all have limited abilities and time.. but what matters most is our decisions, direction, and purpose..

Now, my hands just don't seem wide enough for a one handed top palm or any other palm like that.. Because my fingers are stout, thick, and taper in at the ends of the fingers. However, since my hands curl at each knuckle my resting hand position looks as though a lateral palm and gambler's cop just fit right into place. If biology is not agreeing with you, don't force it. In magic you have plenty of different alternatives to every palm and even most other moves. Play to your strengths. This is the path to mastery. (In my opinion.)

To me, it just isn't worth it so spend 2 hours a day working on classic palms of coins or one handed top palms. But I will spend just a few minutes a day trying to get the positioning right so when I decide to truly dive head first, I can adapt. But right now.. It's just not in the cards.

A book called the four hour chef talk about learning in the same order as something called, "margin of error" or "margin of safety". Which means, when you are first learning to palm.. and you can't get one move down, you will get frustrated and tempted to quit. However, when you get momentum, it's hard to quit because you have already learned a few good tricks.