What's your obstacle?

[coastaldude]

I am sitting here thinking about what I can do to improve my magic and the same thing keeps popping up in my head. The one major thing that is setting me back is my lack of patience. I know everybody has a flaw when performing magic, but, for some reason I just felt that maybe even a week more I could blow their minds better.

I am 17 and have a somewhat uncontrolled urge to perform something the next day or two when it doesn't look very smooth. Whether this be with cards, coins, or my mentalism act, it just seems I have an obstacle in my way that is setting me back from becoming a better magician. I asked a buddy of mine and his setback was his performance of the trick, in the sense that while he can do everything with cards 10 times better than me he is kinda shy and his patter etc. in his performance is weak. Everything is smooth but when you just see something in the trick it may become tiresome without some type of performance in there that keeps them guessing and interested.

My problem is my impatience to practice my routines and make everything smooth although it may work out to either way. What I hope to accomplish is to put in two weeks of practice, work the trick/routine in front of another magician and get his honest opinion.

SO, not to drag things out anymore my question for this sunday is a simple and direct one. What keeps you from becoming a better magician? Be direct and detailed when you are explaining and how you plan on bettering yourself.
Please do not say you have no obstacle and it's only practice from here on then. Believe I would love to say that, but dig deep and try to realize what is keeping you from being the best.

 

[Tyler Johnson]

My weakness, I would say, would be my time. I don't really have time to progress in magic like I wish too. I admit, I could be a bit stronger performance wise, but I'm a pretty good performer. I don't have a problem with patience, I usually perform something after I've practiced it 3 to 4 months. I'm a graphic design so I could do my own advertising, and I am a professional documentary producer so I could do my own filming.

So, yeah, with all of my other commitments (which are truthfully more important), I can't progress in magic quickly and I will never have a stage show or become "known". Magic comes after my fiancee (most definitely, she trumps everything), my part-time almost full-time job, school, and my family. But, I love magic, it's in me, so I'll keep at it. I guess there isn't really anything I can do to better my situation other than to keep at it. Anyway, this is a good topic, thanks coastaldude. Peace!

Tyler

 

[Randomwrath]

I follow. Someone brings out an effect and chances are I'll peform it almost identically to how they perform it. I've tried to think up my own presentations, sometimes I succeed, most of the time I fail. I just can't find patter.

 

[Sinful07]

Time too. ive got too many thigns on my hands, and a deck of cards is the least important of it.

i do practice when i can though, walking, watching films.. i do one handed cuts or just generally mess around. do a blind acr. (do an acr without looking at the deck)


Im starting to hate pandora. cause mine still aint smooth. lol.

 

[GusEds]

The Language barrier, for one

I live in Norway, and although everyone speaks enlgish, it is a lot harder to approach someone if you do not speak Norwegian. The factt that you impose something on people s enough to make them suspicious of you, and the fact that you do not speak their native language is one of the last nails on the coffin...

 

[FadedTemp]

patter/presentation/creative blocks. I have issues either coming up with effective patter/presentation for effects or sticking with the patter/presentation I've already arranged. After spending much more time on it then I should (imo) I finally get to the point where I'm satisfied with how I perform the effect, but it never fails... a few weeks later I come up with a different way to perform it and I'm thrown into a loop which makes me question the original way I performed it. I have changed my performance method of simple tricks like "the biddle trick" several... Several times.

 

[coastaldude]

Luckily I have enough time to practice my effects. I go to school, practice, work maybe, practice some more, play basketball, sleep. On the weekends I usually hang out at the mall or a friends house and I perform at the mall quite often. Luckily I have that time factor to my advantage right now.

Thanks for the posts.