Hey First name / Friend,

 

It's the new year, and I hope you had/have a happy one!

 

January is a period I find motivating and daunting in equal amounts. Motivating because a new year feels like somehow the slate is cleared, any outstanding projects or tasks I put off and left half finished are magically reset, to live on a new list…just with a different number at the top (2026).

 

Daunting because, being human, I am bound to stumble at some point and knock the carefully planned house of cards over…or at least that's how it feels.

 

In reality the cards don't exist, and the house…well neither does the house.

 

There is just ‘action’ and ‘in-action’, in a direction I get to choose every single day. I'm a full time magician, and more recently the coaching side of GivingMagic had started to become a something of a side hustle.

 

The freedom of being self-employed is both empowering and overwhelming. Empowering because I get to choose what I do, how I do it, and when I do it. Overwhelming because I could do anything, in anyway, whenever I like.

 

 

Anyway, from New year and self employment contrasts to more magical ones…  

 

 

 

A bootcamp alumni, let's call them ‘Rob’, posted in the GivingMagic community and mentioned how after performing a well known self working effect for his friends and family over Christmas how much more of an impact it made on them in comparison to their other material, that relies on more sleight of hand. He wanted to know how the rest of the community combine self working magic in to their acts.

 

This question raised a few thoughts for me, Calibration and Contrasts.

 

 

 

In this example we know Rob has performed a number of times for the same people and the material has required sleight of hand to accomplish the effect. So Rob's friends and family have built an understanding around Rob, a bench mark if you will, that when Rob performs magic is requires skill of the hands to accomplish the effect.

 

Audiences pick up on this based on many factors. Perhaps Rob shares new magic to his core audience regularly and at varying stages of progress, perhaps they occasionally see a little something that makes them suspicious that ‘something happened’, which is often enough for people to explain away all other elements of an otherwise deceptively convincing routine.

 

Either way these people think; Rob + Magic = Sleight of hand

 

So when Rob shares something which requires no sleight of hand, suddenly the impact level has taken a huge leap! Because either one of two things are true; 

 

1) Robs sleight of hand abilities have risen significantly so that I did not suspect let alone detect any magical mischief or 

 

2) Rob is Jesus.

 

 

 

1) Every person you meet is soaking up information about you, the way you look, speak, move, walk, your temperament, demeanour, attitude, sense of humour, everything! They are calibrating you, setting a bench mark of you, so they can quickly recognise and detect threatening behaviour, illness, and untrustworthiness (among others) in the future to protect themselves from harm, getting sick, and being deceived (how appropriate).

 

2) We have varying levels of control over how people experience us, some more than others (with actors and psychopaths top of the leader board).  

 

By becoming more aware of how we present to others in a plethora of situations under the many roles we play (e.g parter, work colleague, boss, parent, friend, magician, etc…) we can become more conscious of our unconscious behaviour, locate our 'tells', and begin to control our behaviour with more precision. Allowing us to be better equipped at evading detection when executing a deception, for good of course!

 

3) The things we say and do build a world view of us and our ability, reveal too much of your skill set and the magical impact becomes lessened. So shuffling like a expert, dong lots of fancy flourishes, telling stories of cheating at cards, the audience will assume your sleight of hand to be good. So when that card comes to the top it's not magic, is a demonstration of skill.

 

However, pick up the cards cack-handedly, do a simple overhand shuffle like a muggle, why not drop a few in the process. THEN make that card come to the top, well you can start thinking of names for your new religion!

 

There are of course caveats to this, if I'm hired as the magician and repeatedly dropping cards on the floor and the barman can shuffle better than me, there may be an issue. But I hope you get the point.

 

4) While we are in this area Which brings me neatly on to feeling okay with lies, deceit, and power. Magicians can sometimes experience a feeling of guilt when performing magic and ‘fooling’ their audience. This only highlights you're an honest, empathetic person who has a strong moral compass, and likely an advocate for equality. And so find lying, deceiving, and being given power quite uncomfortable.

 

Remember this; Santa doesn't exists without a lies and deceit.

Magic is a gift, and mystery lets it live.

 

If you do feel guilt that's an indicator that your intent is in the right place, trust yourself to do good, you're fundamentally a good person.

 

 

 

 

Like almost all things we experience, our brain judges those experiences based on contrast. For example look at the image below and notice the colours of the top and bottom…you wouldn't believe that they are actually the same shade of grey, 

 

Go ahead, close one eye and block out the join with your finger…magic right!

 

 

Here is another; the black circle on the left appears smaller than the one one the right…they are both the same size.

 

 

One more; squares A and B are in fact the same shade of grey.

 

Calibration and contrast are constants in how people experience the world around them. If we understand this we can begin to think about deception from a distance, viewing it from a new perspective. If I dress, speak, move, and compose myself a certain way what information am I communication about myself to the audience? What does that tell them about my skill set and level of competence? Can we position the audience on the back foot before any magic has even happened?

 

The order in which I perform my routines changes how the audience experiences them. What does starting with a thrilling demonstration of skill with cards, filled with impressive shuffling and flourishes, communicate to my audience? How will the audience think I accomplish the rest of the routines in my act? Will the next piece be more or less impactful?

 

The audience will base what you do next on what you did before.

 

I'll finish on this insight from David Williamson. In his IBM lecture (I believe) he recounts a story of being at a party and there is a old man sat in a rocking chair in the corner of the room. The old guy barely speaks now days and appears to be not as sharp as he once was. 

 

He beckons David over and gestures for him to lean in close, and he whispers in David's ear “only show them 10%”.

 

 

Imagine only allowing our audience to become aware of 10% of our skill set, how would that change their perspective of our magic?

 

In a bit!
Matthew

 

 

 

What resonated with you? - 📧 Shoot me an message M@GivingMagic.com

 

 

 

 

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