wavegrower: interstellar Meditation aid. This should be...

wavegrower:

interstellar

Meditation aid. This should be moving…if not, follow the link back to http://ift.tt/2anQk06

Here’s a way to use it. 

Sit with your spine straight  and this screen in front of you. Let your eyes rest on the center of the moving image. Pay attention to the center of the image. Nothing else. Pay attention to your breath. Do that for 13 inhales and 13 exhales. Then stop counting, and continue to watch the image. Allow your mind to go where it will.

Stop whenever you’re ready. Then go, have a fantastic day!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2cnWtLW
via IFTTT

Leonardo da Vinci, often remembered as one of the great artists...

Leonardo da Vinci, often remembered as one of the great artists of the renaissance, was actually so much more than just an artist! Leonardo used his art to help him understand everything in his world. He taught himself anatomy by drawing. Taught himself botany and zoology, worked out mechanics and engineering structure in his architectural drawings and inventions, many of them so far ahead of time they couldn’t actually be built until hundreds of years later.

In this short passage from his notebooks, da Vinci offers sound and profound advice for any aspiring wizard. One could spend a lifetime using just what he offered here in order to build a rich and productive life.

I’ll be offering a talk based on a similar saying to the one he speaks at the beginning of the above quote at this year’s Magic & Meaning conference in Las Vegas (more on that at http://ift.tt/2bwq1UR) – The Art of Business & the Business of Art. Until I sat down to write this post, I hadn’t realized where I had found the inspiration for that title. I suppose Leonardo won’t mind. 

I find that the title inspires fairly creative thought about what it means to be an artist in business (and vice versa). You’ll have to join us at Magic & Meaning to hear what I come up with–but I hope the title inspires your thinking as well. Let me know what you come up with!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2bzsXwV
via IFTTT

A Wizard Secret:Radical Responsibility = PowerTaking full...

A Wizard Secret:

Radical Responsibility = Power

Taking full responsibility is one of the most important wizard principles. Wizards don’t just sit around and wait for others to create the change they feel is needed in the world. They take responsibility for making things happen, and this mind-set helps them build the power to actually create change. An attitude that you are responsible for everything that comes into your awareness can be especially useful when you’re making presentations.

No Bad Audiences

I’ve spent most of my life working with performers who work in front of live audiences (as opposed to working in front of a camera, not as opposed to working before dead audiences). Occasionally, one of them will come offstage after a performance and complain about “that awful audience.” I feel sorry for those performers, because in blaming the audience, they’ve given away their own power to create a great experience. As the person presenting at the front of the room, you are the one who is responsible for the experience of everyone in the room. If they aren’t responding in the way you expect them to, don’t blame them. Instead, try to meet them where they are and help them have the experience they think they’ve come for. That may or may not be the experience you had planned to give, but once you’ve really connected with that audience, there’s a much stronger chance that you’ll be able to move them in the direction you want them to go.

No Bad Situations

Just as there are no bad audiences, there are no truly bad situations. There are, however, many different kinds of situations you might find yourself in as a speaker. You will often be presented with situations you did not expect. The audience might be larger or smaller than expected. Technical support might be vastly different than you hoped for. You might find yourself outdoors when you expected to be inside. None of these are inherently bad situations unless you choose to see them that way. If you blame the situation for your own failure, you have given away your power to create a positive experience for all involved.

One way you can avoid problematic situations is to be prepared for a wide variety of situations. Some speakers travel with their PowerPoint presentations on large printed pads as a backup. If the projector dies or fails to show up, they can still use all of their graphics. Others design their talks so they won’t rely on slides or other visual aids. Some speakers who work smaller local markets pack a sound system in the trunk of their car in case the sound system provided at their speaking venue is insufficient.

My friend Jeff McBride defines mastery as a performer as “When everything that can possibly go wrong has gone wrong, and you’ve figured out how to deal with it.”

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2caJbSM
via IFTTT

This is one of my favorites of Jeff McBride’s quotes. When he is...

This is one of my favorites of Jeff McBride’s quotes. When he is performing he likes to enlist the participation of audience members in various ways, because “people support what they help create.” If you are in one of those audiences, you are far more likely to have great memories–and heop spread the word about what a great show it was–than if you’re in an audience where your participation has been limited to laughing and applauding.

It’s the same with any venture. The more you can build a community around your project–a community that is involved in helping you create the project–the more support you will get for that project. This is something every entrepreneur needs to take to heart!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2bNvYKQ
via IFTTT

Don’t give away your power!We all need power just to survive in...

Don’t give away your power!

We all need power just to survive in this world. If you want to change either yourself or the world (kind of the same thing, as it turns out), it’s important that you nourish your own personal power. Placing the blame for things you don’t like does the opposite. It is a way of actually giving away the power you already have.

On the other hand, the very act of taking responsibility for something gives you the power to change that thing. I love the attitude of “How am I being, what am I doing, that contributes to the way this is?” That’s an attitude of power. And THAT’s the Wizard’s Way!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2bzgu1c
via IFTTT

I think this quote from Fritz Perls is so important to...

I think this quote from Fritz Perls is so important to entrepreneurs and others engaged in changing the world. If we insist on feeling too self-important, or too attached to the results of our efforts, we can be crushed when a particular project doesn’t work out as we had hoped.

On the other hand, if we view our lives as endless, wonderful play, we can accept seemingly negative results not as “failure,” but as a lesson of “something else that didn’t work for this,” and move on to the next game. I’ve recently read somewhere else that be biggest difference between the incredibly successful and those who think of themselves as losers is that the successful were simply more persistent. They probably failed at least as much as the “losers,” but saw the failure as a lesson and moved on–until they became successful.

So next time you’re disappointed over some seeming failure in your life, remember this–and persevere!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2bGQFYQ
via IFTTT

Alain de Botton on What Makes a Good Communicator and the Difficult Art of Listening in Intimate Relationships

Alain de Botton on What Makes a Good Communicator and the Difficult Art of Listening in Intimate Relationships:

Another gem from Anna Popova at Brainpickings.org – asking that all important question of “Who are you?” Perhaps even more important is “are you comfortable with that?” 

Too many of us are NOT comfortable with who we are. As a result, we deny parts of ourselves or segregate them. Then we wonder why we set out to do something and find ourselves sabotaging our own efforts. Taking time to really examine who you are and accept yourself as you are is one of the first steps toward becoming a truly effective human being. When all of your parts, conscious, subconscious, ego, anima, id, parent, child, adult–however you want to name all the parts of your personality–work together and in concert, then you will find yourself transcending the limits of what you had previously considered possible.

This is something that’s easy to talk about, but extremely difficult for most of us to do. It takes a conscious effort to search out and confront things about yourself you might have been suppressing. It also takes courage, as there is often good reason you were suppressing or segregating those parts. Pulling them back might force you to experience the very pains you had sought to avoid when you first set those segments of yourself apart. The effort, the pain, the courage–all wind up being worth it when you succeed. It’s the only way I know of to truly transform yourself and step into your full personal power.

And that’s the way to become a true wizard!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2baah6r
via IFTTT

thedailytask: 160811_ Its’ fun to notice the different ways...

thedailytask:

160811_

Its’ fun to notice the different ways your mind can fool you… and just a bit spooky when you see one reality seeming to emerge from another.

I love creating experiences where this can happen in a live situation. Interactive theater is becoming more and more popular, but how many are combining it with illusion?

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2b4K4Mw
via IFTTT

A clear purpose and strong focus can make all the difference...

A clear purpose and strong focus can make all the difference when you prepare a presentation of any kind. 

Once we have clearly defined our purpose, our mission we find that many of the myriad questions we might have had about that presentation have been answered.

Here’s another way to think of this is, “How do I want this presentation to change those who hear it?” Do I simply want to keep them engaged and entertained during the time I have their attention? Do I want them to choose to vote a particular way? Perhaps I want them to change the way they treat others or their attitude about what they eat and how they care for themselves. Perhaps it is something as clear as, “I want my listeners to become so excited about the company I’ve created, and so inspired by the mission of that company, that they want to invest in that company.”

Once you have clearly defined your goal in one of these ways, you’ll find that you now know things like who the people in your audience will be. You’ll know the basic state you might expect them to be in when you begin the presentation. Knowing those things, you should be able to find particular stories that will affect this particular group. You will have an idea of what sort of resistance to the change you’re seeking the group might have. You should be able to figure out things like what your costume and kind of language should be for that group… all because you know who they are and what the change is that you want to cause.

There’s another thing that happens when your focus shifts from yourself and how you’re doing as you give a talk and onto your audience to make sure you’re actually causing the change you want. You’ll find you get to the end of your talk and have completely forgotten to experience stage fright! That’s because your own attention won’t be on yourself and how you are feeling, but on the audience and how what you’re doing to them, the experience you’re giving them, is affecting them. With most of the speakers I’ve coached in the past, that’s the moment they begin to have fun, to feel the real power that giving a presentation can give.

I hope you get to experience that for yourself, soon. It’s part of what it feels like to find yourself on the Wizard’s Way!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2b2XNxp
via IFTTT

Drone Magic

Drone Magic:

Something magical is in the works at Marco Tempest’s MagicLab. If you’re interested in learning more, get it touch with us using the contact button on this page!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2bnjQ6b
via IFTTT

Or, to put it as Peter Diamandis did, “Want to be a billionaire?...

Or, to put it as Peter Diamandis did, “Want to be a billionaire? Find a way to help a billion people.”

I think too many of us approach our businesses with the idea that a business is created for the purpose of turning a profit. In fact, most traditional investors would see that as precisely the purpose of the corporations they invest in.

I would beg to differ. A business, to succeed, needs a clear and inspiring purpose. Like a scientific experiment, a business is there to see if their purpose is valid, and if their way (or ways) of pursuing that purpose will work. The business with the most inspiring purpose, the one about whom it’s founders and employees feel most strongly… that’s the business with the best chance of actually taking off for the stars, and providing the greatest return financially, as well!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2bf4NrO
via IFTTT

When I studied acting way back when, we learned how to rapidly...

When I studied acting way back when, we learned how to rapidly transform ourselves into someone else. How to walk, talk and think like them. At the time, I had no idea I was also learning the biggest secret you need when you become a marketer!

That’s right–your number one job when creating marketing is to put yourself in the place of the person you want as a customer or client. That’s easy to say, but it’s amazing how often we all forget it. Just look at any magazine or newspaper and all the ads you see. They all talk about how great their products are. All the whiz-bang features, the innovations, etc. Only a few talk about you, the customer. What do you love in life? What are your concerns? Do those ads speak to your dreams for a better life? THOSE will be the ads that consistently work, that drive customers in droves to the products and companies they represent.

Here’s your “Wizard Rule” for marketing: Your marketing will succeed in inverse proportion to the amount of your ego involved in your ads! And THAT’s the Wizard’s Way.

Oh… and while I’m at it: If you’re a magician or other independent performer, you might want to check out the class I’m doing with Jeff McBride in early November. There are a few slots sill left. 

http://ift.tt/2bpknSA

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2b6hhoA
via IFTTT

hedwigkieslers: “Hope and curiosity about the future seemed...

hedwigkieslers:

“Hope and curiosity about the future seemed better than guarantees. That’s the way I was. The unknown was always so attractive to me… and still is.” - Hedy Lamarr

One of the most beautiful movie stars of all time was also the inventor of a band-jumping technology that makes cellular telephony and much more possible. Now THAT’s a real wizard!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2biKkmr
via IFTTT

Looking forward to my trip to Las Vegas this week, and our sold...

Looking forward to my trip to Las Vegas this week, and our sold out 7-Day Master Class.  This photo was taken last fall, during the first “Get Your Career in Gear” seminar Jeff and I conducted together. This year, it will be in October. We’ve renamed it as “Money is the Best Applause” to match the working title of my soon to be released book (copies free to all attendees) 

Where else can you learn the business of marketing your magic from both a top manager (for 30 years!) and one of the world’s greatest magicians (for MORE than 30 years!). Other classes might show video, talk to you…even give out reading materials. We’re the ones who will put you to work, doing what it takes and getting you immediately involved with the things you need to do right now to make things happen for you as a professional.

Learn more at http://ift.tt/2bpknSA

PS: The McBride Magic & Mystery School has many resources for magicians, but we have expanded services into the corporate training, speaker and corporate entertainment market, using principles developed over 25 years creating and operating successful businesses in entertainment.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2bey6iL
via IFTTT

hedylamarr: Please help support Anthony Loder, Hedy Lamarr’s...

hedylamarr:

Please help support Anthony Loder, Hedy Lamarr’s son, in his efforts to place a stainless steel grave marker as a memorial for Hedy’s grave in Vienna, Austria. All that currently stands as a grave for Hedy is a simple plot in Zentralfriedhof, the most famous cemetery in Vienna. The proposed memorial, honoring the invaluable frequency-hopping device designed and patented by Hedy and composer George Antheil, is designed by Viennese designer Christian Thomas using 88 stainless steel rods for the 88 frequencies of Hedy’s frequency hopping patent, the memorial creates an optical illusion, where Hedy’s face becomes visible when standing directly in front of her grave.

You can donate here.

A fitting tribute to a woman wizard far ahead of her time!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2blA9ij
via IFTTT

theverge: This screen is designed to let you watch and create...

theverge:

This screen is designed to let you watch and create holograms in your own house. 

An ancient illusion technology…now available in your living room!

Marco Tempest is right: Illusionists CAN “prototype the future.” Want to learn more? http://ift.tt/2aJEwRQ

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2aVDGoy
via IFTTT

What You Can Learn From The Excuses You Tell Yourself

What You Can Learn From The Excuses You Tell Yourself:

The very idea of excuses seems to be in the air this week. Jeff McBride’s “Museletter” that will come out this Sunday (and which I get to edit) is all about making excuses in connection with your performance as a magician. A large section of my Wizard’s Way book and talks is about taking radical responsibility–the attitude that anything and everything that comes into your life is somehow your responsibility. And now this great article from Fast Company.

I think this is a good attitude take, especially with regards to your own limitations. I’ve been drawn to magic and the idea of magic since I was a child, and one of the main draws for me is the idea that magic shows us how to transcend our limitations. But excuses are ways of abdicating responsibility… and therefore a way of giving up power. In a sense, when you make an excuse, you’re agreeing to your limitations.

So: What excuses do you find yourself making? Too much traffic? Too busy? “I could never…”? Try and think of several times during the past few days when you made an excuse–if not out loud, justifying something that happened to someone else, then just to yourself. Something you intended to do, but didn’t because… Then spend some time thinking of how you might actually rephrase the excuse, or change your thinking around it. Instead of “There was too much traffic,” you might tell yourself: “I didn’t think to check the traffic report earlier that day, and so I got caught in that awful traffic jam and was late for my meeting. Tomorrow I’ll remember to check on traffic at least half an hour before I have to go, just to make sure I’ll arrive on time.” Now you’re in charge of your destiny, not “circumstances.” And that’s the Wizard’s Way!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2aMrOEC
via IFTTT

So…what do YOU believe is impossible? How do you think...

So…what do YOU believe is impossible? 

How do you think that belief might have limited you and your life? What have you not attempted, just because you believed it to be impossible? I think it pays to take a few minutes every now and again, to consider what you think limits you… and then exercise a bit of creativity and find a way around at least one of those.

Why? Because that’s the Wizard’s Way!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2b8pYiU
via IFTTT

Once upon a time… I wanted to be an actor. One of the...

Once upon a time… I wanted to be an actor. One of the attractions of acting is that you get to become someone else. Someone who thinks thoughts you would never think, who does things you might never dare to do. And then you get to be another someone in your next role. As an actor, you learn to change everything about yourself, again and again, and very rapidly. And you learn to enjoy the process.

Yet most of us spend most of our time trying to cement our position well within the center of their comfort zones–which means less and less change. That is precisely the opposite of what Ben Franklin was suggesting in the aphorism above… and the opposite of one of the principles at the center of The Wizard’s Way.

Change is at the very heart of what it means to be a wizard. We are change agents, change makers, disrupters. There is a drawback, though–change makes us, and others uncomfortable. It takes a certain amount of courage–or maybe it’s just nerve–to do things that make others uncomfortable. I know this is something I wrestle with in myself all the time. I wish I were better at doing the things I know need to be done in order to create the changes I want to change, but that I imagine might make someone uncomfortable (or ME uncomfortable).

Here’s the thing, though. Once you DO push through the discomfort, it often results in getting that change you were after. You get to feel you’ve achieved something cool. All that discomfort you feared turns out to have been minor… and the feeling of achievement, of fulfilling your potential, feeling fully actualized… And THAT’s the Wizard’s Way!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2auxlT1
via IFTTT

Wizard Magic Tip #4 - The Importance of InvolvementGood...

Wizard Magic Tip #4 - The Importance of Involvement

Good presenters of all varieties know the importance of story. Stories are who we make sense of our world, and they help us truly understand and remember our experiences.

The very best presenters have an additional secret, though. They get their audiences to actually participate in their presentations. That way, when the audience members tell their friends about the presentation after it is over, or even when they relive the experience in their own memories, they have not just a story, but one in which they played a major role–a story they helped create.

Any competent salesperson knows that one of the keys to getting someone to buy something is to get them involved. Put the thing into their hands, or get them to sit behind the wheel, and your chances of making the sale are doubled. Any any presentation is, on some level, a sale… even if that “sale” is just getting the audience member to shift his or her mood.

Try this out next time you have the chance to make a presenation. Find a way to get your audience involved, either verbally or physically, and you’ll be amazed at how much more effective your presentation will be!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2aNi8MH
via IFTTT

disneypixar: Try something that scares you. Do something that...

disneypixar:

Try something that scares you.

Do something that scares you. Do it now! Why? Because that’s the Wizard’s Way!

http://ift.tt/29dYNSa

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2aH5cGW
via IFTTT

Now, THERE’s the right attitude!I think of Feynman as almost the...

Now, THERE’s the right attitude!

I think of Feynman as almost the quintessential wizard, at least partly for this attitude. Expressed another way, it becomes the Wizard’s Motto: “Question Everything!”

Of course, Feynman lived by many of our wizard principles besides this. He was a true renegade thinker, someone who insisted on learning through experience and on seeking out unusual and varied experiences for himself. He was willing to buck the “common sense” of his time. He liked looking at everything from many different points of view. He was always interested in learning, not only particular skills but the meta-skills that would allow him to quickly adapt and change himself whenever he desired.

An amazing human being. Read his books, watch any video you can find that he is in. You’ll learn a lot, not the least of which will be how to lead a true wizard’s life!

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2aoZIvV
via IFTTT