You can be more than a label, or category. In fact, the breadth of your knowledge and experience is your superpower in whatever field you work.
Being a magician made me a better technologist, and my experience in the tech world made me a better magician.
We can’t always control what happens to us, but we get to choose how we respond.
Last night I was flying home from a show and my flight was MASSIVELY delayed (and eventually cancelled). It was frustrating. I had been on the road 12 days out of the last 15, I missed my wife, and I desperately wanted to sleep in my own bed.
I could have vented my anger at a gate-agent who has no more control over the situation than I did. I could have wandered to a bar to drown my sorrows… But instead, I decided to stage an impromptu show for my fellow stranded passengers.
Somewhere in the world there are magicians who are still talking about a magic trick they simply can’t explain… or perhaps they have solved the mystery. The linchpin is a single idea. One fact.
Almost 20 years ago I crossed an ocean to attend my first live magic conference. The headline acts/speakers included Jeff McBride, Eugene Burger, and Darwin Ortiz; all major influences of my work and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet and work with them in person. I went alone and knew nobody attending, although that would change before the convention even began.
In the restaurant on the eve of the convention, I dined solo and mostly people-watched. I watched the retirees who have devoted a portion of their newfound free time to rekindling a childhood hobby. I watched the one or two young kids with their tiger-parent relentlessly molding them in to future Vegas headliners, and I watched the adolescents who spend every waking moment drilling the most difficult sleights and the most elaborate flourishes. There was a whole group of the latter engaged in what could be best described as the legerdemain equivalent of a rap battle, each attempting to one-up the displays of dexterity demonstrated by the last. With nothing to do (and nothing to lose) I approached this group. Minutes later, I left them speechless.