HOW I DESTROYED ROUTINE AND MADE REPETITION FUN - (Psychology Hacks)
WSUP!
...I think that is a pretty good beginning for an article. So, let's dive in...
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This is stand-alone article, but I will build it, on one of the ideas I wrote about last time
& as I mentioned in my 1st article I am a professional magician. That's basically how I make my living.
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...well, not really that way, but you know...
And as a magician, I am involved in sub-culture of magic. And when you begin learning magic there is this phrase you will hear related to learning magic that goes like this:
GOOD MAGICIAN DOES HUNDREDS OF TRICKS, GREAT MAGICIAN DOES ONLY A DOZEN...
What does it mean and what's the point?
Well, it's similar to what Bruce Lee once said:
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Got it? I mentioned it also in the previous article. Love this quote. I can really relate to it.
But you might be thinking now...
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OOOOK?? WHY ARE YOU...
WHAT'S THE POINT???!!!
Well, it's simple. If you constantly do new things, you will end up doing a lot, but doing nothing well. It's the difference between going BROAD vs DEEP. For example, If I learn one magic trick & next day learn another & then another, & don't spend enough time on each of them, during the performance they will be sloppy as fuck.
Which means, during a performance I will probably fuck up a lot!
A LOT!
See if magician learns a trick and doesn't spend enough time practicing moves, angles, presentation, outs - basically whatever goes into the particular trick, it will result in a very sloppy performance. Which simply means that full potential of a trick will not be realized. During live performance, this lack of practice will lead to too much thinking
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"Am I doing everything correctly? Are my angles right? SHIIIIEEET! I will fuck up!"
...instead of just doing moves automatically & focusing on my audience and particular moment.
Or using Bruce Lee example...
If we take 2 people, where 1 learns a kick and practices for 1 week, vs another person who learns same kick & practices it for a year... I bet you a bag of most awesome burritos that in the end of practice there will be quite a difference between kick between these 2 people.
(I think you understand that same idea goes for anything! Anything you learn and practice)
DESTROYING BOREDOM
-Soooo, Kurt, how is that related to "destroying routine and making repetiion fun?"
Almost there...
On a basic level, you understand that to learn something well, you gotta practice it over & over again. So with magic, instead of learning hundreds of tricks, you have to choose few & perfect them. Perform them over & over again, which does mean that I will basically perform same tricks for different audience literally thousands of times in order to make it very fucking good!
...and as you can guess, it may & it WILL get booooooring!
I myself have been performing same tricks for many many years now.
-& am I good at them?
100 FUCKING PERCENT I AM!
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QUESTION IS -> HOW DO I MAKE PERFORMANCES INTERESTING FOR MYSELF WHEN I DO THE SAME THING OVER & OVER AGAIN?
Consider the following (quote from some book I can't remember, unfortunately) ->
"EACH PRESENTATION OF ROUTINE PRESENTS FRESH PROBLEMS BECAUSE AUDIENCE IS NEW. ALSO, NO PRESENTATION IS PERFECT. THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR SOME IMPROVEMENT.IF YOU INVARIABLY TRY TO IMPROVE YOUR PRESENTATION AT EACH PERFORMANCE AND ALSO TRY TO ADAPT IT TO THE PECULIARITIES OF EACH PARTICULAR AUDIENCE, YOU WILL FIND THAT THE JOB DEMANDS ALL YOUR ATTENTION. UNDER THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES, BOREDOM BECOMES IMPOSSIBLE."
(apply the same idea to whatever you practice or do consistently)
I KNOW...
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Well, maybe not blown literally but for me at the time of discovering this was HUUUGE!
Even though this idea might sound like common sense, still I had to hear a variation of this idea dozen of times & think about it, try it few times to actually establish it in my mind as something worthwhile, something that would change my approach to magic!
And again, of course, it doesn't apply only to the art of magic or art of performing. You can apply it to, literally, everything, just have to be a bit creative.
Let's even take writing this article as an example - As I set down to write this article I set some time in which I have to finish writing, which is a simple idea, but it then it more like a game to me to write this. A.K.A. More fun.
(In comments feel free to mention things you do to make routine processes more fun)
It's also something I noticed, highly successful people do - suck out as much value they can from every experience they have!
The reason, I noticed, why it eliminates boredom is because, when you do it, your mind is much more engaged in action. The mind becomes more of a child when things seem like a fun, challenging game. You also improve & change in a very rapid way. Your mind is focused. You become better, you become more immersed & combination of all these things makes the process really enjoyable.
The last thing I will mention is that even though this idea/principle is quite simple, it's not necessarily easy to do. What I mean by that, if you have a habit of going through motions of the same action over & over again on autopilot, without application of described above principle, it will take willpower, to change behavior.
I am saying this not to discourage you, but just to set some expectations.
Felt a bit like a "life coach" while writing this article. Thing tho is that I am not trying to teach you here how to do things, instead, I am sharing what worked for me & you feel free to try it out or at least leave a comment that it is total BS which would crack me up.
...and as usual
wubalaba dub dub
P.S. I hope you enjoy it <3 @originalworks