“In life, take credit for everything.” – Joel Bauer
Sometimes you just can’t plan everything. It happens fairly regularly that during a presentation, I get lucky. Something unexpected will happen that will enhance a trick, or will make me appear even more ‘magical’ – as if I was in control of the situation the whole time. Of course, since my audience assumes that it was part of the show, they are often blown away with amazement. It’s hard for me to take direct credit for something like this, but my audience wants to believe it was part of the show, so my answer is: “It’s Magic. In life, take credit for everything.”
Everything you experience in life is as a direct result of your mindset – your ‘magic’.
I catch myself, occasionally, forgetting to take credit for something I’ve done – even if it was something good. I don’t necessarily mean ‘taking credit’ in the sense of the need to be accepted by others; it can also mean that I’ve neglected to accept the responsibility of the effects of my positive actions.
So the phrase’s dual meaning is that no matter what happens, good or bad, you should accept & acknowledge your actions. Now while most people take the action of ‘accepting responsibility’ when they need to need to repair anything negative they may have caused, acknowledging positive actions is also very important.
Here’s why: to become a good magician, it’s vital that the audience totally believes that you are in control. The power of a magical performance is in the audience’s total belief that the magician is capable of achieving anything. The moment that this comes into doubt, the bubble bursts.
If we deny ourselves the acceptance of doing something good, we are denying our ‘magic’ – our perceived control of our world. There a few fears greater than that of being out of control. Even more important: when we are ready to acknowledge our successes, passions & talents, the people we connect with are far more likely to believe that we really are capable of doing ‘real magic’.
Contemplation:
The next time someone asks you if you are responsible for doing something positive, instead shrugging off the praise & deflecting it, accept it & acknowledge the person’s thanks graciously. Don’t gloat!
Remember: by denying someone else the action of saying ‘thank you ‘, that person will feel less eager to do so again in the future.
Accept it – it is the result of your ‘magic’.
