My First Opinion
With this blog I have joined the ranks of the millions of other people who think that other people care about their opinions (this may be accurate, and it may not). Suffice to say, in order to work on a blog you need quite the ego, and thankfully after years of successful performing my ego is thoroughly large enough to render this first (and not last) opinion…
These days it is trite business advice to say that “improvements in your industry often come from other industries.” This has been cliche since the first business-analyst pointed out the improvement that banks adopted from fast-food chains of the drive-thru. (That may have been vice versa – but it’s not important to the rest of this article, so play along.)
That said, I do think that the more philosophical side of performing magic (yep – there’s a philosophy to it… if you have too much time on your hands) renders one quote with universal applications:
“Magicians stop thinking too soon.”
-Paul Fox, magician
As it relates to the magic community this quote speaks to methods and presentations. Replace the word “Magicians” with “Comedians” and it speaks to timing and delivery. Insert any profession (artistic or scientific) and the central theme of the quote starts to become clear: “Your first idea sucks.”
I used to have a drama teacher that said something similar (paraphrased here): “My first idea is always like everyone else’s. My second idea is a bit more unique. Now my tenth idea! Look out!” The arts are full of numerous examples of such thinking and I think it is time for more traditional businesses to start looking at it the same way.
Having sat through countless board meetings and employee trainings I know that businesses want to find ways to increase their employees’ creativity… and another training seminar isn’t going to do it. Each one of these companies only ever gives their employees enough time for that first thought. The time and deadline pressure are what remove creativity by not allowing people time for that second, fourth, and twentieth thoughts.
An employee’s first thought is likely your competitions first thought. My first take on a joke has likely been done before by someone else. But… given time, brainstorming, experimentation, or whatever… a unique and brilliant idea, thought, joke, etc, is sure to follow. Audiences often compliment performers on their creativity, mistakenly thinking that “creativity” is a gift. In my experience, “creativity” is simply past the point that others gave up thinking.
