Cut Your Nails

Okay, so I attended Cardistry-Con. After reading the title and the first sentence you’re probably assuming this will just be about hygiene at Cardistry-Con. It isn’t. Stick with me, it’ll be worth it.

But to bury the lede for a moment, the event itself was stimulating, and it was inspiring to see so many talented skilled card people in the room. (I dislike when people blatantly label anyone or anything impressive as talented. I think it dismisses the amount of work someone has put into something. The word should be reserved for people who have a clear inherent gift. Forgive the tangent, this is probably more relevant to a “fixed vs. growth mindset” conversation.)

After one of the days of the convention ended, I went and grabbed late night donuts and coffee with a friend in the center of Shibuya. It wasn’t a cardistry or magic friend, just an old friend that happened to live in Tokyo. He’s an aspiring musician that’s trying to break into the Japanese music industry. We spoke about art, music, magic and the components that make for a good artist. Eventually he told me about his “TikTok-famous” friend who plays the guitar. He told me that he had asked that friend for a piece of advice, and the friend told him something along the lines of:

“I do a self manicure and moisturizing routine almost every day, because my hands are the primary subject of the videos.”

That immediately captured me.

I thought back to Cardistry-Con. Did the attendants think about that level of detail, despite depending on videos of their hands to showcase their beloved art?

The next day, I noticed many long dirty fingernails as well as some hands that were so, so dry. Drier than the vagina of a woman who just experienced French Kiss. Some attendants have flown upwards of 12 hours to a country they’ve never been to before just for this event. They’ve put tens of thousands of hours into practicing cardistry as an art form. Yet, they’ve somehow overlooked cutting their fucking nails? If I had run into them somewhere in their hometown on a random Tuesday and noticed their unkempt hands I’d understand. But at the world’s biggest event about card flourishing, it’s strange. The art revolves around not only what you’re holding, but also having people look at your hands.

I was reminded of a quote by legendary chef Marco Pierre White: “Perfection is many little things done well.” We tend to think about the bigger picture. Am I smooth at this packet cut? Is this a good trick? Do I play the chords in this song well? Instead, try to think about the little things sometimes and see what you can do to improve them.

I was watching some magic performances on YouTube with this mindset, and have already come up with some interesting thoughts.

How many times have you seen a professional magician fumble through all their pockets looking for something? I just went on YouTube and clicked on one of the first street magic videos that came up. It’s a very quick moment, but look at how he goes through his pockets for his paperclipped card during the first ten seconds.

“Do I have this card in my pocket?”

If you pay close attention, you’ll see this type of tiny error made by magicians everywhere, even on national television. (And I’m not counting when they do it intentionally to justify a method.)

Simply having the item you need in each pocket would solve this. No stress about memorizing what’s in each pocket, and you’d find the item you need in any pocket you reach for.

The social magician isn’t immune to this either. Obviously it doesn’t matter if the social magician has to check multiple pockets, but there are plenty of little things you can do. One piece of advice that falls under this philosophy can actually be found right here on the Oval. It’s geared towards social magic specifically, unlike the example I gave above. Check out Jerry’s Stop Using the Same Damn Decks, it’s a perfect little tip that you can start applying to your performance immediately.

Or, let your performance be the example instead. Look back and think of some little things you could’ve done to heighten the experience. Perfection is obviously unattainable, but you can at least start to make progress towards that unattainable ideal.

Cut your nails.

In:

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