The Magician I Want to Be in 2024
As 2023 comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting on this year’s fun and challenging projects; they all made me a better performer, and I want to keep that growth going in 2024. I don’t personally use New Year’s Resolutions, but I do adopt a yearly theme, an overarching concept to help guide my year. For me, 2024 will be the Year of Building, part of which involves growing as a magician—building new acts and developing skills, building the types of shows I want to perform in, and continuing to build my knowledge and share it with others.
Building Acts and Skills
As it relates to magic, the first outcome I want from the Year of Building is to keep developing my skillset, creating new and unique acts that I love to perform. Just this year, I’ve added a couple new pieces to my shows that already feel like staples, and they all started as small ideas that kept nudging me to bring them to life. In 2024, I’ll keep listening to those little voices, and I hope to refine my existing routines and maybe even build a new act or two that can find a home in my shows.
Building Shows
Speaking of shows, bring on the good ones! Do you ever check in with yourself mid-show, or maybe after your final bow, or while you’re watching another performance, and think “this is the type of show I love to perform!”? I’m so grateful for all the shows I could be a part of in 2023—variety shows, circus shows, fundraisers to raise money for good causes, and so many more—where got the chance to perform alongside some of the most talented people I know: jugglers, hip-hop dancers, singers, drag performers, musicians, comedians, fire-spinners, burlesque dancers, poets, and even a few magicians. In 2024, I want to be a part of even more shows that showcase local talent, shows that push us to try new things and share them with our communities. So I’ll be making more of them happen, by dedicating a portion of my time to planning, building, and booking more of these types of shows that I love.
Building Knowledge and Sharing It
Finally, I want to continue learning, generating ideas, and sharing them with my magic friends. Some of my favorite times are spent sitting around a table of magicians, throwing out ideas and sharing what we’re working on. I love sharing what I’m learning about (which is why I started this site in the first place), and I know 2024 will bring more exciting things to learn and share—so stay tuned to see what comes next!
Where will your magic go in 2024? If you have a vision for the magician you want to become this year, I think the best way to get there is to harness the power of the Compound Effect—letting small, consistent habits grow your magic exponentially. Wishing you a happy and fulfilling year of magic!
“As the leaves change and autumn and then winter appears, perhaps it is a good time to ask ourselves whether we need to give ourselves the gift of a new project, a project that deeply fascinates us, to which we can devote our time and attention and love—a project that can transform our loneliness into solitude.”