Boy, there's a headline! What is this 'hate' and why is it there Brad?

I have experienced over the years that it's frequently the things that we wish to do the least that can and usually are the most valuable to us as 'people' AND as magicians.

What am I talking about? Having others watch what we do as performers and then critique what we did. Tear us up. Give us their opinion. Oh, man....I HATE that! I really do. And, yet, in the past when I was attempting to make my 'ACT' as good as it could be, I did it anyway.

And, believe me, it frequently hurt. Still....I would write everything down and then I would in fact ruthlessly look at everything that was said and attempt to see if they were in fact correct. If I decided that they were and I agreed with them I would make the suggested change OR I would make a change that seemed to make more sense to me. How much did I end up changing? At least 50% of the time. Probably more.

Again, don't get me wrong...I would often go at kicking and screaming! (Metaphorically) I would argue and self justify...I did it all, but in the end I was able, don't know how, do see the truth of what was wrong and make the appropriate changes.

You can do this also. I am admittedly on the high end of those who despise this process, but if you to make REAL gains in how your show looks and feels, to make it BETTER, then getting good solid critical reviews of what you are doing can be incredibly valuable and despite the pain I highly recommend it.

Try to not take it personally. Try to not take it tooooooo seriously...at first. Go over everything that was said and try to do it from the perspective of not just the person giving the advice, but also of an audience. Try ALWAYS to put yourself in the place of the viewers. It's not an easy thing to do, but you can do it. Use video, etc. Watching yourself by the way is probably more painful then having others watch and comment! Sheesh....... LOL

All best,

Brad Burt