Edward De Bono, The Lift and Your Party Here’s story about how lateral thinking expert Edward de Bono solved a problem. The story goes that tower block residents were complaining about the time it took for the lifts to arrive. Engineers checked the machinery. It was in perfect order. Analysts checked the sequencing programme. It was set for optimal time efficiency. So Edward de Bono, master of creative thinking, was called in. He implemented a cheap and simple solution. Almost…
Why pay more when booking a magician? If you can book one for £50, why pay £350 or even more? In this short video I give worked example from my own experience. It illustrates the difference between price and value for money.
Work Related Side… I taught in Colombia for three years. At the time it was ‘the most dangerous country on Earth not at war.’ Nobody bothered to tell me that until I arrived! In fact, I had a fantastic -and safe- time. I’m really glad to see it is now becoming a popular tourist destination. After we married my wife and I taught in Jordan for two years. I have a Masters in Education from The University of…
There was magic in abundance for me this weekend. Anniversary Celebrations On Saturday I was in Leeds performing close up magic for Steve and Janet. They had taken over a local restaurant, The Nest, for the evening. I moved from table to table sharing card tricks and mind-reading demonstrations with their family and friends. Towards the end I performed some special magic for Janet and Steve. This included some tricks with a marriage theme and concluded with a chosen card…
Apparently, within one hour, people will have forgotten an average of 50 percent of the information they are given. Within 24 hours, they have forgotten an average of 70 percent of new information. Within a week, an average of 90 percent of it. I have been sharing some ideas on how to improve memory. here’s my latest: Mental Diary
Many people will admit they struggle to remember names. The more we stress about trying to remember a name it seems the more likely we are to forget it. Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends and Influence People) places great emphasis on using names for establishing positive relationships. Think about it. When someone forgets your name, you are very understanding. We all forget names, including you. So, you don’t take it personally. However, think about the times when your name…
My Memory Is Like A Sieve It’s very common to hear people complain they have a poor memory. Now, with Post it notes and digital devices you might think we don’t really need to memorise much these days. But be honest, don’t you have a sneaking admiration for memory ‘Olympians’ like Dominic O’Brien who once memorised 54 decks of cards just after a single sighting of each card? Or waiters who don’t need to write down orders? Or people who remember names? They…
When I’m performing close-up and chatting with guests, they often ask me questions. The most popular is probably: when did you start doing magic? (about 30 years ago) followed by, are you a member of The Magic Circle? (yes). Another question that pops up is what my favourite trick is. That’s difficult to answer because I like different magic for different occasions and people. I have, for instance, something I do with playing cards that I keep especially for…
There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know. Donald Rumsfold Lots of people had fun at Donald Rumsfold’s expense when he made this pronouncement. As time passed, people reflected on it and thought perhaps there was more to it that initially met the eye.…
Getting Things Done (GTD) is the name of the book and productivity system designed by David Allen. It has a huge following. Over 1.6 million copies save been sold, and there are plenty of websites and You Tube videos devoted to it. It is flexible, based on an approach rather than a rigid system. You can implement it with pen and paper or the latest electronic apparatus. There are Apps. You can integrate it with other approaches such as Bullet…
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