Perfect Practice

Yesterday I mentioned an idea called perfect practice, and I used that to talk about routining, an important part of perfect practice. Today I'd like to go a little more in depth on the idea.

Perfect Practice is the idea that when you practice, you do so as flawlessly as possible. So how do you go about doing this? It's fairly simple.

• Get a Video Camera - This prevents you from doing the famous "magician's blink" where you blink at the moment the "move" is done, thus preventing you from seeing the flaws in the mirror. A camera doesn't blink
• Slow Down - Recently when I practice my cups routine I have decided that I need to do so in front of a mirror, and I do it as slow as I can. That's right. AS SLOW AS POSSIBLE. This helps you justify every single movement, every single twitch of the hand, and helps you see where it is that your routine has flaws.
• Start Over - Every time you screw up, every time you flash or miss a load or get your hand stuck or draw attention somewhere it shouldn't be (and you know when you do that), START OVER. Yes, it's annoying, but it'll give you lots of practice and focus you on areas you need to improve.
•  Learn To Take Criticism - If you get someone to watch something, allow them to be completely honest with you. Yes it sucks when they see something, and yes it's a blow to the pride, but don't get angry or frustrated. Just remember: it's better to have screwed up in front of them where you have time to fix it, than out in the real world.
• Same Time Every Day - This one relates to an earlier post about creating a time/place to practice. If you practice at the same time every day, your mind gets into the habit of practicing, and it focuses on it, thus making your practice sessions better.

So that's it, a run down of perfect practice and some tips to achieve it. So go forth and practice perfectly!

~Cameron Rivers, Kings To You Magic