2015

I hope everyone is excited to begin a great 2015! Even though the world may seem amiss, there is a lot of great innovation everyday from normal people worldwide, and people everyone are being educated faster and more efficiently than ever before.

Seeing the news headlines with sad stories often reminds me of Grima Wormtongue in Lord of The Rings. It is as if someone has taken control of everyone's brains and only thinks of dark depressing news, yet Gandalf could come in and show the light and restore hope in everyone. I would imagine the conversation going something like...

Grima: Police brutality is at an all time high, the government is spying on us, the economy is failing, everyone is going to college but isn't going to get a job.....

A beam of light blasts into the room...
Gandalf the white appears majestically with a deep voice and a giant wizard staff

Gandalf: NIGERIA IS FREE FROM POLIO, POLICE DELIVER TRUCKLOADS OF GROCERIES TO WOMAN WHO STOLE EGGS, THE ECONOMY IS STABILIZING AGAIN, QUALITY OF EDUCATION HAS INCREASED DRAMATICALLY THE PAST FEW YEARS

YOU WILL NOT DAUNT THE HOPES OF MEN, GRIMA WORMTONGUE! AMONGST THE SHROUDS OF BLACK THERE IS STILL GOOD IN THIS WORLD!

End Scene

It's like what Bill Clinton once said...

Follow the trend lines, not the headlines.

Love to hear your thoughts!

-Hayden

Awesome

Barriers of the Universe

Today was a pretty great day to be alive. I don't mean that sarcastically, I do mean that genuinely. I just recently saw The Theory of Everything, an independent film about the life of Stephen Hawking played by Eddie Redmayne (If you have seen Les Miserables from 2012 then you know exactly who I am talking about!). 

Though it is late and I am mostly writing on my blog so that people visiting my website will see that I do regularly post things (aside from Twitter), I have to say it is always great to see life from someone who seems to have nothing and still perseveres to become a legend. I am currently going through finals week at my university, and I am also performing multiple shows a week due to the Holidays. (I say Holidays because I am including New Year's, and I am doing Christmas parties too). I like to tell myself that my life is hard sometimes, so that I can feel like the underdog in a hollywood movie. 

Knowing that a man is almost completely disabled, yet continues to diligently work on his studies is just inspiring. It makes no task seem impossible. I start to get a shrinking feeling, but in a good way. It is a great reminder that I, and many of my colleagues, are not as important as we would like to believe we are. Our lives are not that hard. I am a 20 year old middle class white male in the United States of America during 2014 - Not only this, but I am healthy and educated. I am most definitely in the top 5% of quality of living in the history of the world, and I should be more thankful for it. 

I know things aren't totally perfect. I still need to waste hours of my days studying for exams, and I practice and rehearse my magic relentlessly sometimes with no results, but I can't use these as excuses for not achieving something great.

What's holding you back?

See you soon!

-Hayden

4 Add-Ons that would make Haunted Houses truly SCARY!

Happy Halloween! And welcome to adulthood where you now have the resources to buy an endless supply of candy, but you won't because you don't want to get fat.

My favorite thing about Halloween isn't the candy, or the insanely awesome costumes like my wolverine impression 

I like the Halloween activities like the haunted houses and corn mazes because I like to simulate death by startling and death by possible starvation. (I guess you could eat the corn.) However, I'd say that a majority of these places only go halfway with their ideas and activities. There are a few ways we can make these haunted activities 10x more awesome than they actually are.

They Know Your Name

Nowadays nearly everyone pays through a credit card, paypal, or even through their cell phones (looking at you Tim Cook). The great thing about that is the customers name's are on record with the receipt, and that's where the fun begins. Imagine you are walking through a dark room and a zombie says "I'm coming for you!" Eh not too scary. However throw in your name and you get "I'm coming for you... KYLE!" Suddenly these monsters are getting personal. Even if the house can't afford resources to figure out everyone's names, they can just use a generic name like Kyle or Steve. For most people it's just meh, but for people named Kyle and Steve its TERRIFYING!

Credit History
You are running down a hallway with a spinning tunnel with crazy lights. Suddenly, several sheets of paper are scattered in front of you. It's your credit score, and its way lower than you imagined!!! (Print score of 95 on sheets and scatter them). Now they face the fear of not being able to lease an apartment! OOOOO!

Due Date
You are walking through what is essentially a classroom. Lots of desks, colorful photos on the wall. And suddenly you see a message on the chalkboard... REPORT DUE TODAY! A line of other "students" forms in front and behind you and everyone is turning in very elaborate, nice reports into the teacher at the desk. (Even the kid who you always compare yourself to saying at least you're not them). Bring back that school anxiety on Halloween!

The Crappy Prom
A girl begins holding your hand, and she is in a nice prom dress. She says she can't wait for you to meet her parents! You walk into a room that is ornately decorated. Her parents are nice people! But they are judging you slightly (you just sense it). They tell you to wash up before dinner, so you go into the bathroom. However, when you go to flush the toilet, the water doesn't go down... It RISES! It doesn't stop until her dad barges into the room in anger. I can't think of anything more horrifying than this.

And that, my friends, is how we can improve haunted houses.

-Hayden

My Morning Routine

Several people have told me they admire my dedication to my morning routine. I take a lot of pride in my few set routines that I have each morning and each week. I think that behind every great achievement there is a common factor of behavior - focus and self control. If you can master self control and stay focused, you can achieve nearly anything. Really, I believe this - it isn't some quote I heard from a horoscope.

Many of the world's greatest achievements can be attributed to self control and focus. Take the iPod, for example. While a company like Apple has several resources to produce literally ANYTHING, it focused only on producing a single, great product in 2001. Huge tech companies like Dell, Compaq, HP, and of course software leader Microsoft were generating thousands of innovative hardware and software. The problem is, none of it was consistent with what the company's main idea was, and it was spread too thin. Think about it: what is the reason Dell exists? Why did Dell computers start? Not many people are sure why; we just now have a giant company that produces/produced hundreds of electronic gadgets, with no true focus or guidance of why the company exists in the first place. Sure, they have many MP3 players and most likely a tablet or two (i just did the research, they now have a mega tablet. Wow!) but none of them have made an iconic impact like the iPod and iPad.

Thinking logically, we should all think of these companies like Dell and Compaq as being the "innovators", so why don't we? It's because they lack focus and self-control. They did not say no to the great options out there, and instead thought they could do everything. Apple has created only a table-full of products, and that is why they succeed. I think this mentality applies to our lives, and is what pushes us to become great. I have had the honor of meeting some insanely talented people - movie directors, magicians, actors, designers, software engineers etc. And the one common thing I have found among them all? They are all incredible at one single thing; they are not "well-rounded".

With this background of mentality in mind, I began a morning routine that is designed to keep me focused and maintain my self-control, so that I too can achieve something incredible like my idols before me. So, without further ado, here is my morning routine! (Including diet and even recipes).

1. I wake up at 7:00 AM to "Make your own kind of music". Turn off my alarm, jump out of bed as quickly as I can, and I open the blinds to let the sunlight in my room.

above: not quite the same view I have, but imagine 1/8 the size and you are correct

2. I plug my iPhone or Macbook into the sound system I've installed in my apartment, and I play either contemporary classical music, or indie-folk music. It all depends on my day.

3. Once my music is playing, I begin to cook my breakfast for the morning. I cook 3 eggs over medium or well done in a non-stick pan, while i add shredded cheddar, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and sliced tomatoes I have all pre-cut myself from the day before (Pretty nice tip). I essentially make an omelette and then a bowl of plain oatmeal with almond milk which I add cinnamon and fresh berries to! The eggs contain good cholesterol, high protein, and a low fat, low sugar meal. Oatmeal is a great form of energy filled carbohydrates, and by adding fresh fruit you improve the flavor and gain great nutritional value - woot! 

Above: my eggs. Ahhhhhh yes.

4. While my breakfast cooks (and my oatmeal microwaves) I drop down and do 25 pushups. This gets my blood flowing, and also gives me a great challenge to begin my day. I try my best to do this slowly, just to meditate while I get stronger.

5. This is the part where my coffee is brewing. I use 2 scoops of mexican roast coffee in my french press. I also add cinnamon to the ground coffee and mix it, to give it that unique flavor. I use a french press because it gives the strongest, purest brew - along with the strongest caffeine content (arguably). It is also quite simple to use - I love me some coffee.

6. Once I have finished my delicious meal, accompanied by my wonderful music, I pick up my cards, coins, or whatever magic routine I have been working on lately, and I record myself doing it. A lot. I prefer to use a video camera instead of a mirror, as I've found when I do it in the mirror I always stand at the right angles to fool myself. 

Generally I will practice some form of card/coin/ball manipulation. It is regarded as the most difficult form of magic to perform well, and mastering it gives you a certain discipline. Though I may not perform it as much as my other routines, it disciplines me into making the small details perfect. It is the details no one sees that makes all the difference.

And that, my friends, is a general synopsis of my morning routine :). In summation, I stay focused on eating a low fat, low sugar, high protein, quality carb diet with fresh ingredients, with collaboration from black, fair trade coffee that stimulates my brain into doing great magic. I make sure to include lots of physical activity as well to stay in shape for my magic, and I practice very hard on what I do.

I promise this wasn't to gloat and I don't think anyone genuinely cares what I do in the mornings. I just offered it as a point of view so that you too can have a cool routine and achieve small, daily goals that build up into something bigger. Always think bigger :).

-Hayden

NACA South - Making Waves! Day 1

Hello everyone! I am currently at NACA South in Myrtle Beach, SC. For those of you who are unfamiliar with NACA, it is a conference where schools in a particular region all meet together to preview the top entertainment/speakers/lecturers in the country for colleges, and they can choose which acts they want to bring for the school year! It's an amazing opportunity for both performers and for college students. In my case, I am getting the best of both worlds!

The first day was fantastic. I met a ton of great people, both talent agents and students. One of my favorite things to do at these conferences is talk to everyone in a non-business setting. What I mean by that, is it's great to talk to someone without the feeling of being a salesman. I like to just have fun with people and hang, which is exactly what these conferences do.

It's been a great weekend and I can't wait for the rest of the day today and tomorrow!

-Hayden

The Top Habits of Productive People

1. They don't waste their time reading lists on Facebook about how to be more productive

Close my blog, and go do something awesome today.

-Hayden

An experienced & wise master grew tired of his apprentice complaining. One morning he sent the apprentice for some salt.

When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and drink it.

"How does it taste?" the master asked. 

"Bitter," spit the apprentice.

The master chuckled and then asked the young man to put a handful of Salt in the lake nearby.

The two walked to the nearby lake. After the apprentice swirled his

Handful of salt into the water, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake.."

As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the master asked, "Now How does this taste?"

"Fresh & Sweet" remarked the apprentice.

"Do you taste the salt?" asked the master.

"No," said the young man.

At this, the master sat beside the young man who so reminded him of Himself at one time and held his hands.

He told the young man, "The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less.

The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in.

So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things . . .

"Stop being a glass. Become a lake."

Think about it

Just had a very trippy dream involving being able to by anything I wanted at a gas station, and I got to eat peanut butter crunch cereal. I am now awake and would pay a hefty sum of money for a bowl of this cereal.

My body hurts from a brutal workout yesterday

Wolf in sheep's clothes

Mediocrity

I'll be straightforward and say I cannot stand mediocrity, and people so insecure they feel they need to lie to impress me. 

This above all, to thine self be true