What is the probability of a magician guessing my card?

What is the probability of guessing a random card?

One of the greatest magic tricks in the world is a magician guessing exactly which card you have thought of! Imagine a cool brown haired guy comes up to you and lays a card down on a table in front of you. He says “think of ANY card” and you say, for example, the two of clubs. He flips the card over on the table that has been right in front of you and it is exactly the card you have named! 

In the magic world this has historically been known as a “thought of card” routine, or in some even bolder cases an “any card at any number” routine. The two tricks are statistically exactly the same but nonetheless pretty amazing.

So, what about this trick is so freaking incredible? We can explain that using math, and also show why the same trick shown to children would not be viewed as amazing at all!

Let’s demonstrate this with the two of clubs. There are 52 cards in a shuffled deck of cards. The chances of any particular card being the two of clubs are 1/52, or 1.92%. 

Those aren’t very good odds. If a guy ever guesses a card that you merely thought of, give him a standing ovation because it is statistically impossible for that to happen!

But wait! What if he just happened to do this trick for different people over and over and then it happened to work on me! He just has to try 52 times until it works right?

Wrong!

If you were to constantly shuffle a deck of cards, and have someone guess a card you laid down over and over, most people would think that after 52 tries you would be 100% likely to get the card. However, that is not the case! 52 tries puts the probability of guessing correctly at least one time just at 64%! 

If you wanted to have an 80% success rate for guessing that random card at least ONE time, you would have to do this trick 80 times to make it very likely that it would work once. 

If you were to show this trick to a child under the age of 7, they would not be very impressed. This is because cognitively they have not developed the ability to understand “randomness” and “likeliness” for things like playing cards and mind reading. For example, at one show that I performed in a theater I asked an audience member to think of any city in the world. I had a prediction in the box that guessed cincinatti and I was right! 

The audience thought it was awesome, but to the kid sitting next to him, he said “…all you did was write down the city before the show and left it in the box”. 

… Yes, isn’t that awesome?!?!

The kid stared at me blankly, and went back to eating popcorn.

The big takeaway is statistically speaking, the world we live in is far more random than we would like to believe, so never take your bets on guessing a card correctly even once at a casino.

Well, unless you are a magician… like me.

3 Campus Event Promotion Mistakes

The Top 3 Campus Event Promoting Mistakes Who doesn't love the feeling when your board's event is a success? You have a packed crowd, the hashtag you implemented for the event is being used repeatedly, everyone is engaged and the artist is terrific! Those are the moments that I live for. However, sometimes the events we plan don't go over as smoothly, and more times than not it's because you didn't get an audience as large as you anticipated. Often this is from common mistakes event planners and activity boards make when promoting - so here are some mistakes you should avoid this semester when promoting your events!   1. You Don't Make an Event Page This is a mistake I see every month, and it's an easy mistake to make. Let's say you have a, oh I don't know, a magic show coming up in two weeks! You get the digital poster your marketing department made and you post it on your facebook page's news feed every couple days. You continue to do this every couple days so that everyone is aware of the event and sees that post! It is the most effective way to promote it on facebook - right? Wrong! Posts are great for announcements, and sharing engaging content for your audience. However, if you really want to boost attendance at your event, you need to make an event page. Posts that don't get a lot of comments or likes will be placed at the bottom of a user's newsfeed amongst cat videos and buzzfeed articles, and any content that looks like an ad is likely to end up never seen by anyone! An event page is a great way around it, because anyone who is invited to join the event or sees the event can indicate if they are interested or going, which is then shared with their friends who will also indicate if they are going, and the chain goes on and on. Also, any announcements made specific to that event will be made noticeable by facebook notifications, and the event page can even be shared and posted to different organizations pages and groups which expands your audience! And speaking of other organizations... 2. You Don't Reach Out to Other Organizations I remember my sophomore year of college we had a contestant from "Dancing With The Stars" perform on our campus. She did an excellent job, but attendance was a lot lower than expected. I knew the president of the Dance Club on campus and asked why she and the rest of the club weren't at the show because it seemed right up their alley, and I got the famous response "What Dance Show?!" I talked with my activities board about that and asked how they promoted, and it was only the standard "social media and flyers" talk. When I asked why they didn't share the info with the dance club on campus they replied: "Huh. I guess that would have been a good idea. Well this is the way we have always done it so that's how we do it" It definitely never hurts just to share the event page with different organizations on campus - even if they aren't as related to the event as a dance event and dance club. The Finance Club might be interested in your de-stress cupcake making event for all you know, and even if they aren't, at least they are aware of your board and some of the events that go on! And speaking of awareness... 3. You Leave Out The Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors A common misperception on campuses is that the activities events are just for the freshmen, and the upperclassmen have no interest in doing any of that stuff. I've had a ton of moments where I arrive on campus early to set up for my show, and I head to a coffee shop nearby to get a drink. I'll often make small talk with the people in there and then ask if they are coming to the show that night, to which they always reply "Wait! There's a magic show on campus?!" Needless to say, upperclassmen or not, they are usually pretty excited and interested. Seen Above: Upperclassmen Often times the planners get in the mindset of "We never see upperclassmen at the shows, so they must not like to do stuff on campus". I can tell you from experience this is not the case. Upperclassmen are just not aware of the events, because how are they usually advertised? Dorms, student centers, and wherever freshmen hang out. Upperclassmen typically make up 70% of the student body, but you can't advertise to them the same way you advertise to freshmen. Do most upperclassmen commute to campus? Great! Put posters around the parking garages! Do they eat off campus more than on campus? Perfect! Have promotions on the popular coffee shops or restaurants near campus. Learn how the upperclassmen want to receive ads, and tailor the promotion to their needs. More times than not, most students will find your events interesting. The problem is they are often not aware, so keep these tips in mind when you are planning your next event at your school and hopefully you can boost your attendance to a record high!   Hayden "Haydini" Childress is an up and coming magician from Charlotte, NC. He specializes in performances for theaters, universities, corporations, and private parties. Learn more at www.haydinimagic.com

I was just testing out the live video freature of Facebook, and thought you might like to watch some of my magic :). You can see me do more of this in Charlotte and everywhere else in the world! Enjoy,

Stop Comparing Your Life to Social Media!

Stop Comparing Your Life to Social Media!

I am a full time entertainer who travels all across the country, and I am a full time college student as well. That sentence makes me sound really cool right? That is probably because you were comparing what you were currently doing in life (reading my blog) to the awesomeness of the only two things I had listed! But you know what goes hand-in-hand with traveling and performing which does not sound so glamorous? Sitting in a car for a few hours, or meticulously setting up props, or setting up sound and lights for a 45 minute set... you get the idea. There are a lot of boring parts to seemingly great things, and it can kind of be summarized in a quote by Steven Furtick.

"Don't compare your behind the scenes to everybody else's highlight reel..."(Furtick, Steven)

After having a drink or two with friends after they get off work, I hear a lot of people tell me the same things

• "I see all my friend's doing _______ this summer and I'm just doing ______!"
• I see yall all on Facebook doing this cool adventures and I just have summer classes!
• etc....

Facebook allows us to look at things people are choosing to share but not their behind the scenes. So, in short I guess what I'm really trying to say is, your life is probably really awesome and I guarantee you there are a lot of people who are super jealous of you and all the great things you have going on - seriously! 

Climb a mountain, don't post it to Facebook.

Cheers!

-Hayden

Incongruous 

This blog post serves no other function than to be an incongruous style and post from the rest of my blog. Isn't that interesting?

Strong branding - and the effect on our choices.

Branding and Marketing

Branding is defined (paraphrased) as the unique design and advertising given to a particular product or service that distinguishes it as unique. It is a key component of Marketing, which is eloquently defined as "The communication of value from business to customer..." (paraphrased again). These are two fields that I am highly interested in and continually study both in academic books, personal reading, and general observations in everyday life. 

As a magician and psychological entertainer I have learned from real world experiences how our minds can be influenced and even manipulated in certain cases if situations and environments are presented in a certain manner. Using my skills and knowledge in this field has allowed me to develop theories as to why people make the decisions that they do in everyday life, from purchases to preferences. We make irrational choices each day even if we are aware of them, but one has benefited companies for years and no one can give a solid answer as to why.

Why do we put company logos on our bodies, our cars, and other forms of expressive space willingly and without compensation financially?

This is not an attack on the ideology, just research into why we behave in this manner. 

A great example of the phenomenon of wearing a brand was expressed best in Simon Sinek's book Start With Why. In this book, Sinek gives an example of people who wear Harley Davidson clothing and even get Harley Davidson tattoos. When you see someone who has a tattoo like this, we automatically make assumptions in our heads about who that person is.

They are someone who (clearly) loves motorcycles, I am sure they wear leather jackets, they probably are not vegan, they like to drink domestic beer, and they love to travel across the country (possibly). Whatever assumptions or feelings you may have had does not matter, but the fact that we can infer about a person's personality based on their purchases (or desired purchases) is stunning when you think about it objectively.

Our first thought of rationalizing this is that this person frequently rides motorcycles and thus enjoys high quality cycles, and therefore expresses their love for the high quality cycles that they purchase. We of course know, however, that is not necessarily true. People wear the logo because it tells you who they are as a person and not what kind of stuff they buy. Harley sells a lifestyle more than a quality product (even if the product is highest of quality). Suppose in another world that Toyota were to make a motorcycle VERY similar to a Harley - it outperformed in every measure of quality of motorcycle. You would not have a crowd of motorcyclists wearing Toyota logos on their arms!

Similarly, think about other high quality products - Oreos (Nabisco), Bic pens, Dell computers etc.

 I cannot find any systematic flaw with an Oreo, and I would argue that they are (almost) a universally recognized brand of cookie. Oreos are, without a doubt, the NAME BRAND Chocolate cookie. Why then do we not see people with Nabisco tattoos or stickers on their cars? The same can be said of Dell, Bic, etc.

The said companies sell top quality products but do not provide a brand that identifies who they are as a company, or simply WHY they exist. This would certainly explain the high number of substitute goods (store brand oreos, off brand pens, HP computers etc.).

My final example which I've looked at the most is with a new, highly popular brand of high-end coolers called "Yeti". Yeti is a HIGHLY popular brand on my college campus at the University of South Carolina. Yeti sells (what many believe) to be the highest quality coolers on the market for fishing and hunting activities, and at a price - $300-$1200 for a single cooler! These coolers are bear proof, and highly insulated to the degree that they will keep ice frozen for days on end even in warm weather.

I have never known coolers to be too popular of an item for college students, aside from at pool parties and tailgates. Even at the pool and tailgates it logically would make sense to use $20 igloo coolers you find at Wal-Mart. Yet, this is not the case. Tons of students use Yeti coolers at their parties and tailgates, and proudly flaunt their ownership of said cooler. In fact, there is a whole trend of having young college girls pose in their underwear taking photos sitting on the cooler, sending the (assumed?) message that "This is a cool lifestyle and we're happy to be a part of it".

The most interesting part of the Yeti branding on college campuses is that these are NOT specialty cooler consumers. Many of the students I see who own a cooler do not hunt, fish, camp, or have any need for top end outdoor high-insulated coolers. There was no need for this product 20 years ago for a student and there is no need for it now. Yet, you can see them everywhere at a college tailgate! In addition to this, people post stickers, wear hats, and pay top dollar for other branding gear of A COOLER!

When students on my campus were asked why they flaunted the Yeti brand so much and either purchased (or desired to purchase) the $400 cooler, their responses were similar.

"This cooler is top end, you can put an ice cube in it and it will be there for a week!"
"I like to get stuff that is good quality and this is the best quality cooler"

Fair enough. But where is the demand for high end, high performance coolers in non-specialty markets? It is not existent - until now. Igloo brand coolers may have an equally high end cooler for a fraction of the cost, but you will not see people with Igloo t-shirts and Igloo butt trends. If it is the case that people buy because of quality products, this is not the case.

"People do not buy what you have, they buy WHY you do it..." - Simon Sinek, Start with Why

In a non-business sense, we can still see these decisions being made in our day to day lives. We do not date for specific traits (money, humor, looks etc.) we date for what FEELS right. Typically what feels right is someone who believes what you believe.

This is a summation of current thoughts on marketing and branding and how they have influenced our rationale into making high end choices we may not have previously made.

Pencil Thru Dollar

Energy, or Discipline?

Which is more important to you? The energy and ambition to study every piece of knowledge you can and to always be moving, or the ability to focus intently on one specific type of thing (even at the sacrifice of constantly being energetic about it).

The great Eugene Burger was once asked "How many magic tricks do you know". He would always famously reply along the lines of "Well, when I started I knew 20! Then I knew 10, I now know 8... and I'm hoping to get to 5".

This concentrated form of focus and discipline is what has allowed people like Eugene Burger to excel in their craft, their person, and their businesses.

We magicians have several forums, Facebook groups etc online which allows us to exchange ideas and even sell/trade magic tricks/props. It is a mixture of seasoned, full time professionals who have been performing their acts for YEARS, and amateurs new to the art for less than a year. I have seen one particular magician on there frequently, who is always looking to buy x, looking to sell y. I have seen his show, and it is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT show EVERY TIME! In theory, this sounds like it would be great! Except, the routines are not always complete. There is always a shallow depth to each piece, as if it were just bought and performed that month.

On the opposite spectrum, I have seen performers come to nearby theaters, clubs etc. that perform the EXACT SAME show EVERY TIME! It is very well performed, well polished, and it is apparent that they have done this a while. The only problem is, there is often a lack of soul or energy in each performance, and we end up with a show that is (as someone once called it) the "canned magician effect".

At the top of the food chain, we see great performers like Mac King, David Copperfield, Penn and Teller, and even the recent Derek Hughes on Americas Got Talent. Each of these people has absorbed both ideas, but without an extreme on each end. It's also worth noting that many perform acts that don't require buying several tricks online. These people are able to perform their craft perfectly tuned, perfectly polished in a way that does not lack the energy or ambition of a new show! They are able to innovate without losing their long term consistency.

I believe that this is the strongest mentality to have with dealing with anything - A constant desire to learn and improve but with the proper amount of focus and discipline. It is what allowed companies like Apple with leaders like Steve Jobs to succeed in a world where the pressure was always to move in every direction. And like what Jobs said -

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”

Think about which direction you are moving, and move fast and break things!

-Hayden "Haydini" Childress

The Greatest Magic Trick EVER!

I'm going to start off today's blog post with a pretty bold statement: Most card tricks suck. I'm not saying that they won't fool you or impress you, but I don't think the typical card trick truly represents what people want to see in a magic trick.

Magicians, in my opinion, are supposed to be conjurers of magic and wizardry, disguised as normal everyday people. There is something truly amazing about a normal everyday person doing something extraordinary. The best example I can think to give is with superhero movies! I think what makes us so intrigued by superhero movies is that these heroes look like everyday people, yet possess extraordinary abilities, and use those abilities in a world where those abilities are not normal. It is much more interesting to see superman fighting a bank robber than to see him fighting an alien in space.

The other day I had the amazing pleasure of performing at a rooftop college pool party (My job is great I know). I was performing my close-up walk around magic which consists of Cards, cell phones, mentalism, and coins (in this case beer bottle caps!). I am very experienced and skilled in card magic, because it is the standard most magicians learn from at first. I can control any playing card to any position in the deck, I can manipulate your choices to give you a full house - but still that is not the embodiment of a wizard in a world of muggles.

I was getting pretty decent reactions and amazement from the pool guests from my card magic, but the trick that absolutely set everyone off was one I hadn't performed in a  while. I noticed an empty beer can on the side of the pool and I asked if it belonged to anyone. Someone raised his hand, and I had him wave over the dents of the can - suddenly: the dents had healed!

Next, i waved over the opened portion of the can, and the can sealed back into a brand new can of beer! I opened it, and poured the beer into a cup and gave it to my awesome volunteer. He did not care so much how it was done, he was amazed and thankful he had just been given a beer for free by magic! He even referred to me as Jesus a few times.

Just using this photo again, just cause.

To me, I think that is an example of a nearly PERFECT magic trick. Imagine this scenario: You are walking with a friend and you tell him you could really go for a Snickers. He reaches into the air, and with a puff of smoke, a snickers bar appears in front of you! Now you might be curious of how it was done, or you may be concerned for your friend wondering why he walks around all day with a candy bar in his sleeve, but you are not going to feel like you were "tricked" or "fooled".

Compare that scenario to this one: You are sitting down at a party relaxing having a great time! A guy walks up to you and asks if you want to see something amazing. Ignoring the creepy vibes that were given off with that comment, you agree and watch. The guy pulls out a fancy looking pack of cards and starts manipulating them in every way possible - one handed cuts, flips, giant fans, spinning packets going fast (the point is, this guy can do ANYTHING with cards!). You pick a card, and it goes back into the deck. You shuffle them, and deal down a random number of cards. Once you've dealt down a random number of cards, you memorize a second card that you've dealt to. You square up the cards and shuffle them, and then VOILA! The magician has those two cards in his pocket!

I won't deny that card trick was cool, but despite its complexities and years of skill it would take to master, it will never live up to the snickers trick. From the moment the magician pulled out the fancy magic cards and juggled them all around you knew he could do ANYTHING, and where's the magic in that?

I think we as magicians think too much about what WE want to perform that we don't take enough time to think about what our audience wants to really see! Sometimes it isn't about adding more details, but taking it away.

Magic is about sharing a moment of wonder, not deceiving and showing off. I am not hating on card magicians - I still love my fair share of them :). And I think audiences genuinely enjoy them. But nothing will truly live up to the snickers trick!

-Hayden

Humor at Another's Expense is Bullying

Happy Monday to you! (Or if you happen to be reading this T-Sun then happy *day* to you!)

It has been a really crazy past week for me, I have travelled through multiple states which means a ton of driving that I don't always enjoy. I also got an airbrush tattoo of a card on my arm while I was at the beach. Hardcore I know.

The other week I was watching another magician on stage (I was tempted to put quotation marks around magician) who was pretty decent at the "tricks" he performed, but was seriously lacking in the humor and/or getting people to like you factor. As many of my entertainer friends know, one of the first things you should do while on stage is make the audience like you. If the audience likes you, they will like what you do, as the saying goes.

So with this piece of knowledge in mind, you can understand why half the audience and I felt pretty uncomfortable when this guy's opening trick was making his middle finger appear under a scarf and flipping the bird to everyone.

Ouch.

While that may be a funny gag to do in the middle of an adult only comedy club event, it is a sure shot way of making a room of 100 hate you if you do it as an opening "trick" (see I used the quotation marks there). The second he established himself as an A-Hole, every trick he did after that was perceived as "HAHA LOOK WHAT I CAN DO AND YOU CAN'T" to half the room.

Aside from the middle finger, there is one other practice of "humor" that I believe to be the rudest, worst kind of all, and that is humor at someone else's expense. I will give you a brief example.

Magician brings audience member on stage. Magician asks "what is your last name?" .... "Oh! that last name means very attractive and beautiful. What is your first name?" .... "Oh. That means not very!" Tehe it is a funny joke. But it is funny only at the other person's expense. As a volunteer on stage, that person volunteering is probably as nervous and uncomfortable as all can be. It really takes a lot of courage to get up on a stage in front of a crowd of people, especially for a magic trick. The worst insult you can possibly do to someone assisting you is embarrassing them so that you can get jokes. Rather than creating a moment of magic on stage with another person, you are using that person so you can gain something. And that is wrong.

I would be lying if I said I hadn't done those tactics in my younger days performing. It is an easy, hack tactic that many performers use int heir first few years performing, but as I gained more experience growing older I learned treating an audience member like a "sucker" or "victim" is just plain wrong.

Today I make sure that I show my audience that I absolutely LOVE them. If someone has the courage to help me on stage, I show my respect by making them feel comfortable, and an important part of the act on stage. It means a lot that someone would sit for an hour and watch me perform, and in many cases pay money to see me do it! The least I could do is show respect for them, because they are not there to serve me, I am there to provide quality entertainment and an incredible evening. Howard Thurston, a multi-million dollar magician and one of the greatest entertainers in history, would stand behind a curtain and repeatedly say "I love my audience, I love my audience..." Seems like a pretty good practice to follow from one of the world's greatest, wouldn't you think?

In the end those other performers aren't bad people necessarily, they just have not learned how to treat an audience properly. Like a young boy on his first date making inappropriate jokes and not paying for the food, those performers just need to gain experience and grow out of it.

Those are my thoughts! Hope you have a great day!

-Hayden

The Future

I absolutely love the back to the future movies. Anyone who has seen my full show (currently as of January 2015) knows I dedicate about 15 minutes solely to the first back to the future movie, where i travel through time! One of the most thrilling aspects of any time travel movie isn't just seeing how life may have been in the past, but what we predict life would be like in the future. In an age fueled by adventure, industrialism, and innovation, we pictured the next 100 years to be much like an episode of wacky racers, the early saturday morning cartoon show http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30513670.

In back to the future 2, marty mcfly travels from 1985 to 2015 (hey that is the year we are alive in. Far out!). Listen to any Buzzfeed article about the notion of living in Marty Mcfly's version of 2015 and they would make jokes about how we are so far behind, with no hoverboards or instant pizza hut. I however, would strongly diagree - I think we are living in the future right now!

If we had prioritized hoverboards and flying cars above all else I believe we would be pretty close today. However, those are not important innovations (at least for now). Though flying cars would be a nifty invention, imagine how long it would take to adapt! Not to mention imagine if one of the flying cars were to fall out of the sky rather than wreck into a streetpole like in a street car. Maybe I am just trying to rationalize not having flying cars, but you can see the idea!

Instead of prioritizing things like flying cars, we developed technology no one could imagine in the 80s. The worldwide web has grown and developed in every direction the past 20 years, and it has connected us in a way we could not have believed before! I think its amazing how we have connected with average people overseas, instantly sharing our thoughts the second they happen on microblogs like twitter. In the 1985 version of 2015, we see the future as if the 80s had cool technology. Instead we today have progressed as society and have connected globally like never before.

Just to prove we really are living in the future...

-You can make transactions all digitally through your cell phone

-We have modified organisms to produce billions of pounds of food affordably (although there could be negative effects...)

- You can have instant, intimate conversations with a loved one miles away through video chats like skype on your cell phone

- We have made education available for anyone who truly wants to learn something

And that is just the start! So stop waiting for the future to happen and appreciate this amazing world we are in now.

-Hayden

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