BEACON #1

Does "more" do more harm than good?

Sound familiar? You see a new trick, and you instantly know: I need this. You buy it, watch the explanation, practice a little—and then it ends up in the drawer, with the other fifty you "meant to" perform someday.

The same thing happened to me for years. My collection grew, but I didn’t actually get any better—I just had more stuff.

One of the most interesting observations I’ve made in forty years: magicians with the biggest collections are rarely the most captivating performers. They have hundreds of effects—and not a single one that truly leaves a mark.

Psychologists call this the "Paradox of Choice"—psychologist Barry Schwartz even wrote a whole book about it. The more options we have, the harder it is to decide, the less we invest in each individual option, and the less satisfied we ultimately feel. This applies to jam in the supermarket just as much as it does to tricks in our collection.

Behind this lies something we all recognize: the collector’s mentality. When new things keep coming in, there’s no time to truly master anything. We skim the surface of everything and never dive deep into anything. We may know *how* many tricks work, but we don’t yet understand *why* they work—and the audience can tell the difference.

People can’t put their finger on it, but they notice when something is missing. The performance is fine, but it doesn’t touch them.

Every truly great magician I’ve ever met had one thing in common: a manageable repertoire. Five tricks, maybe ten. But each one was perfect—not just technically, but in every aspect: timing, presentation, understanding what happens inside the spectator. Depth over breadth, and that has always been the better path.

Sometimes I ask myself: How many tricks can I *really* do? Not how many do I know—but how many could I perform right now that would truly move someone? The answer is humbling, even after forty years. But it’s also liberating.

Until next time,

Alexander