Magic is all about performance and creativity, so the rules of magic are extremely limited. But with that being said, it is vital that you follow the rules that are out there, as they are designed to maintain the mystery and credibility of magic.

Break one of the four rules that follow and you’ll waste the hours of practice you’ve put into perfecting the tricks you perform. Oh yes, it takes hours of practice to make magic tricks look convincing. That’s the fourth rule of magic, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

1) A magician never reveals how a trick is done

If you do a trick right, people will ask you how you did it. It’s guaranteed. But a magician never counts, because the moment someone knows how to do a trick, the mystery is gone.

So resist the urge to spill the beans. If necessary, perform another trick to relieve the pressure, because by the time people know your secret, the time it took you to learn the trick is wasted.

Of course, there is an exception to the rule.

If you know someone who is genuinely interested in performing magic and you can trust them not to divulge the secret, give them all the encouragement they need.

After all, the new generations of magicians need to learn, otherwise the secret of magic would become extinct.

2) Find the right audience

Your magic will have the greatest effect when you find the right audience. If people aren’t in the right frame of mind, your efforts will be wasted. So don’t just randomly approach people and start showing them card tricks.

The best situation is when people ask you to show them some magic.

And once you find the right audience, don’t hit them with gimmick after gimmick after gimmick. If you do that, they will lose interest and the magic effect will be lost.

It’s a cardinal rule of show business: always leave your audience wanting more. That’s what creates part of the mystery surrounding wizards. It’s just a case of learning when to stop, as some people have more of an appetite for magic than others.

3) Quality is much more important than quantity

Who cares if you can do 100 or 200 tricks! It’s unlikely that most people will see you performing more than a handful of different tricks.

So focus on a few of your favorite tricks and learn them to perfection.

Think about it. Would you rather see one amazing trick executed to perfection or a series of average tricks?

Just remember: a trick that isn’t perfect isn’t magic.

4) Practice, Practice, Practice

You’ve just learned a new trick and you’re eager to see what kind of reaction it creates.

But if you really want to wow people with your magic, don’t even think about showing it to anyone until you can perform it perfectly every time.

And that means hours and hours of practice!

In fact, some of the most complex and therefore spectacular tricks can take weeks or even months of practice to get right.

And once a trick is perfect, practice some more.

Let’s face it, if you perform a trick before you’re ready, people will see it and commit all the hours you’ve already spent learning how to do it.

So be patient and keep practicing. And when you finally strip down to your latest trick, it will be worthy of the name, magic.