Hello 2016, From Lynn Miner

 

Whether you call them “resolutions” or “goals,” many people make often make them without much thought and find them quickly broken. Nevertheless, January is a great time to think about your “big picture” for the year. Where are you headed, long-term, with your magic goals? We can’t make them for you, that’s your responsibility. However, we can ask some questions that you ought to be answering regarding your magic goals, your relationships with clients, and how you want to spend your resources, — human, financial, and physical – in the coming year.
Use your new skills to help us celebrate our 25th anniversary of the McBride Magic & Mystery School.

Your Magic Performance Goals
⦁ What are you going to do to improve your magic skills in 2016?
⦁ How much time are you going to spend, daily, to improve your performance skills?
⦁ Realistically, what will you do?
⦁ Which of your current “go-to” effects need to be retired?
⦁ What new effects should be added to your repertoire?
⦁ Which tricks can you convert in major magic effects with the addition of lights, music, and costumes?
⦁ Which effects can you upgrade your patter from observational narrative (“See I first tie a knot in this rope and then with a wave of my magic hands, the knot disappears.”) to a clever story (“Santa uses different pieces of rope to tie up his Christmas presents.”)

Your Magic Business Goals
⦁ How many gigs do you want to do in 2016?
⦁ How much magic income do you want to make in 2016?
⦁ What will you need to do to increase THAT number by an additional 10%?
⦁ What do you specifically need to do to reach your income target?
⦁ How many former clients will you revive and turn into regular clients again and how will you do that?
⦁ What will you do to ensure you are adding more value to your relationships with clients?
⦁ How many new clients will you bring on this year and how will you do that?
⦁ How are you going to maximize your use of time?
⦁ Where will you cut out the time-wasters of each day?
⦁ What are you going to do every day to keep your attitude at a high level?
⦁ Where are you going to write all of this down so you can review and revise your plans regularly?
⦁ What will it LOOK like when you accomplish everything you’ve just been thinking about?
⦁ How will it FEEL?

Your Personal Health Goals
⦁ How much weight do you need to lose and how will you do it?
⦁ If your old friends (or family) have fallen by the wayside, how can you reconnect with them
⦁ If you smoke, quit.
⦁ Will you save money by making such healthy lifestyle changes as walking or riding your bike to work, explore carpooling, or increasing your physical activity?
⦁ Long work hours, little sleep, no exercise, poor diet, and not spending time with family and friends can contribute to stress? What behavioral changes can you make that will become stress reducers?
⦁ We seem to be a nation of fun-postponers? What will you do this year to have more fun?

Make a Plan
Why is it that New Year’s resolutions typically last only a few weeks? Despite good intentions and real hopes, wishes seldom turn into reality because people fail to make realistic plans.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

To reach your goals, you must engage in effective planning, which entails posing targeted questions, probing for specific answers, and avoiding traps and pitfalls. While it may not be necessary to ask every question listed below – they are intended as a guide – the more questions asked, the fewer the broken resolutions and the greater the likelihood of success.
⦁ Specifically, which goal(s) do I want to achieve?
⦁ What exactly am I doing presently to achieve it?
⦁ How is it working out?
⦁ If I’m not getting what I want now, what else could I do?
⦁ What, in specific detail, am I willing to do?
⦁ When will I do it?
⦁ Where will I do it?
⦁ How often will I do it?
⦁ What resources and information do I need in order to do it and when will they be available?
⦁ With whom will I do it?
⦁ How will I know when I’ve done it?
⦁ Who needs to know that I’ve done it?
⦁ How do I want this to come out?
⦁ Am I committed to this plan? (“I’ll try” is not an answer. You’ll probably try. What you and others need to know is if you’re actually going to do it.)

Strategic Planning Example
Below you will find a concrete example of how you might engage in effective strategic planning. This examples shows how you might increase your skill as a street performer. It is presented in a time and task chart format. Develop your own action items and timeframes that will probably differ from this model.

Goal: By (xxx date), I will be a skilled street performer of magic

Mario Morris School of Busking Web Site: https://www.schoolofbusking.com/
McBride Focus on Street Magic master class (http://www.magicalwisdom.com/events)

For a quarter of a century, the McBride Magic & Mystery School has dedicated itself to providing comprehensive experiences in magic education so you can transform your magic and your life. Goal setting is one key approach to achieving this outcome. Hello 2016.

By Lynn Miner, PhD
Director of Development
McBride Magic & Mystery School