The Creation of Magic

‘Magic’ is an incongruence with the possibilities and probabilities generated by our mental model of the universe. It is the label we place on things that we think cannot be, that should not be, that are made to be by supernatural forces that we do not possess, which sidestep the drudgery us mere mortals must endure.

It is commonly accepted that to do great things you need talent and determination and I recently read a brilliant piece by Paul Graham about a third less talked about ingredient: an obsessive interest in a particular topic.

His essay “The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius” is a great read and I love its central thesis. He spends a lot of time diving into “obsessive interest” and later writes:

“Aren’t I forgetting about the other two ingredients? Less than you might think. An obsessive interest in a topic is both a proxy for ability and a substitute for determination. Unless you have sufficient mathematical aptitude, you won’t find series interesting. And when you’re obsessively interested in something, you don’t need as much determination: you don’t need to push yourself as hard when curiosity is pulling you.” — http://paulgraham.com/genius.html

I’ve had the privilege of working with many “magicians” in the course of my career but one most recently really gave me pause and cause to stop and think about what was going on; about how he manages to do what he does.

Nikhil — mystical Indian magic man, former employer and current friend — certainly has talent in spades. But I know many talented people who are not magicians. Nikhil definitely has determination. In fact, levels of determination I’ve never actually experienced in another human being. That combination you might think is enough to create magic and you would probably be right.

It turns out though that Nikhil also has a generous serving of obsessive interest in a particular topic. His topic of obsessive interest just happens to be whatever needs to be done or understood at that time to achieve his exceptionally ambitious objectives.

He calls himself ‘anally retentive’ and he’s not entirely wrong if we’re going to be honest. His capacity for detail is legendary and his greatest failing is quite likely that he doesn’t realise the rest of us don’t have the same capacity. His uncanny ability, for example, to remember exact numbers from and spot insignificant changes in program financials between monthly steering committee meetings or his near comic inability to restrain himself from pixel-precision aligning presentations sent to him. I am willing however, to accept the remote possibility that I might be the one with the problem in our relationship.

At this point you’re probably thinking that I’m about to suggest that mere mortals such as ourselves can never aspire to the great feats of sorcery and magic that such a person as Nikhil is capable of. And you, too, are not entirely wrong. He is a rare blend of inspirational intellect, talent, tenacity and obsession with detail which makes him extremely successful at what he does, with the fortunate side effect of making you successful…if you’re willing and able to meet the standards that he sets.

What makes you not entirely right is related to what we think of as conventional magic; the performance art.

Penn Jillette, another exceptional human being, famous full time magician and part time philosopher said this about magic:

“The only secret of magic is that I’m willing to work harder on it than you think it’s worth.”

Magic, you see, really comes down to working much, much harder at something than most people thinks its worth. Generally, that takes an obsessive interest in a particular subject (deceiving people through sleight of hand, for example) because the obsessive interest for its own sake is a good substitute for worth and value. An actual obsessive interest doesn’t have to be the only substitute though.

I’ve noticed that many people, myself included, often have what can only be described as a fear of wasted effort. You don’t want to do too much, invest too much time and effort, just in case that extra bit wasn’t necessary.

I learned two things from working with Nikhil that I try to constantly keep in mind and that will stay with me forever: the potential downside of wasted effort in over-preparing is by far outweighed by the nearly guaranteed downside of under-preparing; and, the proper framing and attitude applied to over-preparing can guarantee the extra effort isn’t wasted at all.

To take a somewhat mundane example: you could write a board paper with the minimal amount of effort you think is required to achieve the desired outcome, or, you could write the best goddamn board paper the world has ever seen (… or the best one you could possibly write) for the same outcome. You may feel that the extra effort put into making a board paper exceptional is wasted but it’s only wasted if you don’t value the process of making it exceptional. There is a lot you can learn from deciding to and putting in the effort to raise something from barely good enough to magnificent. There is a lot you can learn from most things, if you just decide to.

The other side of that effort-level coin is that what most people think is the minimum quality and effort required to achieve a good outcome often actually isn’t. It isn’t, if what you want is better than average. It isn’t, if you’re serious about succeeding.

Creating magic isn’t easy but it also isn’t mysterious or inaccessible. Setting the bar unreasonably high in everything and then working hard enough to reach that bar all the time isn’t easy nor is it even always possible for us mere mortals. But striving to operate like this, working harder than most people think is reasonable, even if only sometimes, to achieve the exceptional, is absolutely the right way to be and is the essence of magic.

By simply working harder and doing more than most people think something is worth, the mundane can be made magical.