The Prestige

The Pledge. The Turn. The Prestige.

The elements of a great illusion. And the elements of a life well-lived. My life is my own masterpiece of magic. Wait for it...

1. The pledge: Magician announces the impossible feat he is about to perform. In a magic show, the magician displays whatever article or apparatus he will use to accomplish his feat. In life, the apparatus displayed for the pledge is whatever talents or assets you have. And you determine what you will do with those talents and assets.

‎2. The turn: Magician does what he said he would do. But only doing what he announced he would do does not earn him the prestige. He said he'd do it, he did it. Okay... In life, accomplishing what you set out to do is good, but it's not awesome.

3. The prestige: Illusion capitalizes on the most exotic and overlooked principles of psychology. To achieve the prestige, the magician understands this aspect of human thinking: if you get an audience to watch your illusion by overpromising something they imagine will be better than the truth, they'll be disappointed at the end result. If you tell them what you plan to do exactly, they will imagine you doing it in advance. So when you accomplish the feat, their reaction will be equivalent to someone seeing the trick for the second time. A positive reaction, but not a fantastic one. But if what you tell them you're about to do fascinates them, but it's an understatement, they will imagine you doing something fantastic. Okay, now they're watching and anticipating what they've imagined. But what you actually do is something far more awesome than what they've imagined. The magician earns the prestige by underpromising and overdelivering, by surprise. The reaction of the audience will be the best possible audience response.

In real life, the difference between an unsatisfying life and a good life is, an unsatisfying life consists only of the promise, the pledge. You have talents and assets, but never achieve the turn. If you lived a good life, you used your talents and assets well, and accomplished what everyone expected. And that leaves the possibility of something far better: a FANTASTIC life. That would be achieved by the surprise ending. The awesome overdelivery beyond anyone else's expectations.