One of the possibly unexpected consequences of COVID-19 is the way that it has changed, potentially for ever, the way people work. The pandemic forced many companies to enable at least some if not all of their employees to work from home, and it quickly became clear that in some ways and for some professions, having a home office was good for the workers and saved money for the companies.
However, WFH is not always as ideal as it might at first appear. If you have a house that has a spare room you can commandeer as a dedicated workspace, having the luxury and flexibility to organise exactly how and when you work can actually make people more productive and indeed less stressed, especially if it removes the need for the grind of a daily commute.
But if you live in a cramped apartment with barely enough free table space to set down a laptop, WFH can be frustrating and very inconvenient. Not to mention the long term consequences of removing face to face human contact normally available in an office environment.
So what has this all got to do with magic, you may wonder? Well, if you are someone who wants to actively work on their magic skills, whether you have a suitable dedicated space can make the difference to how much progress you achieve.
For instance, if you are preparing a special act for a magic competition, the chances are you will need the space to set everything up for rehearsal. You may wish to arrange mirrors so that you can see how things look as you practise, or you might want to have cameras and lighting set up to record your act to help with self-evaluation.
If you don’t have enough free space and you are required to rehearse either in a communal space in the house that is only available to you on certain occasions, or in a room that you can shut the door on but which is cluttered with all sorts of other objects or furniture, the effort to practise can deter you from even starting!
When TV presenter/magician Dominic Wood was a teenager I used to go round to his house to help him develop his act. He lived in a large house with his parents and as a result had, I seem to remember, a dedicated magic room which enabled him to practise whenever he wanted without interruption.
The result of this was, I’m convinced, that when he was working in that room with all his magic around him, he was inspired to try things and was probably more creative and successful as a result.
If you can create a magic den, a room where all your props, books and other conjuring stuff is collected, you should find that when you want to concentrate on your magic, the environment is more likely to encourage progress. And not having to waste time constantly unpacking and then re-packing act set ups, will make practice easier and therefore encourage you to do it more often.
I have been running MLM from home for 40 years and in every house we have had, I have always insisted on having a room as an office where I can concentrate on what needs to be done. I am sure that having this dedicated workspace has helped to keep me productive and on top of things in a way that would have been impossible at home without that room.