Stories, insights, and lessons from a consultant who picked up a deck of cards.
A thousand posts about magic, craft, and the long journey from a hotel room in an unfamiliar city to stages where real people experience genuine wonder. Cal Newport was right: passion follows mastery. But the journey that produced that understanding was the whole point.
Read MoreCal Newport argues that 'follow your passion' is dangerous advice. Build rare and valuable skills — career capital — and passion follows. I did not start with passion for magic. I started with a deck of cards and boredom. The passion came from getting good at something genuinely difficult.
Read MoreInnovation happens at the edges of what is already known — the adjacent possible. Felix's unique position at the intersection of business consulting and magic creates possibilities that neither world has alone. The most interesting territory is always at the border.
Read MoreSteve Martin's comedy used his magic, his banjo, his philosophy degree — nothing was wasted. Rachel Carson: nothing you truly learn is wasted. For an adult learner, the entire prior life is a resource. The consulting experience, the analytical training, the music — all of it feeds the magic.
Read MoreSteve Martin worked at Disneyland's magic shop from age 15, demonstrating effects eight to twelve hours a day. That shop was his 10,000 hours of stage time before he ever had a stage. My hotel rooms were my version of the same thing — a place that looked like limitation and turned out to be foundation.
Read MoreSteve Martin spent ten years learning, four years refining, and four years in wild success. The apprenticeship was invisible to the audience — but it was total. His story is a map for anyone who discovers a craft later than expected and wonders whether the timeline can be compressed.
Read MoreWhen you approach a stranger to perform, they have ten unspoken questions racing through their mind before you say a word. Learning to answer those questions — through body language, approach angle, a
The first time I performed for strangers, every rejection felt personal. Then I learned a concept from a mentalist that changed everything — separating your performer self from your personal self, so
A locked door is final. A jammed door just needs more effort. Reframing every no as not yet changed how I approach performing, pitching ideas, and building Vulpine Creations. The rejection is not the
The most interesting person in any room is never the one talking the most. It is the one listening the hardest. A mentalist's encounter with Steven Spielberg revealed the ultimate performance principl
The most dangerous moment in any performance is not the opening. It is the moment after your strongest effect when someone says do another one. Learning to walk away at the peak — not after the platea
The difference between a trick and a moment is not the method. It is the story you wrap around it. A mentalist who performs for NFL teams taught me that the real magic happens when you make the audien
The person with their arms crossed, the one who refuses to play along, the skeptic who wants to prove you wrong — they are not your enemy. They are your most engaged audience member. Win them over and
You start a new practice routine with fire in your belly. By day nine, you are bargaining with yourself about whether to skip just one session. The two-week wall is real, it is neurological, and there
The show does not end when you leave the stage. The most valuable fifteen minutes of any performance happen in the car on the way home, when you write down everything — names, reactions, what worked,
When a CEO and an intern are both equally astonished by the same impossible moment, something shifts in the room. The hierarchy flattens. The pedestal disappears. Magic does not just entertain — it eq