Stacking Your Professional Deck
“Magic is the deliberate manipulation of coincidence.”
- Lawernce Schoen
Several years ago, I became a fan of Texas Hold’em and the World Championship of Poker. I loved the personalities, the strategy, and the thrill of the game. Personally, I don’t gamble, but I like to watch the process.
In Texas Hold’em, the best hand is a Royal Flush. This means you have the five highest cards of a single suit. It can’t be beat. Getting this set of cards has a 0.000154% chance of happening. You are likelier to get hit by lightning, bitten by a shark, and win the Power Ball.
I am also a magician who likes to work with cards. Many handlings allow the dealer to deal themselves or with whomever they choose with this set of cards by manipulating the deck and the dealing.
For everyone else, a Royal Flush is nearly impossible, but in the hands of a trained magician, it can happen at the drop of a hat.
Like always, I transposed the topic of poker to having a successful life. In life, like in poker, the way the cards come out is random. In magic, you use a sleight of hand to manipulate the deck to get what you want. To control your success, you must control the factors that allow you to have all the success you want when you want it.
Is that cheating? In poker, yes; in life, no!
So, how do you control your life to ensure a Royal Flush career? It isn’t impossible. You need to know how to do the trick!
Five Cards: Ace – King – Queen – Jack – Ten
You must manipulate five “cards”: Vision, Creativity, Passion, Effort, and Resilience.
These aren’t impossible for anyone to have. They are within all of our “decks”.
These five cards are like the pillars supporting the structure of our goals and dreams, guiding us toward success and fulfillment.
The Ace: Vision
Vision is the starting point of all great achievements. It is the ability to see beyond the present moment and imagine a better future than our current lives. Without vision, we would be lost in an ocean of mediocrity, unable to find success. Vision gives us purpose and direction, fueling our ambition and pushing us beyond our limits.
The King: Creativity
Creativity is the spark that ignites innovation and progress. It is the ability to think outside the box and develop new ideas and solutions that challenge what is already being done. Creativity allows us to break free from “normal” thinking and explore new ideas. It smooths the path so we can find answers to questions others have never thought to ask. We can transform the ordinary into extraordinary thoughts and outcomes using our creativity.
The Queen: Passion
Passion is the driving force behind all success. It is what fuels our determination in the face of challenges and setbacks. Passion gives us energy and enthusiasm, propelling us forward towards our goals. When we are passionate about something, we are willing to go above and beyond to achieve it, no matter how difficult the journey may be.
The Jack: Effort
Effort is more than “hard work” – it's about putting in the time, energy, and dedication to achieve our goals. It's about pushing ourselves beyond what we think are our limits; it’s about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable and embracing the change that will occur. Effort separates those who only dream from those who do – it's the difference between wishing for success and actually making it happen.
The Ten: Resilience
Resilience, however, is our ability to bounce back from adversity stronger than before. It's about facing challenges head-on, learning from failure, and refusing to let setbacks define who we are and who we are meant to be. Resilience is not about avoiding difficulties or pretending everything is perfect – it's about understanding and using our struggles as stepping stones towards growth.
When vision, creativity, passion, effort and resilience come together, magic happens. We become, like the Royal Flush, unbeatable. We stretch from who we were into unstoppable forces of nature, capable of achieving anything we set our minds to. Our dreams become reality, our ideas blossom into innovations, and our actions inspire others to follow in our footsteps.
We need to exercise each of these “cards” daily to manipulate our lives. All magicians will tell you that a trick that looks easy comes after years of hard work. This is no different from success. Each card must be mastered, yet by themselves, they are just a card or a trait. The magic comes when we understand how to use each element together.
We must use our vision to set our path, creativity to understand what can be, passion to drive us forward, effort to forge the five together and resilience to find the strength to continue on the path to becoming unbeatable.
Have an amazing day!
