Hi there. My name is Max Davidson. I'm a college senior, and if all goes well, I'll graduate from the George Washington University in May. (The "the" before "George Washington University" is quite pretentious in my opinion. But so is saying the word "quite").
I'm also a magician (which you probably know, given that you're on maxdavidsonmagic.com), and when I graduate, I'm going to do magic professionally. But, I don't really know what I'm doing. I kind of do. I've done magic for sixteen years. And I've had a relative level of success, at least compared to people my age. But when it comes to actually supporting myself with my passion, it's safe to acknowledge that I don't know most things.
I currently have a few gigs lined up right now, and a flimsy plan to get more. I hope I'm decades from peaking in terms of my actual skill. This is all to say: I'm figuring this out. Slowly.
I'm doing what many in the adult business call "following your dream," which in my case is professional magic. And I've found, as we near graduation, that too few people actually know what they want to do. Before we go on, I should clarify. I do not think you need to know what you want to do when you're 22. I'm really lucky that I do, but I could still be wrong and end up quitting magic in 10 years. Who knows.
I think we need to stop doing things, though, because the system says so or because it's "realistic."
The word realistic as it pertains to a job or career path says nothing about if that job will ensure happiness, growth, or challenge.
Nothing worth doing is realistic. This is especially true for those of us in our twenties with more than enough time to fail. I'd rather pursue the "unrealistic" goal of performing professional magic if the upside is happiness and fulfilling, autonomous work.
And look, I'm not saying that if you are following a more typical "path" that you're doing anything wrong. At all. My criteria is simply: if you're doing something you truly enjoy that puts good into the world, you should do that thing. If that thing is medicine, law, consulting, etc, awesome.
So here's the deal: This blog will be a weekly record of my progress as I transition from my lifelong job of student into my dream job of magician. My thinking is: I will either "make it," (whatever that means), or I won't. If I do "make it," then this blog will be a nice little record of my thought process in the moment, and I think I'll enjoy looking back on it. And if I don't "make it," and I go back to school and sell out to Wall Street so that one day I can buy a boat, then this will still be a nice record of my thoughts. You see? Win-win.
You might ask: "Why don't you keep your thoughts to yourself and get a journal like everyone else?" And the reality is, I know I'm not alone. Although, I will admit, the community I'm after is very niche. This blog will only truly resonate if you are a college kid who is trying to break the mold and follow your passion. I'm talking to photographers, chefs, comedians, actors/actresses, and, yes, magicians. If that's you, perhaps my process will give you insights into yours. And if I'm doing everything wrong--and I'm definitely doing A LOT of things wrong--then at the very least, you'll learn what not to do.
Ready to take the plunge? Sweet. Let's do this.