The Decision Maker

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I’ve been sitting on this idea for nine months now. It comes from friend-of-the-site, Seth Raphael. It’s a very simple trick. In fact, it’s based on something that’s in a lot of beginner’s magic books. And honestly, it might not even be a trick depending on how you present it. It’s certainly not intended to be an incredible mind-blowing impossibility. But at the same time I think it could be very powerful in the right situation. And it has one of the most satisfying “outs” I’ve ever seen in magic.

I’ve been waiting to post about it because when I write up effects, I like to have an actual performance in mind to reference in my description. But I haven’t had a chance to show this to anyone yet because it requires a particular circumstance that I haven’t stumbled into in the past nine months. So rather than continuing to wait for that situation to arise, I figured I’d describe it here for you to keep in the back of your mind. It’s a simple, impromptu trick that you won’t have any issue remembering, and you’ll be able to slide ride into the trick should the opportunity present itself.

The trick is ideal for when you have a friend or loved-one who is having a hard time making a choice between a handful of options. It’s designed to help them choose, or give them some clarity. The reason why I haven’t had the chance to perform this yet is because for it to work best, the decision they’re making has to be one that:

A) Has more than two options, but
B) Doesn’t have too many options, and
C) Is a significant decision in some way. (It doesn’t really make sense to do this if the choice is about, “What type of cereal should I buy?”)

So, let’s imagine I’m talking to someone who is having a hard time deciding what college to go to. She has scholarship offers from four different schools. One is a film school, which is her passion. Another is one of the best business schools in the country, which she realizes would provide her with a much more practical degree. Another is close to home where she has a lot of ties. And the final one is a great school that’s in a part of the country she’s dreamed about living for years.

So she’s someone who is facing a decision that is pulling her in a few different directions. I would offer to help her out. I might just say, “Hey, do you want to try a decision making technique I’ve read about?”

Or perhaps I’d give her a more detailed backstory about, “an old decision making process that I read about in this weird self-help book from the 60s that I picked up at a used book store a few years ago. It’s supposed to help you focus in on the right choice for you when you’re facing this kind of decision. A lot of people swear by it. But I think it fell out of favor because the book came from this group whose goal was to ‘maximize human potential’… I’m forgetting the name… but apparently part of the group spun off later to form the Heaven’s Gate cult. So… you know… some of those ideas are frowned upon.”

  • Regardless of how you frame it, this is the sort of thing no one ever says no to. So the next step would be to gather the objects for the procedure.

  • A pad or slips of paper

  • Something to write with

  • A lighter or candle and a plate or ashtray. (You need some way to dispose of the small slips of paper. You could use a toilet, but it sort of lacks the romanticism of a flame.)

So on four slips of paper I’d write down the name of each college she was considering (one college per slip). These would be folded up and jumbled around and placed in her pocket.

Then I’d walk her through the procedure.

Imagine

“Okay, first, close your eyes. Now, one at a time, I want you to imagine what it would feel like right now if you made the decision to attend each school. So imagine you chose [School 1]. Imagine how that would feel to make that decision as we sit here now…. Okay, now imagine that with [School 2].” And we’d continue on with all four schools.

“Now reach into your pocket and remove one of those slips.”

She would take out a slip and give it to me, and I would set it on fire, burning it to ashes.

“Now we’re going to do the same thing. But this time I want you to imagine yourself at each school, looking back on your decision to attend that school. So think of [School 1], picture yourself there. Think about how you feel about your decision to attend.”

We would do that with the rest of the schools as well. She’d imagine herself at each school and the feeling of having made the decision to attend that school.

I’d have her hand me a second slip and we’d burn it.

“Now this time I want you to picture yourself 20 years in the future. I want you to imagine how it would feel to have made the decision to attend each of those schools, looking back in hindsight. Accept all the feelings you feel about each choice; the good and the bad.”

Again, I would walk her through each school and she would imagine looking back 20 years on a decision she has not yet made.

She would take out another slip and we’d burn that one too.

I’d tell her to take out the remaining slip and hold it in her fist.

“Okay. So here’s how it should work. In the first round we should have burnt the school that even as of now, you already know isn’t a good choice for you. Next we should have eliminated the school you would realize wasn’t right for you while you were attending there. And finally we should have burned the school that, looking back 20 years, you would recognize wasn’t the best decision to make.

“That leaves the best choice in your hand. Now… take a deep breath. I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to tell me the first answer that comes to mind. Ready? Ok. What school do you want to see on that slip of paper?”

Let’s say she says, “NYU.”

I would tell her to open up the slip and take a look and she’d see it said, “New York University.” She has an answer.

Method

This comes from that old trick you would find in a beginner’s book like Magic for Dummies, or the seldom remembered (due to the fact it was quickly pulled by the publisher), Mark Wilson’s Motherfucking BIG-ASS Book of Magic.

In that version of the trick you might ask someone to name different vegetables and you would write each one on a slip of paper and then predict which slip they would choose. The method is either to just write the first thing they say on each slip, or write “Carrot” over and over and keep asking for vegetable at least until the point they say carrot.

Either way you have a bunch of identical slips that the spectator assumes say something different. The select one and you’ve predicted it or you read their mind.

It’s a perfectly fine trick for beginners.

Here we’re shifting the focus off the performer and calling it some sort of decision making tool or ritual.

On each of the four slips you will write down the option that you feel the person most wants or is leaning toward, but is perhaps scared of in some way. How will you know which one that is? By being tuned in and making an educated guess. Sometimes it will be obvious. Sometimes you’ll have to pay a little more attention. Which option do they bring up first, or talk about the most? That’s likely to be one in which they’re most interested. I would suspect that most of the time, you’ll have a good idea what they really want. But if you have to, just guess. You’ll see why it doesn’t matter in the next section (The Out).

You’ll modify the elimination procedure based on the choice they’re making and the number of options they have. I think the general outline I’ve given above would be good. Have them imagine making each choice and then looking back on it at different stages in their life. You could add a couple more stages. Or have them eliminate one item at random. Or whatever. Any way to get them down to one final item.

…

Someone will write me and say, “You’re going to use a magic trick to influence someone’s life-changing decision, like which college to attend? That’s reprehensible!” Okay… chill-out, dude. First off, regardless of what decision they’re making, I wouldn’t frame it like it’s the oracle at Delphi providing divine answers to any question. I would just present it as something I read about. A tool that some people believe helps them get some clarity when dealing with a choice. And that’s completely fair because that is exactly what it fucking is.

This doesn’t force them to the option I want them to have. It brings them to their own conclusion of which option they are most drawn to after thinking about the choice and how they would feel about it not just now, but as time passes. This seems like exactly what someone should be considering when making a choice. The fact that the final slip matches that choice would just be a final nudge in that direction. But it’s essentially the exact same nudge as if I said, ‘Don’t torture yourself with the decision. Take some time to carefully consider each option, and the long-term repercussions of each choice, then trust your judgment and go forward with the choice that feels right. Don’t continually second-guess it.”

The Out

But what if it doesn’t work?

It always works.

No, but what if they say something other than what’s on the slip in their hand?"

Oh, that’s easy.

Let’s go back and see how that would play out. All the slips have NYU on them, my friend is holding the final slip in her hand.

“Now… take a deep breath. I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to tell me the first answer that comes to mind. Ready? Ok. What school do you want to see on that slip of paper?”

She responds, “Pepperdine.”

I would nod and take that final piece of paper her from her.

And set it on fire.

She is bound to question why I did that. She will have wanted to see the school on the final slip. Why did I burn it?

I would say, “Because that’s the ritual. [Or, “Because that’s the technique."] You expected the slips and the fire to tell you something. And that freed up your mine to come to its own conclusion without feeling the pressure of the decision. After considering all the options from various perspectives, you hoped to see Pepperdine on that piece of paper. I think that’s your answer.”

This is a perfect “out.” You don’t introduce it as a magic trick, so it doesn’t matter if there’s not a climax. And it’s perfectly logical as well. The process itself is valuable to help the person achieve some insight. And maybe help them out if they’re the indecisive type, which is a character trait that doesn’t do anyone any good.

History

In February, Seth wrote me an email that said:

“When your friend is having a hard time choosing between several different options in their life.... Write each option on a piece of paper and put it in a satchel which you give them. Tell them not to open it.

Over the next 5 days you call and give them instructions on how to pick one and destroy it.

On day six, you have them take out the last option and hold it. Before they open it you ask them which option they hope is left. They open the paper. It matches the slip they are holding.”

I thought that was a nice use for that old methodology, but it was when he explained the out that I thought it was really genius. I fleshed it out/modified it to what you see above.

I love magic tricks that play out over a long time, but I don’t trust my friends to walk away with the slips and do it over the course of days. (It may work for you. You know your friends better than I.) I would do it over the course of an evening, or in one concentrated interaction as described above.

So thanks to Seth for sending that my way and allowing me to share it with you.

Also, if you’re interested in a similar (thought also quite different) sort of trick, done under much more impossible conditions, check out Seth’s newest release at AFGMT.com.

I haven’t used that trick myself, because it’s not really designed for someone who performs for friends/family, but it may work for your performing situations. I’m pretty sure it would have fooled me.