There are ten things every great mentalist has. Starting with the first trait, understand what is mentalism, what is a mentalist, and how to read minds.
A clear understanding of what mentalism is.
This is a fundamental question that every great mentalist answers.
Mentalism is not magic tricks with mental themes; that is a style of magic called "mental magic." Instead, mentalism is performance art. The performer (mentalist) entertains his audience with an act based on fascinating mind-related abilities.
It doesn't matter if the mentalist center his expertise in the realm of psychology (reading body language or influencing others) or in the psychic field (seeing flashes of the future or peeking into a stranger’s mind).
The mentalist is creating a mentalism experience.
In doing mentalism, you need to create a credible mystery depending on what your premise is.
Mentalism is performance art. An “armchair mentalist” who doesn’t perform for real people is not a mentalist. On the other hand, money and professionalism is not the main factor. Both the social performer and the professional can be a mentalist as long as they take mentalism seriously.
If you are a magician, understand that magic and mentalism are different mystery art forms. They may converge in some ways, but they are very different in others. Therefore, if you are a magician, remove all your cliché moves (showing your hands empty, cliché lines, sleeves rolled up, etc.).
You can be a magician and a mentalist, but each row should have proper differentiation. For example, David Blaine is known as a magician. His audiences know he’s skillful with sleight of hand. But when he “reads their minds,” they believe it. For instance, in his first TV special, after Blaine threw a card through a window, the man scratched his chin and said, “Ok, the card tricks, I understand, but when you read my mind!”
On the other side of the coin, Derren Brown is known as a mentalist. But in his stage show, he levitated a table—clearly a magic trick, not mentalism. But by that time, his mentalist persona was so well-established that he can do that sort of thing and pull it off. If you are not Derren and you try that in your mentalism act, your audience will see your mentalism as just another clever trick.
A great memory is an essential asset to the mentalist. The human memory comprises short-term memory, long-term memory, and working memory. The devout mentalist trains all three components.
Virtual mentalist Jon Finch has developed his own personal memory exercises to develop his mind.
Why does it matter?
At an informal gathering, Finch had no props on him but was still able to perform mentalism. Three people had coins. Each flipped a quarter and recorded the “heads or tails” outcome — 30 times. Mentalist Jon Finch remembered all 90 coin toss outcomes in order.
Entertaining? No. Incredible? Yes. But a mentalist wouldn’t do that boring stunt in a show. They were just his nephews and niece.
If you don't love mentalism, don't do it. Being a mentalist is not easy. There are compromises, but if you feel passion for it, the efforts will have a desirable result for you. You must have a passion for the history, the study, and the creation of authentic ideas, performance, and the creative aspect.
Act like a professional, even if you are not. Take mentalism seriously. Practice your routines, the necessary actions, and be aware of what you did correctly after each performance, as well as what can be improved.
Write your script. Don't be naive and just improvise on stage. Improvisation is a difficult task of spontaneous creation based on previous work. It is not only inventing something on stage or just saying something.
During a performance, show your passion and enthusiasm about being there.
Express your passion for mentalism by learning at reading as much as you can: The essentials, the specifics, the good classics, the obscure ones. Purchase the best mentalism books consciously, study deeply. Learn from watching, but also reading. Learn in digital formats and even physical: books, ebooks, videos, etc.
Everything is valid to create in you a more knowledgeable performer. Ideas are tools. Get as many as you can. Depending on your style, you can create wonders with different tools. Support creators directly and let them know that you love their efforts to push mentalism in new directions.
Have an apparent premise as a performer.
Who are you as a theatrical performer?
What can you do as a mentalist?
What can't you do as a mentalist?
I invite you to write your story as a mentalist. Do it. It's like meta misdirection. Take a pen and paper and write your own chronicle. In that matter, you will start to develop a character, a straightforward premise as a performer that will allow you to be congruent.
How are you reading the mind of your participant?
What is the process involved? Are you seeing images or letters or feeling different sensations? Talent is the factor that sometimes makes us lazy. We trust too much in talent, so we don't work hard, but no successful and influential person made history by talent alone in any human practice. Hard work, discipline, and constant efforts are needed if you want to be your best self and create the best experiences in performances for others. Work in those details because they make significant changes.
Believe in your premise. Remember that mentalism is a philosophical school of thought in which the mind is all; all things are of the mind. If you have it in your mind, you have it in your reality.
Understand the theater and performance psychology.
It doesn't matter if you like theater or psychology as topics of interest, you need to know concepts and ideas that can make you a better performer.
How to stand on stage
How to project your voice
How to use silence
How to create an applause cue
How to create dramatic poses
How to use a microphone
How to use staging
How to use your verbal communication in effective manners
How to use your nonverbal communication in an effective manner
How to influence others using the linguistic patterns
It doesn't matter if you like theater or psychology as topics of interest. You need to know concepts and ideas that can make you a better performer.
Some people have these skills as personal talents—not in an academic manner, but as part of his personality—but I invite you to take lessons, investigate, and learn from others how to achieve mental feats like clairvoyance, telepathy, and precognition. Go to as much live theater, shows, concerts, and performances as possible. You can always learn techniques and ideas to engage your audience.
You are unique.
Your volunteer is unique.
Why negate that in your mentalism? Embrace and explore this uniqueness.
Some mentalists, when they fail to read someone’s mind, resent the volunteer. The great performers learn from this and sweat over how to better direct their participants in the next shows.
The saying is to be yourself, but you can't be yourself if you don't know yourself. Consciously start that path of self-knowledge, and I guarantee you your mentalism will be more authentic. You will be more comfortable on stage, and you will deliver better performances. Explore your creative potentials. When it comes to creating methods and routines, not everyone is innovative. That doesn't matter. There are fantastic mentalists worldwide that use conventions from other creators. Still, they are incredible performers, and they use their creativity in those practical paths. Some mentalists are shy during a performance, rarely performing for real people. But they contribute to the art with unusual methods that push the standards.
The incredible David Hoy taught this as part of his philosophy, and all great mentalists believe it. Being bold is not performing weak methods. It's being so confident and convincing as a performer that the most basic, simple, and ridiculous method can be a deadly weapon in his hands.
Being bold is problematic because it leaves the methods and technique apart and forces you to work on your premise, your personality, and your charisma. But, it is the best gimmick available. And it is free.
Ignore your fears. If you practice and rehearse enough, nothing stops you from using the bold methods and techniques. Be unafraid to use simple methods with confidence and be bold to open yourself to your audience. Being vulnerable is difficult as a human, and you need to be bold to do it. Still, again, if you do it, your audience will appreciate you. So be proactive in being subtle.
Don't try to be Mr. Incredible. The more incredible you seem, the less credible you are.
Take chances. Don't be afraid to be wrong. In mentalism, you can be wrong, and that can add credibility to your performance. Being wrong doesn't mean that your complete act fails, but you take calculated risks and let your intuition flow. You will find that the miracles (which often happen) overshadow the misses.
What more can you offer than your mystery performance? If you were your spectators, would you be interested in talking with the performer? If you remove the trick, are you still memorable as a person?
Any mentalism effect is a companion of your self, not your complete self. You need to be a good listener, have stories that command attention and be fascinating and entertaining even without your tricks.
In this manner, you will become an integral performer who knows that even without performing, you can leave an indelible impression on another person and not just impress them. Being interesting without your tricks is even more relevant in propless material. You are vulnerable as a performer without a prop's potential psychological and physical protection if you can't connect with your participants.
Discover a lot of different aspects that motivate you. They can inspire you to create new presentations, themes, and even methods. Do you like music? Do a routine based on different songs, or even play an instrument on stage. Most mentalist acts lack variety—your audience will appreciate it. Do you like poetry? Do you enjoy reading psychology? Or even science fiction? Use a book that you want and use it to anchor your mind-reading.
Read about what you enjoy, and also about what you don't enjoy. Read books that your audience reads. Meet people, learn to listen to them, and care about them.
You can tell a performer is interested in different art forms, sciences, and practices when watching his performance. Their type of language and their different touched themes make people feel that and appreciate the variety.
Your spectators couldn't care less whether you had a lousy day or whether your presentation didn't go as planned. You are in there to manufacture an entertaining experience of psychic mystery. They showed up because they want to see an excellent performance. So you need to do give them an excellent performance.
Love your spectators, tell them how marvelous they are, and they will love you. Don't concentrate on how amazing you are or how miraculous your feats are. Do not exhibit egotism. No one likes a person who regularly talks about himself. Let your audience be the star. In this manner, your show will not be performer-centered but rather audience-centered, not only producing a good experience for them but also getting you recognition as a gentle psychic kind of guy.
According to zoom mentalist Jon Finch, just as there are ten characteristics of magicians, there are ten characteristics that every mentalist should have. This is based on observation and modeling of his various inspirations in this beautiful art, profession, and passion that is mentalism.
