The magician reaches into his pocket, pulls out a small notepad, and tears off a sheet of paper. He explains how powerful our thoughts—or willpower—are and how much influence they have on our daily activities.

He says: “Laat me het uitleggen,” and then writes the phrase “I CAN’T DO IT” on the slip of paper. He then hands the slip to a spectator and asks him to read the text, memorize it, and then try to tear the paper. To his surprise, the spectator is unable to do so.

The magician takes the note back and writes on the other side: “I CAN DO IT”. He then hands it back to the spectator and asks them to memorize this new sequence, “positive”, and try to tear the note again. Surprisingly, the spectator is able to tear the note effortlessly this time.

Want to take the routine a step further? Once the spectator has successfully torn the note, you can ask them to try one more time. This time, they won’t be able to do it again. The magician then says: “Confidence is good but Overconfidence is bad”. Of course, to pull off this kind of feat, you have to be a magician—after which you yourself tear off one of the torn pieces of the same paper.

A particularly clever gimmick that you can easily carry in your pocket and use to perform countless amazing mentalism effects. Perfect for close-up, but also suitable for use on stage.

• The sheets of paper measure 9 x 6.2 cm.
• Once you know the secret, the effects you can perform with this are limited only by your own imagination.
• The notepad contains 30 sheets, so you can perform this mentalism effect on 30 different occasions.