How David Blaine SURVIVED 44 Days in a Glass Box

I started when I was about 5 years old, and I carried cards everywhere that I went, and I didn't really know what to do with them, but they just felt right. I mean, early on I would read about all the people I looked up to, and, you know, that was kind of like my college, was finding people that did things that I was really amazed by and then learning as much as I could. In London, I lived in a glass box for 44 days with nothing but water. It was, for me, one of the most difficult things I'd ever done.

Need motivation? Watch a top 10 with Believe Nation. What's up, it's Evan. My one word is believe, and I believe in you. I believe you have an amazing gift inside you that I want to see exploded onto the world. So let's get your motivation to a 10 and get you believing in you. Grab a snack and chew on today's lessons from a man who went from being raised by a single mom and getting his start as a street performer to setting multiple world records and being recognized as one of the greatest magicians of all time. He's David Blaine, and here's my take on his top 10 rules of success. Enjoy! All right, let's kick things off with rule number 1: find your path.

You believe that you see the card, and you actually believe that you see me place the card inside, right? Yes. No, it's always gonna be right here. Let me show you again. Look, so it looks— no, but look. No, but watch, 'cause it's an optical illusion, so you know what I'm doing. So look, you see the card here, and then you really believe that it's going inside, right? No, it's an optical illusion. It's always right here. When was the first time that you knew, that you saw magic? How did it influence your life? Like, how did that start? It started when I was about 5 years old, and I carried cards everywhere that I went, and I didn't really know what to do with them. Them, but they just felt right. So it's like you learn all these little moves with the cards, and in the hands they just feel good. So I didn't know that that existed. And then a librarian, when I was really little, walked me through a self-working mathematical trick. I did it to my mother and she reacted like it was incredible. And then I started to love performing because you would get the reaction. So part of it is just how it feels in the hands. Another part is math, logic, science. And then the other part is the performance aspect. So all those are Very addicting. See how the cards kind of just move across, right? Now if I do that really fast, you won't see it. So look, I'll do it with this card really fast. With the 9 of diamonds, I just shoot. Did you see that? See the 9 shoots right there? Yeah. Magic.

Rule number 2: Make it happen.

So at 18, I think it was, uh, and I don't know if this was a milestone or not, but you I believe this is when you jumped a turnstile, got in some trouble for that. Yeah. Can you tell people? I was doing, I was doing magic in restaurants, and it started as a waiter where I would do magic, and then I— people wanted to come back and just see me doing magic. So I started walking up and down Park Avenue and trying to get different fancy restaurants to hire— not hire me, let me do magic to the people that were dining, and then they would tip me. As I started doing that, I started getting hired by wealthy New Yorkers to do their parties and things like that. One night I was— I jumped over a turnstile, and that's when Giuliani was sweeping everybody. So I, I got locked up, but as I was going there, I kept breaking out of the cuffs for the cops. So they liked that. Cops love that, by the way. I'm dating myself. They actually did. Oh, did they? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I have to pause. So you're like, hey guys, these aren't working. I mean, how do they, how do they respond to that? Yeah, no, no, they, they're all good. I don't— they, they know that I'm not really a threat, but I'm, you know, so it's gonna— anyway, they know they just have to go through the motions. Yeah, so I get put in central booking, and central booking is crazy. It's like everybody's in and out of Rikers, so it's like a tough room, and you're being moved from one cell to another, and there's like 40 guys in there. I'm like, oh man, I'm gonna get my ass kicked. So they're— the 4 biggest guys are sitting on the ground playing spades. So I walk up to them and grab the deck of cards from them, and I'm like, let me show you something. Like, You know, they're ready to kill me. And I start doing magic. And then what happened was they started to go crazy, and these are the toughest guys in the cell. So then the whole cell is around me, you know, 30 guys or 20-some guys all going crazy. And then the guards come in and everybody was reacting to me doing magic, like they were all going crazy again. I was like, whoa, so these people on Park Avenue, these super powerful people, and then in prison, these guys, the reactions are so amazing and so similar. I want to show that. So that became the impetus for the first TV show, which was called Street Magic. You know the guys that do 3-card money, right? Right. All right, this is that game for you right now. Not for me, bro. No, no, no, no money, no money. It's to just pretend. Instead of 3 cards, you hold your fingers like this. So hold your fingers like this. Look, watch this card, right? Remember diamonds. Forget ace, just diamonds. Hold it parallel. What card do you have? What? What card is that? Can I look at it? Yeah, but name it. Name it. What is it? Ace of diamonds. Diamonds. Just diamonds. Look, show it to them. Make sure it's all right. Bingo. All right, show it to them too. Bingo bango. Bingo bango. Cool, man. Hold it like this. Look. Lower, lower, lower. Watch. This one, same thing. Just remember hearts. Forget ace. Just hearts. Watch this switch. Ready? See, I switched it. Look, I'll do it again. See, it switched back. Just switched twice so quick you didn't see it. Get off my shoe, homie. All right. All right. Yeah, it switched twice. Look, I'll do it so you can see it. Look, here's the move. See how the borders line up? Don't put it on the bottom. I'm teaching you. I know I'm teaching. I'm teaching you right now. That's how I do it. Hold it tight though to make it impossible. Because you know the move. I have diamonds. Ready? Right. Without looking at it, what would you bet on? Hearts or diamonds? You got them all. All right, but pretend bet. Would you bet hearts here or hearts here? Or could I impress you if the heart was on top, diamonds on bottom? The heart's on top because you had a heart. Turn your hand over. Nope. Go ahead, turn your hand over.

Rule number 3: Never quit.

Have you ever done a trick that didn't work? Almost every single one.

In front of people?

Like, that failed? Something that failed? Well, the good news about doing magic is, and I think like rappers too, it's like you never know where the end is because it's up to him. So it's— you can keep improvising and going. So there's never a failure unless you quit. So if you keep going, there's not a failure. You just keep changing and moving.

Rule number 4: Challenge yourself.

As a magician, I try to create images that, that make people stop and think. I also try to challenge myself to do things that doctors say are not possible. I was buried alive in New York City in a coffin, buried alive in a coffin in April 1999 for a week. I lived there with nothing but water, and it ended up being so much fun that I I decided I could pursue doing more of these things. The next one is I froze myself in a block of ice for 3 days and 3 nights in New York City. That one was way more difficult than I had expected. The one after that, I stood on top of a 100-foot pillar for 36 hours. I began to hallucinate so hard that the buildings that were behind me started to look like big animal heads. So next, I went to London. In London, I lived in a glass box for 45 days. 4 days with nothing but water. It was, for me, one of the most difficult things I'd ever done, but it was also the most beautiful. There were so many skeptics, especially the press in London, that they started flying cheeseburgers on helicopters around my box to tempt me. So I felt very validated when the New England Journal of Medicine actually used the research for science.

Rule number 5: Be fearless.

So when I was 19 or 20 or something like that, I was, I was at the airport and my bag was missing, and I saw a whole bunch of identical bags coming out, and there was all these guys dressed in identical jumpers. And I was like, I think you guys have one of my bags because I have the exact same bag. It was a Tumi bag. They said, go, go ask him, knock on the window. And it was a limousine, a white limo parked out front with tinted windows. And I knock on the window And the thing rolls down and Mike Tyson's there with his fist up. He's like, "You got a problem?" And I was like, "Holy shit, no, Mike, you're like my favorite person and I grew up with that." You know, so he says, "Jump in." So I jump in the limo with him and we drive to the hotel he's staying at and I'm doing magic to him and it's amazing. And along the way he says to me, he says, "You know, I wasn't supposed to be the heavyweight champ." He's like, "I didn't have, I wasn't tall enough, I didn't have long arms." He's like, "But I had nothing to lose. And when you have nothing to lose, you have everything to gain." And I was kind of like, that was like another like great piece of information from Mike Tyson.

Rule number 6, this is a little bit of a gross one. Amaze your customers.

This is my right hand. This is the hand that I use to do everything. This is an ice pick. This hasn't been switched in or out. This has been here the whole time. Is that true? Yeah. Do you want to make sure it's actually what it seems to be? No. Yeah, that's definitely what it seems to be. This is complete mind over body. Oh, see how it really looks like it's going through the hand?

Yeah.

And does it really look like it's actually— It is. Yeah. Oh, God, no. Oh, it looks like it's actually going in, but there's no blood. See, this is ultimately what they want to see, Kanye. See that? Look, ultimately, in magic, that's what people care about. It's that. See? You see? That's really what they want to see. Oh my God. Wow.

Wow.

Wow. You can see the pressure. Oh, that doesn't have to come through. We did it! No way! Oh, you— oh God, I don't think you clap. I don't think we clap, cuz then he'll clap by accident. That is through your hand. There's no blood. Why? This is the part that could be messy, by the way. Do you want to just feel it, make sure it's actually not an illusion? And I lost my erection entirely. Pull it like this. Pull it straight out. Grab it and just pull it right out. Good. Go ahead, just pull that guy out. Pull. Pull. Pull. Go ahead. You want to hold my wrist? Ninja skills. Just hold me steady. Pull. Go ahead. Pull. Pull. Pull. Pull. Done. Nothing. Oh, no blood. Nothing. Like I promised. It went through your hand. It feels like it went through your hand. This is not a glove. It doesn't retract. Oh my God, man. I was having a pretty trapped day. Wow, wow, that's the craziest thing I've ever seen in my entire life, obviously. I can't even. You're out of your mind in the most, you're just out of your mind in the most beautiful way, boss. That is amazing. My god.

Rule number 7, go with the flow.

If I said to reach in your bag right now and there was a ham sandwich, you'd be like, oh wow, that's a cool trick. How did he get the sandwich in my bag, right? But if he said, "I was hungry right now, I'd really love a sandwich," and then you said, "Reach in your pocket," and now there's a ham sandwich there, then it's not a trick, then it's something much more interesting. And that's really the concept for great magic. I think it's about timing, it's about interacting and being able to go with the flow.

Rule number 8: Find mentors.

One of the best things Brian taught me there, he was an early mentor to me. One of the quotes his dad gave to him is, "Always surround yourself with people that will inspire you or help you grow." And that was just a great piece of advice from him. I took that very seriously and pursued people that I looked up to or that I admired and tried to learn things from them since I didn't have really, you know, a father figure or anything like that. I mean, early on I would read about all the people I looked up to and, you know, that was kind of like my college was finding people that did things that I was really amazed by and then learning as much as I could. And then what I started doing is I started finding all all the books on Nobel Prize winners and then in literature specifically, and then I would read what books they recommended and then I would read the books that they recommended and on the back of that book, it would be what this book was influenced by. So I started going through lots of that stuff.

Rule number 9, work hard.

I'm actually friends with Copperfield. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I get phone calls from him sometimes at like 3:00 AM. Yeah. About nothing. David, yeah, what are we gonna do about this thing? I'm like, what do you mean? You know, and then he'll have this whole idea for something that's insane that should be done in magic, but it's always brilliant. So the guy, you know, I think everybody works pretty hard. I think to be a magician, it looks really easy. Like, you think what Copperfield does is he walks out there and it's, you know, he does it, but that guy works harder than anybody I know, you know what I mean? Yeah, like, he really, really works. And it's hard. That guy's— most, most shows that you guys see, it's like people do like 270 a year. So last year, Copperfield did 600 shows.

And rule number 10, the last one before some very special bonus clips and my personal favorite: master your craft.

Think of any card in the deck. Great. Hold the deck. You're thinking of a card. Do I know what card you're thinking of? Your card just left the deck just now. Look through the deck. Your card isn't there. Good luck. Yeah, it's not there. You won't see it there. No, it's nowhere. Here's what we'll do. Harrison, do me a favor. Grab a piece of fruit for me. Like one that we can open up. Yeah, grab a piece of fruit. Good. Whatever. And is there— can we cut this? Can we take a knife and put it right there? Yeah. Yeah. Can we put it right here? Say your card out loud. 9 of hearts. 9 of hearts. Yeah. Can you turn this sideways? Sideways? Yes. I can cut right through it. Let me not hit your hand. Let's do— hold. Yeah. See inside. See, there's— see how there's a card in the orange? No way. There's one card inside. Please remove it. Take it out. Go ahead. Pull it out. Open it up, Harrison. No, that's— no, no, that's just crazy. Get the fuck out of my house. Okay. Whoa.

Now I've got two very special bonus clips from David Blaine on how to chunk things down and love what you do. But before that, I want to know, what did you learn from this video? What is your commitment of the day? Don't just watch another video, take some action. What is that going to be? You watch this video, write down below the action that you are going to change in your business or in your life. I'm really curious to find out. Thank you so much for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love. I'll see you soon, and enjoy the bonus clips.

What is your secret reserve of strength when you feel that your body or mind can't push through? That's, that's a really good question. So what I, what I do is a lot of it's based on numbers. So I create and I, and I run it across the board. So it's like if I'm If I'm going to run a 10K, I make sure that I get not just to the 6.2, but I'll go always further, like maybe to 7, or I'll pick a number that's important. And then I have these superstitions that if I don't get to this number, something terrible is going to happen. So by committing to this, this almost superstition that's, that's based on numbers, you can use you know, the halfway mark, like, okay, I'm gonna get to 22 days of a fast, but I know I have 44 days. So first I reach the 22-day mark and then I start counting backwards. I said, I already did half, so that half is— so now I could pretend I'm starting fresh. So I have 22 days to go. So let me get through another 11 days. Let me get through. And it's just, it's basically just breaking it down in little chunks, but making sure that you get to that finish line. Didn't you do something or have a very similar superstition when you were a kid in school school, really, like your school bus? You had to do certain things, uh, pull a leaf off a tree, or— Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I would stop and there'd be a leaf that was just out of reach when you jump, and I'd just keep jumping and jumping, and then I have to put something down until I got that. Just little things. But it's weird because when, when I— for me, it was almost like training because I'd set a goal that was very difficult and then I just wouldn't quit until I got it. And part of it was the superstition of doing this ridiculous thing that has no meaning, but just not quitting until it's done. Why do you love doing this so much? What is it that motivates you to do this? It's so many different things, but one of my favorite things is even though I act like I'm not reacting when I'm done doing magic and you see people reacting, I live off of their reactions. So it's like, you know, when, like, when, when she just went, that's what I live for. So I play it pretty casual, but I love seeing people light up or just become pretty raw. And then the other thing about it is a digital fixation, like a love of just playing with cards and manipulating things, and then also learning new things that seem impossible but actually how to do them. So there's so many levels to it. So let me give you the one word secret to happiness. One word. This is all you need to be happy. The most important word ever. If you had to think Do you have one word that's most important to you or that sums you up or that would be kind of like a little beacon?

Hey Believe Nation, if you want to know what the most important one word is for Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuk, Oprah Winfrey, will.i.am, and Howard Schultz, I have a very special secret video for you. Check the description for details.