Blinking
Experienced magicians know to watch out for blinking – not because they check their audience when to get away with a sneaky move (of course they do that, too, but that’s a different story), but the tendency to blink yourself when you want to hide a special moment.
I became aware of my own blinking when practicing the “Pass” and watching myself in the mirror – it’s a pretty standard, yet difficult to do card move – after years (literally – I think I started in 2003) of practice, I’m still not happy with my handling.
In the delicate moment where everything happens, I blinked “automatically”, unconsciously trying to fool myself that everything looked innocent and sweet, when actually some cards flashed.
Now, of course, like many other moves, especially the Pass has to be done on the offbeat. But still, my blinking in that situation reminded me of a kid covering her eyes and thinking that now nobody can see her. Even worse, I was not really aware of it. (Note: recording your moves with a video camera might help to get some more objective views on your handling. Recording your kid in that situation and showing them the tape afterwards is a different story…)
Weeks after my discovery, I noticed the same behaviour when entering my PIN code into a Bankomat (ATM) – I blinked. Usually, I cover the keypad from other people’s view anyway, but still I was amused.
Watch out for your own blinking in similar situations!