People listen best while watching.

That’s shaped my career for over 25 years, but it started with a wrong turn in fourth grade. A magician performed at my school, and our teacher led us the wrong way to lunch. I wound up behind the curtain and saw the levitation device. Suddenly, magic was science, and that made it even more amazing.

That curiosity followed me everywhere: archery, BMX, skateboards, martial arts, juggling, magic, yo-yos, top spinning, coin rolling, card throwing, coin rolling, and more. I watched vaudeville jugglers in Okoboji, street performers in San Francisco, and Omaha’s own Jek Kelly at the Renaissance Festival. I wanted to know how people did things that seemed impossible.

Nobody starts out good at this stuff. You fail. You drop things. You crash. You occasionally wonder why you tried at all. I’ve broken a tooth with a yo-yo during a performance and dropped torches in front of audiences. You can’t hide failure when you’re juggling.

But I didn’t become confident because I stopped failing. I became confident because I stopped being afraid to look foolish. And if you can learn to laugh at yourself, you’ll never run out of things to laugh at.

For years I thought I was collecting unusual abilities. Eventually I realized I was practicing how to be fully present, the moment of now. We spend so much time in the past or future. One way I’ve learned to return is through what I call ACDS: Arts, Crafts, Disciplines, and Skills. They give the inner critic a job and sometimes, when you’re absorbed, that voice gets quieter.

After a lifetime of learning different skills, I noticed a pattern. First, failure, then focus, then flow, and eventually fulfillment, because confidence comes from competence. Martial arts, science, comedy, they all taught me that understanding doesn’t kill wonder. It deepens it. That became my keynote, The System. There is a fifth stage, but I’ll save that for the presentation.

I earned my teaching degree and spent a year in the classroom before discovering another way to educate and connect: the stage. Nearly three decades later, I’m still teaching, just with bigger audiences and more laughter. I’ve appeared on Last Comic Standing, trained at Second City, delivered a TEDx talk, and built shows where people don’t just hear ideas, they watch them happen.

I don’t claim supernatural powers. I have curiosity, practice, teachers, and a long list of mistakes. The most amazing thing I can show an audience isn’t what I can do. It’s what they might discover they’re capable of doing themselves.

I’m The Amazing Arthur. Let’s make your next event nothing short of amazing.