Learn locks, handcuffs and shackles. Harry Houdini's apprenticeship, so to speak, was in breaking out of handcuffs and other kinds of personal shackles. Houdini wowed audiences with his deft escapes from these kinds of restraints and used the momentum to advance on to making bigger and more dramatic escapes. To perform like Houdini, start with skilled but moderate escapes.
Integrate some of the grisly. In order to gain a little more notoriety Houdini added "the needle trick" in which he swallowed a thread connecting a few needles and then regurgitated it. Houdini liked the trick and the gruesome nature of the performance paid off by enhancing his fame. So, as your skill increases add a gruesome or grisly trick to increase the tension of your performance.
Cage yourself. Houdini moved on to bigger and better performance by shackling himself and then locking himself in oversized tanks. The Milk Can trick and the Water Torture trick are two examples of Houdini's successful attempt to up the ante. To perform like Houdini, magnify the difficulty of your tricks by adding another layer of bondage or restraint to the trick.
Accept challenges. One of the things that distinguished Houdini most from other professional magicians of his day was his willingness to accept even the most difficult challenges. In one trick, Houdini agreed to break out of handcuffs that a locksmith spent five years designing. To perform like the master of magic accept any challenge and do what you have to do to beat it.