Ze Frank: Executing and Theoretical Perfection

Merlin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 06:44:33 -0500

the show with zefrank (2007-11-06 / “washington, ideas, brain crack”)

Ze Frank, on executing ideas even, or especially, when you can’t do them perfectly. (PNSFW)

As some pals and I have been banging around ideas for new projects, I’ve been thinking a lot about Ze Frank, and realizing what a talented and brave fellow he is.

I didn’t follow The Show closely during its beloved one-year run, but I’ve enjoyed several episodes quite a lot, and, in the time since The Show ended, I’ve retroactively (sporadically) been catching up on some of the little projects Ze’s pushed out over the last few years. Prolific, warm, and very engaging work.

The “brain crack” video arrived with perfect timing, because I’ve been obsessing over a similar idea. In the video above, Ze says, unblinkingly:

And the longer they wait, the more they convince themselves of how perfectly that idea should executed…But the bummer is most ideas kind of suck when you do them.

That’s inspiration that’s hard to beat.

Also, although most sports racers certainly will have seen it by now, Ze’s talk at TED from a few years back is a stitch.

[Note: This post originally appeared on our daughter site, “43 Folders Clips,” and we liked it enough to republish it here.]

”Ze Frank: Executing and Theoretical Perfection” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on January 01, 2009. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"