Even upside down, Wasserman looks like a gymnast -- compact and muscular. His trick of the moment is the back tuck, which is essentially a back flip from a standing position. He nailed it once before, then lost it.
"Doing a trick once or twice doesn't extinguish the anxiety," he confides. "Fear can stay with you for a long time. I thought I'd mastered the back tuck. But then I was goofing around in my backyard, and I had a bad fall. I could have really hurt myself. I was afraid of the trick all over again, just as if I'd never done it. I guess you never truly conquer your fear. You just have to learn to accept it, without letting it compromise your performance.
"The tricks I learn here always seem 100% impossible when I first attempt them," Wasserman says. "But I start by mastering one small skill, then another, and if I'm patient, I begin to see results. The same goes for my work. I try to imagine what the Web interface of the future might be, and I don't have a clue. But I've learned that it doesn't matter. I've gained the confidence that an answer will eventually emerge -- I just have to keep working at it."
Email
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Buzz Up!
LinkedIn
