Full Width [alt+shift+f] Shortcuts [alt+shift+k]
Sign Up [alt+shift+s] Log In [alt+shift+l]
1
Some businesses—not all, and not even most!—don’t trust you. They design their products and marketing to lock you in and make you feel reliant on them.  The incentive for them is to have lots of steady customers; if you can come and go at any point, then that business isn’t as steady as it could […] The post Choose to trust yourself appeared first on Herbert Lui.
1st Jun 2026

Stay updated

Get a weekly newsletter with the top 5 articles worth reading every week.

More from Herbert Lui

Falling back in love, for the right reasons

When he was a young man, Andy Buckley wanted to be an actor. After graduating from Stanford, he moved to New York City to try to make it. He appeared in a couple of music videos, but didn’t experience much initial success otherwise.  Andy pivoted, spending much of his early career working as a stockbroker […] The post Falling back in love, for the right reasons appeared first on Herbert Lui.

2 weeks ago 1 votes
Creative slack

It’s much easier to be creative when you’re not constantly worried about tradeoffs.  In order to relax, and actually create, you need to be able to experiment. And not every experiment will turn out successfully. Many will fail. You need to be able to make mistakes. Let’s call this creative abundance: you feel light-hearted, free […] The post Creative slack appeared first on Herbert Lui.

1st Aug 2026 2 votes
The Love Metric

If you’re publishing content, one useful way to measure success is to read what people are writing about it online. Margarita Noriega, who’s the current managing editor of Morning Brew, calls this the Love Metric. When she sees someone saying something nice about her work online, she shares it with her team. I did something […] The post The Love Metric appeared first on Herbert Lui.

1st Jul 2026 1 votes
Be mindful of renting capabilities

“For a while, he even makes you believe that his power has become yours. Irresistible power… that makes every desire’s fufilment seem inevitable.” When I heard this line from Rings of Power, it reminded me of this: Sometimes, business partners want to make you rely on them in order to gain leverage on you—as if […] The post Be mindful of renting capabilities appeared first on Herbert Lui.

1st May 2026 1 votes

More in life

I AM NOW ON CLOUD 9,000

An Elvis fan writes to her idol

a week ago 2 votes
Your Career Isn't a Meritocracy. It's a Trustocracy.

Trustocracy sounds funny, but it's a more accurate representation of how we're measured. We aren't (and can't) be measured objectively on what we accomplish at work. But we are (unavoidably) measured by the trust we've built with our co-workers.

a week ago 1 votes
How to Outlive Your Bucket List

When you’re young, making a bucket list – things you want to do before you die — feels like you’re choosing prizes that will arrive in the mail later. I’ll take fluency in Italian, please, a 300-lb bench press, and a swim in the Nile. I’ll definitely want to drive a Ferrari on the Autobahn at some point. How about […]

a week ago 1 votes
Why I Won’t Reply To Your AI-Generated Email

The Email Exchange That Radicalised Me

a week ago 1 votes
📚 BoredReading

You seem to be enjoying this.

Join free to unlock everything.

Create free account

Already have an account? Sign in