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Herbert Lui

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Herbert Lui
Deliberate play When I was a child, my parents enlisted me in piano class for the better half of a decade. Those...
3 months ago
58

Deliberate play

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3 months ago
When I was a child, my parents enlisted me in piano class for the better half of a decade. Those were long years. Every day, I was tasked with practicing two or three songs six times. During exam season, I would need to practice my exam songs ten times perfectly—which meant that...
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Herbert Lui
The new direction When you’re exploring a new direction in your career, you are bound to experience confusion. It is a...
3 months ago
54

The new direction

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3 months ago
When you’re exploring a new direction in your career, you are bound to experience confusion. It is a particularly painful, vulnerable, emotion. You may experience an emotional instinct to reach out and fall back into the familiar. All of a sudden, the old, familiar, well-trodden...
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Herbert Lui
Just do the real thing (again) If you want to get good at something, just start by doing it. Today.  Sam Altman writes an important...
3 months ago
52

Just do the real thing (again)

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3 months ago
If you want to get good at something, just start by doing it. Today.  Sam Altman writes an important reminder on this: don’t outsmart yourself and spend precious time and energy working on fake prerequisites. Here’s an example, from my life, that I write about in Creative Doing:...
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Herbert Lui
Confidence vs. trusting the process “This might not work,” Seth Godin writes in his blog post, “Out on a limb.” (It’s one of my...
3 months ago
42

Confidence vs. trusting the process

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3 months ago
“This might not work,” Seth Godin writes in his blog post, “Out on a limb.” (It’s one of my favorites, alongside “Talker’s Block.” ) It’s fascinating to see this idea make it into a key part of his book The Practice, which I recently picked up and find myself liking a lot. If you...
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Herbert Lui
I don’t miss RSS one bit… Because I use it every day. I use NetNewsWire to read new posts. I subscribe to a bunch of...
2 months ago
38

I don’t miss RSS one bit…

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
Because I use it every day. I use NetNewsWire to read new posts. I subscribe to a bunch of newsletters hosted on Substack—you can just type /feed after the URL and you’ll receive Substack through RSS. You can do the same with Medium. For other newsletters, I use Kill the...
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Herbert Lui
Worth the wait Late is better than never, and it’s never too late. Even if the line is long, and you missed a...
3 months ago
38

Worth the wait

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3 months ago
Late is better than never, and it’s never too late. Even if the line is long, and you missed a chance to join earlier. If the best time to start was yesterday, the second best time is today. Being patient is much easier than it looks.  Some lines don’t need you to be present, so...
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Herbert Lui
Itoya and the charm of stationary While corporations such as Staples or Office Depot may sell supplies, a retailer like Itoya sells...
3 months ago
37

Itoya and the charm of stationary

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3 months ago
While corporations such as Staples or Office Depot may sell supplies, a retailer like Itoya sells stationary. The difference is stationary comes with a charm just as essential as the equipment—creativity, possibilities, and consideration. If you visit Itoya’s 18-floor flagship...
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Herbert Lui
Fast & Furious The Fast & Furious franchise was inspired by an article on street racing culture by Kenneth Li. The...
3 months ago
36

Fast & Furious

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3 months ago
The Fast & Furious franchise was inspired by an article on street racing culture by Kenneth Li. The first three movies in this Fast & Furious franchise—Fast & Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift—maintained its signature by staying true to this...
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Herbert Lui
The vessel heuristic What if, when you made art, you weren’t expressing yourself? What if you were a vessel for something...
3 months ago
36

The vessel heuristic

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3 months ago
What if, when you made art, you weren’t expressing yourself? What if you were a vessel for something greater to express themselves through? “The human mind is literally an antenna,” Pharrell says. “It picks up waves and transmissions from the ultimate source, from the ether.”...
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Herbert Lui
Greatness means avoiding stupid mistakes consistently Shane Parrish writes at Brain Food, “Moments don’t make legends. Consistency does. And the hardest...
3 months ago
35

Greatness means avoiding stupid mistakes consistently

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3 months ago
Shane Parrish writes at Brain Food, “Moments don’t make legends. Consistency does. And the hardest consistency isn’t in doing brilliant things but avoiding stupid ones. Every mistake puts you in hard mode, forcing you to make up lost ground.” In some lines of work, a person must...
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Herbert Lui
A place and its magic When my partner and I were on our honeymoon in Hawaii earlier this year, a driver told us about how...
3 months ago
35

A place and its magic

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3 months ago
When my partner and I were on our honeymoon in Hawaii earlier this year, a driver told us about how the island had lost its magic to him. After he spent a couple of years there, he naturally stopped noticing the beauty of the island. He felt wistful about this, and while his...
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Herbert Lui
How do you decide what’s worth reading? Travel brings about a great opportunity: to visit local bookstores. On a trip to Hong Kong, Tokyo,...
2 months ago
34

How do you decide what’s worth reading?

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
Travel brings about a great opportunity: to visit local bookstores. On a trip to Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Shanghai, my family and I had the privilege of visiting these bookstores: Daikanyama T-Site (my favorite in the world and default recommendation to anyone visiting Tokyo), Ginza...
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Herbert Lui
Invest in your stories My friend Peter started posting at LinkedIn a couple of years ago. He noticed that while people who...
3 months ago
34

Invest in your stories

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3 months ago
My friend Peter started posting at LinkedIn a couple of years ago. He noticed that while people who followed him appreciated his advice, what they remembered most were his stories—about how he met his co-founder and started an agency, how they spun out new companies, and his move...
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Herbert Lui
Disorientation When you first land in a new place, where you don’t speak the language, you’re probably going to...
3 months ago
33

Disorientation

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3 months ago
When you first land in a new place, where you don’t speak the language, you’re probably going to make some mistakes. You’ll get in the wrong line at the airport. Queue on the wrong side of the escalator. Realize you’ve unintentionally broken etiquette or convention of some sort....
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Herbert Lui
Serious writing In Impro, Keith Johnstone describes how his teachers taught him to write, “They wanted me to reject...
3 months ago
33

Serious writing

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3 months ago
In Impro, Keith Johnstone describes how his teachers taught him to write, “They wanted me to reject and discriminate, believing that the best artist was the one who made the most elegant choices. They analysed poems to show how difficult ‘real’ writing was, and they taught that I...
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Herbert Lui
Some notes on a return visit to Hong Kong In late 2021, I moved to Hong Kong for six months. My partner and I enjoyed it so much that we ended...
3 months ago
32

Some notes on a return visit to Hong Kong

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3 months ago
In late 2021, I moved to Hong Kong for six months. My partner and I enjoyed it so much that we ended up staying nearly a year and a half. We moved to New York City shortly after that, and I started my job at Figma.  I always thought I’d document the trip some other […] The post...
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Herbert Lui
Turner’s practice When you look at one of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s paintings, you might notice his work with...
3 months ago
32

Turner’s practice

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3 months ago
When you look at one of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s paintings, you might notice his work with color. Yes—while it is a landscape painting, and landscapes were seen as a relatively low form of art at the time, that Turner took on any way for better commercial prospects—it’s...
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Herbert Lui
Be the first If you really want to make a difference in somebody’s life, be the first person to make a...
3 months ago
31

Be the first

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3 months ago
If you really want to make a difference in somebody’s life, be the first person to make a contribution.  This could mean being their first customer, their first donor, or the first person to leave a comment or share the work.  It will make a powerful impression, give them energy,...
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Herbert Lui
Every dollar you save is a coupon on the next thing you buy Retailers often offer incentives to encourage customers to buy more stuff. This can look like buy...
3 months ago
31

Every dollar you save is a coupon on the next thing you buy

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3 months ago
Retailers often offer incentives to encourage customers to buy more stuff. This can look like buy two get one free, buy one get one 50% off, flash sales, and free shipping thresholds. Most of these mechanisms are designed to short circuit your brain. They work against clear...
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Herbert Lui
On lateness and imperfection At my first job, I realized that I’d missed a meeting invite and my team had started without me. I...
3 months ago
31

On lateness and imperfection

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3 months ago
At my first job, I realized that I’d missed a meeting invite and my team had started without me. I was early in my career, and hesitant to join the meeting late in-person. I felt embarrassed and, without knowing it, I started beating myself up. How could I be so inept? If I could...
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Herbert Lui
Pausing remains powerful My friend’s dad had a great saying: to “assume” makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me.” For example, if...
3 months ago
31

Pausing remains powerful

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3 months ago
My friend’s dad had a great saying: to “assume” makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me.” For example, if you misspoke to another person and they assume they know your intentions, you look like an ass to them because they think you are being mean—and they will have made an ass of...
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Herbert Lui
Mutual understanding Take responsibility for understanding other people. Don’t expect people to understand you the first...
3 months ago
31

Mutual understanding

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3 months ago
Take responsibility for understanding other people. Don’t expect people to understand you the first time.  They may not want to let you know they don’t understand—and they may not want to hurt your feelings—so it’s your job to make them feel safe enough to speak up.  Better yet,...
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Herbert Lui
Stories as psychological moonshots In 1969, commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo 11 on the...
3 months ago
30

Stories as psychological moonshots

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3 months ago
In 1969, commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo 11 on the moon. It was the first step to send people into space and discover literal galaxies of new possibilities. This project became the archetypal one for ambitious, exploratory, work; we...
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Herbert Lui
My 2015 interview with MC Jin In 2002, Jin Auyeung took over hip-hop by winning a weekly freestyle competition for seven...
3 months ago
30

My 2015 interview with MC Jin

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3 months ago
In 2002, Jin Auyeung took over hip-hop by winning a weekly freestyle competition for seven consecutive weeks on 106 & Park. His debut song, “Learn Chinese,” was on regular rotation in my elementary school, and my friends would holler out the Cantonese ad-libs. It was a moment...
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Herbert Lui
Define it Ambiguity makes language wonderful. The same sentence, or even word, could mean something entirely...
3 months ago
29

Define it

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3 months ago
Ambiguity makes language wonderful. The same sentence, or even word, could mean something entirely different to another person. A writer may have a specific intention for their words, and yet there could be as many different interpretations as there are readers.  This also means...
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Herbert Lui
Friends pay full price Several months ago, I met a new friend and gave them a copy of Creative Doing as a gift. They...
3 months ago
29

Friends pay full price

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3 months ago
Several months ago, I met a new friend and gave them a copy of Creative Doing as a gift. They responded that they would buy another copy, saying, “Friends pay full price.” It was refreshing, the complete flip of the usual friends and family discount. (Or in my case, giving gift...
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Herbert Lui
Kowloon Walled City A couple of years ago, I visited a beautiful park where the Kowloon Walled City used to stand. It...
3 months ago
29

Kowloon Walled City

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3 months ago
A couple of years ago, I visited a beautiful park where the Kowloon Walled City used to stand. It was my first time hearing about it. This article breaks down its history. There is also some great information in this infographic. Here was what the Kowloon Walled City looked like...
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Herbert Lui
Creative unattachment It’s best to attach the value of your work based on something that’s within your control. This could...
3 months ago
28

Creative unattachment

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3 months ago
It’s best to attach the value of your work based on something that’s within your control. This could mean a way of doing things, a philosophy, or a set of values—or all three. Championship NFL coach Bill Walsh would call this a Standard of Performance.  Here are some things you...
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Herbert Lui
Clocks Centuries ago, clocks were advanced technology. To the members of the Qing dynasty that ruled China...
2 months ago
26

Clocks

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2 months ago
Centuries ago, clocks were advanced technology. To the members of the Qing dynasty that ruled China from the Forbidden City in Beijing, clocks did more than just tell time and help them organize their day. These very rare, well-decorated, ornate, devices represented status and...
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Herbert Lui
Everything I shipped in 2024 Self-initiated creative projects: Figma projects: FGX projects: I didn’t count all of the blog posts...
2 months ago
23

Everything I shipped in 2024

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2 months ago
Self-initiated creative projects: Figma projects: FGX projects: I didn’t count all of the blog posts that I published here, which I’m absolutely delighted by. There were also some really important personal practices I shipped, including a meditation practice and journaling. I got...
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Herbert Lui
Openness When I was a senior in high school, my English teacher shared an op-ed she clipped from a newspaper...
2 months ago
23

Openness

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2 months ago
When I was a senior in high school, my English teacher shared an op-ed she clipped from a newspaper entitled, “Please offend me, and allow me to offend you.” The spirit of the class discussion focused on how important it was for you, me, and everybody else, to be able to say what...
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Herbert Lui
The leap In The Dark Knight Rises, a villain defeats Batman and locks him up inside an ancient prison known...
2 months ago
22

The leap

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2 months ago
In The Dark Knight Rises, a villain defeats Batman and locks him up inside an ancient prison known as the Pit. The Pit bears resemblance to an extremely large well, and all prisoners are free to climb out of the Pit to escape.  The only thing standing in the way is a particularly...
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Herbert Lui
Find a place where your effort makes an impact Early in his career, Brian Lee juggled a bunch of projects. This included managing recording artists...
2 months ago
22

Find a place where your effort makes an impact

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2 months ago
Early in his career, Brian Lee juggled a bunch of projects. This included managing recording artists Dumbfoundead and Breezy Lovejoy. It was Brian who suggested to the latter that he should change his name to something closer to Anderson .Paak.  In addition to investing into...
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Herbert Lui
Rereading past work One of the best things about writing this blog is rereading the posts. Here are some I’ve found...
2 months ago
21

Rereading past work

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2 months ago
One of the best things about writing this blog is rereading the posts. Here are some I’ve found myself reading again lately: On creative work: On going direct: The post Rereading past work appeared first on Herbert Lui.
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Herbert Lui
Clear structures for creative visions When a creative vision for a project is too ambiguous, you need a person to drive it forward and...
2 months ago
21

Clear structures for creative visions

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2 months ago
When a creative vision for a project is too ambiguous, you need a person to drive it forward and clarify it. That person probably needs to be you.  To do this, you might find it helpful to channel a creative vision through a clear structure.  One example: at Figma, I was involved...
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Herbert Lui
Four ways to reach out to your network for (job) opportunities I recently contributed to a discussion on Hacker News about the pains of job hunting. In particular,...
2 months ago
21

Four ways to reach out to your network for (job) opportunities

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2 months ago
I recently contributed to a discussion on Hacker News about the pains of job hunting. In particular, my comment was on the topic of tapping the people you know on the shoulder, without sounding too desperate or forward. Rather than worrying about how you come off, focus on being...
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Herbert Lui
Who came before you? Sometimes, it helps to remember that you’re never alone. You are just one of the more recent people...
2 months ago
21

Who came before you?

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2 months ago
Sometimes, it helps to remember that you’re never alone. You are just one of the more recent people in a long line of people that started before you, connected together by your craft. In Eat a Peach, David Chang notes the absurdity of working in a kitchen. Every chef goes through...
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Herbert Lui
If you’re embarrassed by your early work, that means you did it right Anybody who does anything worth doing knows how difficult it is to get through the early work. ...
a month ago
20

If you’re embarrassed by your early work, that means you did it right

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a month ago
Anybody who does anything worth doing knows how difficult it is to get through the early work.  While you have great taste, your skills aren’t at the level you need to match it yet—so you make work that falls short of your vision. It feels mildly embarrassing at the time, but as...
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Herbert Lui
Don’t worry about getting chosen There are plenty of good people making good work who don’t get selected for the lists—30 Under 30,...
2 months ago
19

Don’t worry about getting chosen

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2 months ago
There are plenty of good people making good work who don’t get selected for the lists—30 Under 30, bestseller list, honor roll, etc. That doesn’t take anything away from their work. It certainly doesn’t diminish them in any way.  Similarly, making the list doesn’t guarantee...
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Herbert Lui
Algorithms charge an ignorance premium on marketing When you write (or make videos, music, etc.) and rely on an algorithm or platform to distribute your...
2 months ago
19

Algorithms charge an ignorance premium on marketing

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2 months ago
When you write (or make videos, music, etc.) and rely on an algorithm or platform to distribute your work, you are also paying for it to do so.  You may not realize it during the good months, but in the bad months, you’ll start wondering where your earnings went.  The platform...
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Herbert Lui
Three quotes on routine living Living a heavily structured life, always by the rules, also drains it of vitality. “Consistency is...
a month ago
17

Three quotes on routine living

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a month ago
Living a heavily structured life, always by the rules, also drains it of vitality. “Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead,” Aldous Huxley writes.  That’s part of the drawbacks of relying too heavily on habits; the...
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Herbert Lui
You won’t think your way out of overthinking Overthinking—making and updating plans, gathering information, talking to people—is only useful for...
a month ago
15

You won’t think your way out of overthinking

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a month ago
Overthinking—making and updating plans, gathering information, talking to people—is only useful for protecting you from the pain of reality and the hard work it takes to learn.  It is not useful if you actually want to achieve your goal. What is useful is doing. Because you’ve...
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Herbert Lui
Reconsider your definitions One of my clients was a co-founder of a company that had raised $60 million in funding before they...
a month ago
15

Reconsider your definitions

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a month ago
One of my clients was a co-founder of a company that had raised $60 million in funding before they signed on my editorial studio to work with them. We met to discuss the project, and it went well—they liked the strategy and were ready to kick off.  Towards the end of the meeting,...
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Herbert Lui
To minimize overthinking, set and adhere to a time constraint Doechii made her mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, in a month. She says, “If I sit with art for...
a month ago
15

To minimize overthinking, set and adhere to a time constraint

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a month ago
Doechii made her mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, in a month. She says, “If I sit with art for too long, I start to overthink. Then you start over editing. Suddenly you can find yourself with a completely different picture. That’s why I set a hard time limit. I told myself:...
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Herbert Lui
Free lunches Early in my life, I learned the motto, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” The implied lesson...
a month ago
15

Free lunches

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a month ago
Early in my life, I learned the motto, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” The implied lesson is to be careful around somebody offering you something for free—because there’s usually a hidden cost. They must have something to gain from it, and that’s why they’re giving it to...
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Herbert Lui
Who you are vs. how you appear I recently came across The Luddite Club co-founder Logan Lane’s speech at MoMA R&D Salon 48...
a month ago
14

Who you are vs. how you appear

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
I recently came across The Luddite Club co-founder Logan Lane’s speech at MoMA R&D Salon 48 entitled, “No More Likes” (via Alex Vadukul). Her closing message really resonated with me: There’s a certain vulnerability unique to younger generations, having grown up digital natives....
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Herbert Lui
Leaders trust people, not AI, to be accountable You trust a person to deliver on a promise because they’re incentivized to. If somebody doesn’t do...
a month ago
14

Leaders trust people, not AI, to be accountable

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
You trust a person to deliver on a promise because they’re incentivized to. If somebody doesn’t do their job, they risk losing their income. If they lose their income, they will feel pain. The incentive creates accountability. AI doesn’t feel this pain (yet?). While they’re...
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Herbert Lui
Good Enough There are enough people who don’t like how software has evolved, don’t need all of the bells and...
2 months ago
14

Good Enough

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
There are enough people who don’t like how software has evolved, don’t need all of the bells and whistles (and don’t want to pay for it), and remember how much simpler software used to be. It’s how I feel about the music app, Doppler. I don’t know the team at Good Enough, but it...
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Herbert Lui
Opportunistic vs. strategic If you’re doing things right, people will knock on your door with business opportunities. Every so...
a month ago
13

Opportunistic vs. strategic

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
If you’re doing things right, people will knock on your door with business opportunities. Every so often, one of these opportunities will catch your attention. While you already have a strategy—a path you’d outlined to get where you wanted to go, and a list of things you decided...
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Herbert Lui
Practice being bored When was the last time you were the only person in the room not using your phone? You’re not as busy...
a month ago
13

Practice being bored

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
When was the last time you were the only person in the room not using your phone? You’re not as busy as you think. If you feel busy, it’s because you’re running away from feeling bored. While boredom feels really bad at first, it comes with a lot of benefits. For starters, it...
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Herbert Lui
To know vs. to do The team at Basecamp recently did a six-week sprint to improve the product’s onboarding flow. They...
a month ago
13

To know vs. to do

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
The team at Basecamp recently did a six-week sprint to improve the product’s onboarding flow. They did a bunch of stuff and shipped it. The result was a 30% increase in conversion rate.  “What happened?!” you might ask them. “How? What’s the best practice?”  They don’t know. They...
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Herbert Lui
This is the perfect time Image by Austin Chan If you’re reading this, you’re thinking, “I’m too late,” or “Other people are...
a month ago
13

This is the perfect time

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
Image by Austin Chan If you’re reading this, you’re thinking, “I’m too late,” or “Other people are so much better at this than me,” or, “Why bother?”  You’re probably feeling defeated, depressed, and a special kind of self-loathing that comes with awareness. You know that you...
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Herbert Lui
Why applying to 100+ jobs doesn’t work When I was entering the job market in early 2023, I caught up with my friend Fadeke. She had just...
a month ago
13

Why applying to 100+ jobs doesn’t work

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
When I was entering the job market in early 2023, I caught up with my friend Fadeke. She had just started a really good job at DigitalOcean. She shared her process with me, and let me know that she did fewer than 20 job applications. This quantity was a really helpful anchor for...
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Herbert Lui
How wanting something less freed me up to do more While it’s good to be passionate about your work, an overwhelming ambition—bordering on a need—to...
3 weeks ago
13

How wanting something less freed me up to do more

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

3 weeks ago
While it’s good to be passionate about your work, an overwhelming ambition—bordering on a need—to achieve or have something, sometimes actually gets in the way. I learned this the hard way.  I spent most of my 20s wanting to be a bestselling author—recognized by traditional...
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Herbert Lui
Document the moment A few days ago, I tried explaining why blogging was great precisely because it reached a smaller...
a month ago
13

Document the moment

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
A few days ago, I tried explaining why blogging was great precisely because it reached a smaller audience than social media.  The smallest audience is one—and that’s you.  Skateboarders bring a video camera to document the moment. They’ve done this since way before social media,...
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Herbert Lui
When you make a new option, you make the world better Drake is, by far, the best-selling artist in hip-hop and rap in the past decade. But there’s plenty...
a month ago
13

When you make a new option, you make the world better

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
Drake is, by far, the best-selling artist in hip-hop and rap in the past decade. But there’s plenty of space for everyone else. The world is better with other people’s art—Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Tyler, the Creator.  The best part is all of those artists lean into being...
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Herbert Lui
Skateboarding as an infinite game For over 2,000 years, people survived without skateboarding. That changed sometime in the late...
a month ago
13

Skateboarding as an infinite game

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
For over 2,000 years, people survived without skateboarding. That changed sometime in the late 1940s—perhaps the early 1950s—when a group of surfers decided to attach wheels onto their wooden boards.  Since then, skateboarding has become a way of life. People risk life and limb...
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Herbert Lui
Teenage years, interfaces, and classic technology When I was a teenager, I spent hours trying to improve my computer’s interface. I can’t tell you how...
2 months ago
13

Teenage years, interfaces, and classic technology

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
When I was a teenager, I spent hours trying to improve my computer’s interface. I can’t tell you how many times I changed my Windows XP interface to try to look like a Mac.  When Windows Longhorn was out in beta, I spent many afternoons trying to get it to work too—even...
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Herbert Lui
Meeting people with cold emails An extraordinary professional moment happened to me in a very ordinary finance class. Instead of...
2 months ago
13

Meeting people with cold emails

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
An extraordinary professional moment happened to me in a very ordinary finance class. Instead of paying attention to what the teacher was saying, I read an article in HBR and emailed the author asking for advice about how I could find my passion.  They graciously responded with...
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Herbert Lui
Hangry Hangry is an emotional state of being hungry and feeling angry. If I don’t eat, I get hangry. The...
a month ago
13

Hangry

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
Hangry is an emotional state of being hungry and feeling angry. If I don’t eat, I get hangry. The longer I go, the hangrier I get. When I travelled with my friends, they would crack jokes as they reminded me to pack a snack bar.  I used to get really upset with myself for feeling...
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Herbert Lui
“Never do nothing” It was earlier in his life, perhaps when he worked in finance, that Dave Spitz picked up a belief: ...
a month ago
13

“Never do nothing”

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
It was earlier in his life, perhaps when he worked in finance, that Dave Spitz picked up a belief:  “If you do everything on your to-do list, you’re succeeding. If you don’t, you’re failing.” Dave quit finance and eventually started California Strength, a training facility for...
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Herbert Lui
Creative energy: Generative mode vs. explosive mode When I told a good friend of mine I wrote a blog every day while I worked a full-time job, they...
a month ago
12

Creative energy: Generative mode vs. explosive mode

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
When I told a good friend of mine I wrote a blog every day while I worked a full-time job, they responded, “I don’t know how you find the energy.” I actually generate energy from writing the blog every day, I tried to explain. If I didn’t write the blog every day, I would have...
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Herbert Lui
You vs. the parasite I did bookkeeping for my first year of business. One year was enough for me. It was boring and very...
a month ago
12

You vs. the parasite

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
I did bookkeeping for my first year of business. One year was enough for me. It was boring and very spreadsheet–heavy, and I knew I never wanted to do it again. So I did what I thought savvy entrepreneurs called “delegating.” I hired a bookkeeping and accounting firm to do it for...
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Herbert Lui
Blogging for smaller audiences and deeper connections Making good work requires making mistakes. It’s never a straight path to the final work. If a lot of...
a month ago
12

Blogging for smaller audiences and deeper connections

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
Making good work requires making mistakes. It’s never a straight path to the final work. If a lot of people see your creative work all the time, then it’ll be more difficult for you to make imperfect work.  You won’t have space to tinker and experiment so much. You won’t even...
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Herbert Lui
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast In the industrial era, the people that did more stuff—faster—added more value to the world....
3 weeks ago
12

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

3 weeks ago
In the industrial era, the people that did more stuff—faster—added more value to the world. Efficiency was the buzzword. That’s no longer the case. Now, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. We are already bumping up on the limits of how fast we can do our work—and we will never...
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Herbert Lui
AI can help spot the difference I tried a new AI prompt for editing a couple of work-related documents—an email and a blog post—that...
4 weeks ago
12

AI can help spot the difference

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

4 weeks ago
I tried a new AI prompt for editing a couple of work-related documents—an email and a blog post—that my team plans on publishing. The prompt was a version of this: “Can you please edit this following draft for polish and tighten up each sentence one at a time?”  The result was a...
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Herbert Lui
Some people have it, some people don’t? A few years ago, I wrote that writing is thinking. You are better off writing to think, not trying...
3 weeks ago
12

Some people have it, some people don’t?

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

3 weeks ago
A few years ago, I wrote that writing is thinking. You are better off writing to think, not trying to think before you write. “But some people are just better at it,” Ant K writes in a comment (which Karolis recently agreed with). He compared his work with another author he held...
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Herbert Lui
A useful rule for relationships My friend James recently shared a simple, useful, perspective, “Assume that if you’re not the person...
2 months ago
11

A useful rule for relationships

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
My friend James recently shared a simple, useful, perspective, “Assume that if you’re not the person reaching out to keep the relationship alive, it’ll die.” Useful for a variety of reasons: It puts you in the driver’s seat of your relationship. Don’t wait for a text from your...
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Herbert Lui
Three stories about emotional reactions 1. Anthony de Mello writes in Awareness: Imagine a patient who goes to a doctor and tells him what...
a month ago
11

Three stories about emotional reactions

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
1. Anthony de Mello writes in Awareness: Imagine a patient who goes to a doctor and tells him what he is suffering from. The doctor says, “Very well, I’ve understood your symptoms. Do you know what I will do? I will prescribe a medicine for your neighbor!” The patient replies,...
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Herbert Lui
Discovering the work that needs to be made I’m finally making good progress on the second draft of my next book. It feels good enough to...
4 weeks ago
11

Discovering the work that needs to be made

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

4 weeks ago
I’m finally making good progress on the second draft of my next book. It feels good enough to actually discuss—and much less fragile than the first draft. To be precise, it actually feels more like the first draft of the book that it was actually meant to be. “Every block of...
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Herbert Lui
Sometimes, you just gotta wait In 2019, Jay-Z and his company Roc Nation partnered up with the NFL to advise on the social justice...
2 months ago
11

Sometimes, you just gotta wait

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
In 2019, Jay-Z and his company Roc Nation partnered up with the NFL to advise on the social justice initiative Inspire Change and advise on the Super Bowl halftime show. That year, the Super Bowl drew in 98.2 million viewers. It’s a coveted event for recording artists to play....
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Herbert Lui
Living the contradictions Uncertainty is very difficult to live with—borderline painful. I used to think it was best to make a...
2 months ago
11

Living the contradictions

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
Uncertainty is very difficult to live with—borderline painful. I used to think it was best to make a decision and move on, as soon as possible. Don’t look back, either. Flip–flopping was not acceptable. In her book Working Identity, professor Herminia Ibarra explores career...
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Herbert Lui
Building a body of work on self-acceptance Generosity is at the heart of all creative work. It’s about giving.  You can’t give what you don’t...
a month ago
11

Building a body of work on self-acceptance

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
Generosity is at the heart of all creative work. It’s about giving.  You can’t give what you don’t have. And if you don’t accept yourself, you can’t give much of yourself either.  “Abs are made in the kitchen, championships are won on the training ground, and a sustainable body...
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Herbert Lui
Three conditions to just do stuff (and minimize overthinking) If you have fun writing something, the reader will have fun reading it. You’ve given your work the...
3 weeks ago
11

Three conditions to just do stuff (and minimize overthinking)

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

3 weeks ago
If you have fun writing something, the reader will have fun reading it. You’ve given your work the right energy.  Building on this observation, Cassidy Williams notes that sometimes she wants her work to be strategic, or clear and thorough. She writes, “I think a lot of that...
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Herbert Lui
Find an idea that’s easy to pick up and put down One thing that made writing really frustrating for me early on was trying to complete a draft of an...
a month ago
11

Find an idea that’s easy to pick up and put down

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
One thing that made writing really frustrating for me early on was trying to complete a draft of an idea that I clearly didn’t have enough time to express. For example, there are many days when I have 15 minutes—maybe five!—to write. If I was still “stuck” in the middle of a...
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Herbert Lui
Causal and effectual reasoning What makes a person entrepreneurial? Professor Saras D. Sarasvathy believes the distinguishing...
2 weeks ago
11

Causal and effectual reasoning

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 weeks ago
What makes a person entrepreneurial? Professor Saras D. Sarasvathy believes the distinguishing factor is in the reasoning process. She identifies two types of reasoning: When you think with causal reasoning, you focus on what you want to do—the desired end goal, or the...
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Herbert Lui
One chance Dan Sullivan is a coach for entrepreneurs. He asks every prospective client a question, “If we were...
a month ago
10

One chance

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
Dan Sullivan is a coach for entrepreneurs. He asks every prospective client a question, “If we were having this discussion three years from today, and you were looking back over those three years, what has to have happened in your life, both personally and professionally, for you...
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Herbert Lui
Chipping away I used to drop everything to focus on a single project at a time. I would try to do all the tasks as...
a month ago
10

Chipping away

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
I used to drop everything to focus on a single project at a time. I would try to do all the tasks as soon as possible, in the hopes of getting it done and out of the way so I could relax.  For example, if I had an administrative project, I told myself I’d just […]
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Herbert Lui
Discouragement is a test When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a sports commentator. I enjoyed watching sports, and I liked...
a month ago
10

Discouragement is a test

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a sports commentator. I enjoyed watching sports, and I liked talking, so that sounded like a sweet job. My family gave me a hard reality check:  How many people were there on TV that looked like me? How often did such job opportunities open...
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Herbert Lui
You vs. the package of you Personas are packages for people.  But of course, they’re not actually people. When you see someone...
2 months ago
10

You vs. the package of you

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
Personas are packages for people.  But of course, they’re not actually people. When you see someone with a crafted persona, you don’t actually know who that person actually is.  Sure—you know that they’re ambitious, chasing status, wealth, and power. You could say that they are...
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Herbert Lui
Don’t let batch processing get in the way of building momentum One of the earliest pieces of productivity advice I came across was the concept of grouping similar...
3 weeks ago
10

Don’t let batch processing get in the way of building momentum

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

3 weeks ago
One of the earliest pieces of productivity advice I came across was the concept of grouping similar tasks together, and doing it all in one go. This is known as “batch processing.” For example, if you’re going to read and respond to your emails, don’t do them one at a time...
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Herbert Lui
Character, habits, systems, and freedom An author speculates that GLP-1 drugs will curb a lot of people’s impulses. This could potentially...
3 weeks ago
10

Character, habits, systems, and freedom

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

3 weeks ago
An author speculates that GLP-1 drugs will curb a lot of people’s impulses. This could potentially help a lot of people make better—less impulsive—decisions. In this speculation, one concern will be a division of advantage: the people who can afford the impulse control drugs...
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Herbert Lui
What’s the point? “What’s the point in planning, if it could all end at any time?” Dustin Gorton survived the...
a month ago
10

What’s the point?

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
“What’s the point in planning, if it could all end at any time?” Dustin Gorton survived the Columbine massacre at age 18. He learned how fleeting life can be that day. A blog attributes a powerful reflection to him, penned when he turned 36. It reads, “I came away with the...
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Herbert Lui
On writing with AI vs. writing with people AI is, very clearly, disrupting writing and editing. (I’ve kept an eye on it since 2021! Back then,...
3 weeks ago
10

On writing with AI vs. writing with people

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

3 weeks ago
AI is, very clearly, disrupting writing and editing. (I’ve kept an eye on it since 2021! Back then, you’d be forgiven for mixing up GPT-3 with C-P30.) I’ve recently come across more work from writers declaring that they’re turning more to AI solutions to be researchers, thought...
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Herbert Lui
Keep the back up plan a back up plan The future is unpredictable. It’s always great to have an option, maybe two, in case things don’t go...
2 weeks ago
10

Keep the back up plan a back up plan

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 weeks ago
The future is unpredictable. It’s always great to have an option, maybe two, in case things don’t go according to plan. That’s why you’d want to have a backup plan. In my freshman year in university, I made a backup plan that took too much of my energy. According to my plan, I...
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Herbert Lui
What do you need? This is worth being curious about. But for starters, you need to be mindful and not...
2 months ago
10

What do you need?

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
This is worth being curious about. But for starters, you need to be mindful and not distracted—sometimes, bored—in order to remember to ask yourself this question. “Our changing moods and energy levels, and how inspired we’re feeling on any given day, are part of the hard reality...
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Herbert Lui
The natural game When Charles Duhigg attended his Harvard Business School class’s 15-year reunion, he was surprised...
2 months ago
10

The natural game

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
When Charles Duhigg attended his Harvard Business School class’s 15-year reunion, he was surprised to discover how many of his former classmates were miserable. One of them was earning over a million dollars a year, and said to him, “If you spend 12 hours a day doing work you...
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Herbert Lui
Good prose The lyrics from a good song will put your feelings into words better than you could have. That’s...
a month ago
10

Good prose

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
The lyrics from a good song will put your feelings into words better than you could have. That’s really the songwriter’s only job. Similarly, the prose from a blog post, article, or book should put your feelings into words better than you could have as well. A good piece of prose...
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Herbert Lui
Polish as a commodity Here’s an interesting idea: don’t use your editing time to polish a post (i.e., tightening up...
2 months ago
10

Polish as a commodity

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
Here’s an interesting idea: don’t use your editing time to polish a post (i.e., tightening up sentences, making line edits, rephrasing, etc.).  Instead, use it to do more research. For example, find a better example—one that surprises you (and, hopefully, the reader). You could...
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Herbert Lui
Golden Generation Growing up, I didn’t know many people who did creative work. While I was very enthusiastic about...
a month ago
9

Golden Generation

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a month ago
Growing up, I didn’t know many people who did creative work. While I was very enthusiastic about writing and art, the possibility that a person was paid to make that work happen didn’t even cross my mind—let alone the fact that a person like me could do it. But even if I knew,...
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Herbert Lui
The right to make a classic An architecture student asks her professor for advice. As they review her work together, he...
2 months ago
9

The right to make a classic

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
An architecture student asks her professor for advice. As they review her work together, he challenges her, “Is your design as good as the Chartres Cathedral?”  The student grimaces in confusion, looks out the window, and responds earnestly, “Of course not, I could never do...
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Herbert Lui
A path to consistency An earlier blog post I wrote has been bouncing around my mind lately: consistency starts with...
2 months ago
9

A path to consistency

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 months ago
An earlier blog post I wrote has been bouncing around my mind lately: consistency starts with inconsistency. If the fear of commitment—or the avoidance of hard, consistent work—prevents you from getting started on something, the best solution is to find another way to see it....
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Herbert Lui
Limitations of causal reasoning A few days ago, I wrote about causal and effectual reasoning. You’ll be familiar with these two...
2 weeks ago
8

Limitations of causal reasoning

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 weeks ago
A few days ago, I wrote about causal and effectual reasoning. You’ll be familiar with these two paths—but having words to describe them really helps.  “When you think with causal reasoning, you focus on what you want to do—the desired end goal, or the destination—and then work...
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Herbert Lui
AI as an answer key One of the first things I learned in high school was that my math textbook had an answer key at the...
2 weeks ago
8

AI as an answer key

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 weeks ago
One of the first things I learned in high school was that my math textbook had an answer key at the back.  Which was weird. My impulse was I could shortcut my homework simply by writing the answer key down on a piece of paper. Of course, the teacher required us to show our work...
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Herbert Lui
“Football is life” This is the motto of Dani Rojas, a football player in the TV show Ted Lasso.  It usually comes out...
a week ago
8

“Football is life”

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a week ago
This is the motto of Dani Rojas, a football player in the TV show Ted Lasso.  It usually comes out when Dani gets to play football, because he feels really happy. He’ll run around kicking the ball, chanting, “Football is life!” One day, something bad happened to the team. The...
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Herbert Lui
A strategy needs time A year ago, my friend Peter decided to position his agency to focus on CPG companies. While he and...
a week ago
8

A strategy needs time

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a week ago
A year ago, my friend Peter decided to position his agency to focus on CPG companies. While he and his team weren’t sure if the strategy would work, they stuck with it through trying times. Their effort and commitment amidst uncertainty paid off, and they’re seeing more CPG...
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Herbert Lui
Notes on fragmented sleep I’m really good at waking up. I’m so good at waking up, in fact, that occasionally I wake up two...
2 weeks ago
7

Notes on fragmented sleep

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 weeks ago
I’m really good at waking up. I’m so good at waking up, in fact, that occasionally I wake up two hours too early. I used to find it difficult to fall back asleep. When I asked a doctor about this, they told me it was called “fragmented sleep” and there wasn’t that much they could...
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Herbert Lui
More responsibility, more failure In the 2010s, Amazon launched a phone. It was a spectacular failure. When a journalist asked CEO...
2 weeks ago
7

More responsibility, more failure

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 weeks ago
In the 2010s, Amazon launched a phone. It was a spectacular failure. When a journalist asked CEO Jeff Bezos about it, Jeff replied, “If you think that’s a big failure, we’re working on much bigger failures right now — and I am not kidding. Some of them are going to make the Fire...
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Herbert Lui
Convenience, growth, commitment, and sacredness When a theater shows a movie, it’s not convenient. You need to buy a relatively expensive ticket....
2 weeks ago
7

Convenience, growth, commitment, and sacredness

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 weeks ago
When a theater shows a movie, it’s not convenient. You need to buy a relatively expensive ticket. You need to arrive on time. You can’t pause it. There will be a day the theater stops showing it. Movie theaters are not growing—they are in decline. Movie theaters make you do...
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Herbert Lui
3.15.20 Five years ago, there was precious little to look forward to. And then, all of a sudden, out of...
a week ago
6

3.15.20

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a week ago
Five years ago, there was precious little to look forward to. And then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Donald Glover released his fourth album as Childish Gambino, 3.15.20.  It was surprising, because Donald’s best known for his rollouts. Because the Internet’s rollout was...
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Herbert Lui
20 lessons from 2 years in NYC On one of my first trips to New York City, I visited the NoMad library. It made me feel drunk on...
a week ago
6

20 lessons from 2 years in NYC

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a week ago
On one of my first trips to New York City, I visited the NoMad library. It made me feel drunk on interior design. I quickly developed an affection for the Big Apple, visiting several more times in my 20s. Each trip brought with it a moment of equal delirium. A couple of years...
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Herbert Lui
Read your journals like they’re books or articles Yesterday, I left a meeting at work and made dinner plans to meet a friend. I found myself with an...
a week ago
6

Read your journals like they’re books or articles

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a week ago
Yesterday, I left a meeting at work and made dinner plans to meet a friend. I found myself with an hour to spare in midtown Manhattan. I kept it simple, though. I decided to go to the restaurant, and they seated me. As I settled in, I remembered that I brought my journal. I...
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Herbert Lui
Why Ted Lasso gets away with not knowing anything about football Imagine that you’re an American football coach that is now only going to coach European football...
a week ago
6

Why Ted Lasso gets away with not knowing anything about football

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a week ago
Imagine that you’re an American football coach that is now only going to coach European football (better known in the U.S.A. as soccer). And you know absolutely nothing about the sport. So on the pitch of 22 players, the kitman, the assistant coach, you know the least about the...
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Herbert Lui
Where you work changes how you work My first internship was at Virtual Team Builders, a company that helped companies work remotely. I...
a week ago
6

Where you work changes how you work

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a week ago
My first internship was at Virtual Team Builders, a company that helped companies work remotely. I had no idea this was even possible. I would go on to work remotely, or in a hybrid workplace, for most of my career. Working remotely doesn’t necessarily mean working from home....
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Herbert Lui
Chatter vs. inspiration For many years, whenever my brain had an idea, I felt a compulsion to write it down. What started...
6 days ago
5

Chatter vs. inspiration

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

6 days ago
For many years, whenever my brain had an idea, I felt a compulsion to write it down. What started out as bursts of inspiration slowly—and, eventually, quickly—transformed into a habit driven by anxiety. I didn’t want to let any idea “get away from me.” I felt like if I forgot, I...
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Herbert Lui
Books and lifestyle The Starfield Library in Seoul is a beautiful, vast, library. It reminds me of the short visit I had...
a week ago
5

Books and lifestyle

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

a week ago
The Starfield Library in Seoul is a beautiful, vast, library. It reminds me of the short visit I had to Singapore’s library@orchard. It fits in with a pattern I notice in Asia, which is the rise of these incredibly glamorous spaces for books. They’re usually bookstores (I...
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Herbert Lui
Putting it out there Brett Goldstein worked as a writer for Ted Lasso. As he worked on the scripts, he realized that he...
4 days ago
4

Putting it out there

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

4 days ago
Brett Goldstein worked as a writer for Ted Lasso. As he worked on the scripts, he realized that he really understood one of the characters. He wanted to put himself forward for the acting role.  “I also knew no one was thinking of me for Roy, so right at the end of the writers’...
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Herbert Lui
Surrender, control, and anxiety What do you think you’re in control of?  What’s not in your control?  Where do you decide to draw...
3 days ago
4

Surrender, control, and anxiety

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

3 days ago
What do you think you’re in control of?  What’s not in your control?  Where do you decide to draw the line? “You are afraid of surrender because you don’t want to lose control,” Elizabeth Gilbert writes (via Oliver Burkeman). “But you never had control; all you had was anxiety.”...
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Herbert Lui
A place for feelings that interfere “Did you ever tap into something that you feel is bad in you to win?” That’s a question Donald...
5 days ago
4

A place for feelings that interfere

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

5 days ago
“Did you ever tap into something that you feel is bad in you to win?” That’s a question Donald Glover asks in this interview, before confessing that he made one of his most popular songs because he felt a drive to prove somebody wrong. In response, LeBron James says that he not...
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Herbert Lui
The time will pass anyway There’s something meaningful that you want to do. The only problem is it’s going to take a long time...
2 days ago
2

The time will pass anyway

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

2 days ago
There’s something meaningful that you want to do. The only problem is it’s going to take a long time to do it. Maybe it’s schooling of some sort, or chipping away at a big project. Yes, it’s going to take a time horizon of years, maybe even decades. The time will pass anyway,...
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Herbert Lui
Kinetic and energeial living Kinetic life is focused on reaching a destination. You harness your drive to complete a journey. In...
8 hours ago
2

Kinetic and energeial living

from Herbert Lui [alt+shift+b] in travel

8 hours ago
Kinetic life is focused on reaching a destination. You harness your drive to complete a journey. In this way of life, it naturally makes sense to find the shortest possible route and take it. Imagine it like a commute. If you were to choose between an express train and a local...
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