Herbert Lui

A couple of days ago, I spoke about redefining creative commitment with the team at I-Think at the Centre for Social Innovation. The speech was followed by a wide ranging Q&A session, which I also found very energizing. A portion of it was dedicated to writing to think, which inspired a LinkedIn post the next day. We also discussed boredom, and how boredom contributes to curiosity, as well as going all-in on creative work (or not!). I found out one of their kits comes pre-printed with a coffee…

A few months ago, an entrepreneur and I were discussing their content strategy. He described his team and approach to me. I told him, it sounds like it was working. “No, it’s going. It’s not working,” he replied. That distinction resonated with me. Many times, projects and practices won’t produce the results you seek right away. You will need to get it going before you can expect it to start working. The post Sometimes, it goes before it works appeared first on Herbert Lui.

Over a decade ago, I joined Lifehacker to work as a writer. The job required me to pitch and write three short stories per day, and two longer essays per week. While that’s a huge quantity of posts, the actually challenging part was finding stories that hadn’t already been covered by Lifehacker. All the easy and obvious stories had been written. Every day, I would pitch a dozen ideas, and barely three would make it through. It felt like my work was hanging by a thread. A couple of months in, I…

A few days ago, I heard a song I liked at a restaurant. I tried finding it with Shazam. Even after a few tries, nothing came up. When I asked the staff, they told me it was probably AI music. They enjoyed putting it on as relaxing ambient music, and said it was good for studying. While I enjoyed the music, I also felt guilty. I knew how many people worked as recording artists. The AI wouldn’t feel good if I liked their music, but a person would. The AI didn’t need my attention or support, but a…

AI has flipped the saying, “Easier said than done,” on its head. Nowadays, many things are easier done than said. For example, if you’re starting a business, you can ask Claude Code, Lovable, or another prototyping solution to generate an app pretty quickly. A lot of people do. So, what should you actually build? What […] The post Easier done than said appeared first on Herbert Lui.

J. Cole is one of the bestselling recording artists in the world. He is also a decent basketball player.  A few years ago, he played for the Scarborough Shooting Stars. (This would’ve been fun to talk to Faiz about. Hamza and I grew up in Scarborough!) He recently played a game with the Chinese Basketball […] The post Which story will you choose? appeared first on Herbert Lui.

When you lose something, you need to decide: should you attempt to recover it, or should you give it up? (You can ask this same question when something’s broken: should you repair it, or should you give it up?) Giving up means accepting the loss. It means letting go of the past, moving on, and […] The post The ROI of a recovery attempt appeared first on Herbert Lui.

A recording artist earns fractions of a cent each time a listener streams their work. By comparison, a ticket to their show may cost anywhere between $50 to $200. Whether they host their own show, or work through an organizer, they can easily earn thousands of dollars for one night’s performance. This business dynamic exists […] The post The community circuit appeared first on Herbert Lui.

“All things are difficult at the beginning,” goes a Chinese proverb (translating from, “万事开头难”).  Each entry in the Consistency Journal is introduced by a quote. That’s the one on day six. After nearly a week of journaling, and using it to help build my business writing practice, it resonated with me immensely. Dejection is a […] The post Difficulty is a positive early signal appeared first on Herbert Lui.

One of my friends started a software development company. His clients were local, and so were his competitors. One day, an idea came to him: all his competitors knew him and each other, but they’d never been in touch before. Why not reach out?  He sent out the invitations, and they all met at a […] The post Talk to your competitors appeared first on Herbert Lui.

You and I are using AI. Maybe a lot, and that involvement is only increasing. One of the consequences of using it so much is relying on it, potentially to the point of our minds growing feeble. A useful question to ask: What would you do if it disappeared tomorrow?  Would you be able to […] The post Creative enfeeblement appeared first on Herbert Lui.

Sometimes, people ask me if discussing your goals with other people is a good idea. I think it’s a tradeoff: There’s a theory that the more you talk about your goal with other people, the more your brain feels like it’s achieved it already. Your ego feels good, which actually drains it of motivation. Another […] The post Talking about your goals is a tradeoff appeared first on Herbert Lui.

The Consistency Journal is my latest work. It’s a 100 day guided journal to help you build practices that stick, track and celebrate your small wins, and become more mindful of your actions. You can pre-order it here at Wholesome Parts, and it’s expected to ship at the end of June.  My co-founder (also my […] The post Introducing the Consistency Journal appeared first on Herbert Lui.

A couple of days ago, I introduced random posts to this blog. You can find the Random button at the end of every post, or type in herbertlui.net/random in your browser bar. I’ve been clicking it quite often, and wanted to share some posts that have come up, as well as a line of commentary: […] The post Five random posts  appeared first on Herbert Lui.

People say nonsensical things all the time. They don’t know better, they’re mindlessly expressing their second nature, or you caught them at a weird time. Sometimes, all of the above. You do it. I do it. Nobody’s perfect. Nonsense shows up as a decision that doesn’t make sense, vague instructions, or a belief that conflicts with […] The post Nonsense appeared first on Herbert Lui.

This blog has over 1,500 posts. If you’re feeling lucky, you can read a random one. Try clicking this: There’s a link to do this at the bottom of every post. If you’re using a browser, you can also type herbertlui.net/random Happy reading! The post Introducing random posts appeared first on Herbert Lui.

A second nature is a behaviour or thought that’s very deeply ingrained in you. It could take you towards your goals, like calming down when you feel confused or hugging a loved one when they’re hurting. Or, it could take you away from them, like holding a grudge or beating yourself up. It happens almost […] The post Second nature appeared first on Herbert Lui.

My friend Faiz Ahmed passed away yesterday. Thanks for being a good friend. Thanks for being you. Thanks for encouraging me with my writing, including reading the very rough first draft of Creative Doing. Thanks for writing your blog.  Thanks for reading and sharing your ideas. Thanks for living your life so fully, for being […] The post Thank you, Faiz appeared first on Herbert Lui.

In school and work, you’re conditioned to believe, “Your contribution isn’t valuable if it’s obvious.” But more often than you’d think, you take for granted what you know, and assume that I know it too.  What’s obvious to you might not be obvious to me; it might be the first time I’ve learned about it. […] The post What’s obvious to you might not be to me appeared first on Herbert Lui.

Airline loyalty programs are difficult to navigate. They’ve made it this way intentionally, because it provides customers with a sense of challenge—the same way a video game would. The question is, what’s the payoff? Provided enough reward, the more of a challenge something is, the more you’ll strive to chase after it. Will it provide […] The post Add purpose to the payoff appeared first on Herbert Lui.

Today, I visited a friend in palliative care. I was joined by three other friends, and the shared presence made the trip feel lighter. We talked to each other and his family in his hospital room. Our friend’s eyes were closed, and he didn’t respond to our comments. He seemed to be sleeping. He looked […] The post A final goodbye appeared first on Herbert Lui.

After over 50 years of operation, the Ontario Science Centre shut down its main building a couple of years ago because the infrastructure was failing, and it was no longer safe. This type of decay happens naturally. The world can be chaotic, and its environment is always changing. Instead of repairing it, the government decided […] The post Bias for continuity appeared first on Herbert Lui.

The clock in my study runs five minutes ahead. My partner and I set it this way in the hopes of constantly being five minutes early, which is exactly what happened the other day. This happens to be a tradition in both of our families. When I grew up, the clock in my family’s living […] The post Five minutes ahead appeared first on Herbert Lui.

People have different reasons for going to the gym. You might go to the gym to improve your physical health. I might go to the gym to let off steam from work. Somebody else might go to the gym to improve their self esteem. Still, another person might want to look more attractive, so they […] The post Shaping a solution appeared first on Herbert Lui.

There are times for loud, big, celebrations. There are many, many more occasions for quiet, small, celebrations as well. They’re lower risk, much lighter, and more memorable in some ways. I’ve been learning to celebrate more, and doing it this quiet way is useful for me. Big parties are expensive. They need you to plan […] The post In praise of the quiet celebration appeared first on Herbert Lui.

A few weeks ago, I explored recoverable and irrecoverable decisions. It resonated with the Hacker News community, and the discussion was very thought provoking. Recoverable is more useful than reversible precisely because many events aren’t reversible. You only get one chance to make a good first impression; that irreversibility is what makes putting off showing […] The post Recoverability is more useful than reversibility appeared first on Herbert Lui.

When my parents decided to immigrate from Hong Kong to Canada, there was a system-level consequence: their future child was going to grow up speaking English, soaking up North American culture, and living a Canadian lifestyle. Saturday morning cartoons were part of this culture and lifestyle, but my parents had other ideas. Instead of letting […] The post Learning Chinese again appeared first on Herbert Lui.

Shorten how long it takes. It’s easier to convince yourself to do a five minute task, than it is to do a thirty minute one. You can outpace procrastination. Shrink it. Small projects and tasks look more approachable than big ones. Simplify it. The more straightforward it is, with fewer steps to follow through the […] The post Shape your projects and tasks appeared first on Herbert Lui.

When you’re a child, you have a superpower: you learn incredibly quickly. You soak knowledge up like a sponge. The only condition is that your heart needs to be in it. (This is known as enrollment.) This turns out to matter a lot, because you’re not always in control; you haven’t learned to trick yourself […] The post Learning fast vs. learning with your heart appeared first on Herbert Lui.

One of the prompts in Creative Doing is Set Up Surfaces, which suggests that you create new places to store or publish your work. “Set up at least three different surfaces—one for storing your works in progress, one for sending to other people for feedback, and one for displaying your finished work,” I write. I […] The post Define your creative surfaces appeared first on Herbert Lui.