Herbert Lui

Blog on creativity, marketing, and the human condition.

  • About
  • Creative Doing
  • Newsletter
  • Tying my hands to the siren song of social media

    In Greek mythology, The Odyssey tells the story of a man, Odysseus, making a decade-long journey to return home to his family. Along the way, he and his team come across many obstacles and come up with plans to get past them. For example, Odysseus and his team encounter sirens at sea—beings who sing beautifully.…

    Herbert Lui

    September 6, 2025
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Life
  • A place is a tool that people maintain

    A place is a tool. The library helps you focus and work. The gym helps you work out. Your home helps you relax and unwind.  A nice restaurant is a tool for you to get together with friends and family, share a meal, and create a new experience. If you walked into a nice restaurant,…

    Herbert Lui

    September 5, 2025
    Around the World, Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations
  • What Terry Fox started

    When he was 18 years old, Terry Fox was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive, form of bone cancer. In order to contain it, Terry’s doctors amputated his leg. While he was in the hospital recovering, Terry saw how little money was being allocated to cancer research. Terry wanted to make a change. When he saw…

    Herbert Lui

    September 4, 2025
    A Matter of Time, Expectations, Life
  • Turn a difference of kind into a difference of degree

    “Once you start making things, once you take that leap, you have the same status as any other artist,” Questlove writes in Creative Quest. “I’m not saying that you’re as good. I’m not saying that you’re as important. But all of a sudden it’s a difference of degree rather than a difference of kind.” If…

    Herbert Lui

    September 3, 2025
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories
  • Cross the swamp

    You start a project with clarity. Then, confusion creeps in. Divergences, dependencies, and distractions emerge—the results of good ideas, not bad ones. You’ll need to make many of these decisions, and they will be more difficult than you give them credit for. Sometimes, you lose focus of the goal, to the point that you might…

    Herbert Lui

    September 2, 2025
    Creativity
  • Patience creates new possibilities

    If there was a recipe for making sure I don’t sleep well, a high dose of caffeine would be a key ingredient. The first hour is great—then stress, anxiety, and rumination surge, continuing through the night. The advantage is, I won’t stop working. The disadvantage is, I can’t stop or rest, even if I wanted…

    Herbert Lui

    September 1, 2025
    A Matter of Time, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Make space for projects that show momentum, by quitting the ones that don’t

    One of my friends is an entrepreneur with a wide ranging portfolio that spans real estate, franchises, ecommerce stores, and software. Some of these businesses have seen dramatic growth. Whenever we chat, he’ll describe a new business—often two or three—that he’s directly working on. I pay attention because I always learn something new. Sometimes, I…

    Herbert Lui

    August 31, 2025
    A Matter of Time, Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories
  • Restraint, and a better no

    At the start of each year, some people choose a word or motto intended to be a theme. I’m usually not one of them. However, the word, “Restraint,” came to me last year, so I made that a focus. It has remained the word for this year. While I’d made progress, I felt like there…

    Herbert Lui

    August 30, 2025
    Creativity, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Leadership looks sweet and tastes bitter

    One way to define a leader is someone who understands what needs to be done, and gets it done. Another way to say this: a leader sets a goal, makes a plan to achieve it, and executes on that plan.  A person doesn’t need a job title or power to become a leader. They take…

    Herbert Lui

    August 29, 2025
    Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Stacking the deck to win

    What’s the most important thing an executive coach can do to succeed?  Choosing the right clients. More specifically, choosing to only work with leaders who demonstrate a high potential of success before the engagement. In order to do this, the coach needs to qualify potential clients very intentionally. They decline to work with anyone who…

    Herbert Lui

    August 28, 2025
    Turning Stories
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