Herbert Lui – Blog on creativity, marketing, and the human condition.

Wading through the junk

When science fiction was still emerging, one criticism of the genre was the sheer volume of bad work. After decades of defending science fiction, one writer realized that the criticism applied to everything. “Ninety percent of everything is crap,” he said. That observation became known as Sturgeon’s Law. “One of my painting teachers said 85…

Herbert Lui

May 16, 2025

Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories

What will you grow in your mud?

Sometimes, people ask me why I wrote a book about creativity. Short answer: it’s because I experienced a creative block. (Long answer here!) I spent many years looking for the answer to this creative block, and I put the most useful information I found into my book Creative Doing. I still often find myself experiencing…

Herbert Lui

May 15, 2025

Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories

Maybe passion had nothing to do with it

Most people do not get paid to do their hobbies. (Trying to make money off your hobby could actually ruin it.) No matter your passion, it will ebb and flow. Actively cultivating passion, to love your job—whatever it happens to be, is a more resilient strategy than passively expecting passion to carry you through your…

Herbert Lui

May 14, 2025

Creator Confidential, Turning Stories

Walking your path

In my 20s, I watched a lot of interviews with artists so I could understand how they found success. I believed I could reverse engineer these paths, and I appreciated this genre of media so much I started making my own by interviewing recording artists and authors. While I learned more than my fair share,…

Herbert Lui

May 13, 2025

A Matter of Time, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories

Is time working with you, or against you?

Does your current position get stronger with time, or are you running out of time? If you did what you did today every day for a decade, will you get closer to your goal or further from it? Are you running down the clock, or do you wake up feeling energized more days than not?…

Herbert Lui

May 12, 2025

A Matter of Time

Three things about friends

1. The internet makes it easier to find the perfect people for you. These are the exact individuals you want to be in touch with. You will feel a much deeper connection with them than most of the other people you meet. Since you meet these people online, you may develop thinner relationships with them—seeing…

Herbert Lui

May 11, 2025

Life

Intense emotions and clear actions

“Inspiration is for amateurs,” Chuck Close says. There are two ways to interpret this: 1. A professional shows up even when they don’t feel inspiration. They show up every day and do the work. They don’t wait for an intense emotion to pull them into the work. 2. A professional does not mindlessly engage inspiration.…

Herbert Lui

May 10, 2025

Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories

Optimism vs. delusion

Making the choice to be optimistic is always worth it, especially when it’s the more difficult decision to make. As Bob Iger, who leads Disney, puts it, optimism is the ability to focus on what matters—steering your team towards the best possible outcome, and moving forward in spite of setbacks. It also means letting go…

Herbert Lui

May 9, 2025

Expectations, Turning Stories

Define your work

What do you do? Who do you do it for? Why? Answering these questions, and others like them, is hard work. It can also feel painful, because you commit to being labelled. Even though you contain multitudes, you’re making a decision: you will be known for one thing, for now and in the future. Your…

Herbert Lui

May 8, 2025

Creativity, Creator Confidential, Promotion

Participate, even if you’re not prepared

In an ideal world, you’d be prepared for everything you want to participate in. That’s not realistic though. New opportunities pop up all the time. It can feel tempting to want more time to prepare for all of it. What tends to happen is you don’t have energy to, or you’re not able to prioritize…

Herbert Lui

May 7, 2025

Creativity, Creator Confidential, Promotion