Herbert Lui

Blog on creativity, marketing, and the human condition.

  • About
  • Creative Doing
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  • Clarify your definition of success

    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…

    Herbert Lui

    April 17, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories
  • On AI music and writing

    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…

    Herbert Lui

    April 16, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential
  • Easier done than said

    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…

    Herbert Lui

    April 15, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories
  • Which story will you choose?

    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…

    Herbert Lui

    April 14, 2026
    Creativity, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • The ROI of a recovery attempt

    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…

    Herbert Lui

    April 13, 2026
    Expectations, Life, Turning Stories
  • The community circuit

    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…

    Herbert Lui

    April 12, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Promotion
  • Difficulty is a positive early signal

    “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…

    Herbert Lui

    April 11, 2026
    Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Talk to your competitors

    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…

    Herbert Lui

    April 10, 2026
    Creator Confidential, Turning Stories
  • Creative enfeeblement

    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…

    Herbert Lui

    April 9, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Life
  • Talking about your goals is a tradeoff

    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…

    Herbert Lui

    April 8, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations
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