Herbert Lui

Blog on creativity, marketing, and the human condition.

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  • Evolve or die

    Before people, dinosaurs ruled this world for many millions of years. I recently watched a great new miniseries on this topic, and the theme that resonated with me was evolution.  More specifically, as the Earth’s environment changed, the dinosaurs that adapted were the ones that survived. Some species developed in size, smarts, or stamina. Others…

    Herbert Lui

    March 9, 2026
    Creator Confidential, Expectations
  • Small talk sets up big ideas

    When I’m meeting with someone, I almost always make the first topic discussion an introduction or catching up. I’m genuinely curious about what the person is doing, and what they’re like outside of the meeting. Small talk, its own form of ice breaker, can help make the rest of the meeting smoother. I’ll jog my…

    Herbert Lui

    March 8, 2026
    Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Everything is impermanent

    When monk and peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh lived in Vietnam during the war, people asked him every day when the war would end. It was a tricky question.  He didn’t know the answer, of course, and it wasn’t clear things were getting better.  At the same time, if he told them so bluntly, they…

    Herbert Lui

    March 7, 2026
    Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Fun first

    This is the driving principle of Nintendo, the company best known for characters like Mario, Pikachu, and Zelda, as well as its game consoles Switch, Wii, and N64. The people who work there understand the power of play.  Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto once noticed kids sending text messages to each other on the train; that…

    Herbert Lui

    March 6, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • The first Pokémon

    It’s no surprise that Pikachu is the most popular Pokémon. (There’s literally a movie based on it!) But the title of the first Pokémon goes to an unexpected one. When art director Ken Sugimori was first tasked with designing Pokémon characters, he started off by drawing characters that looked like kaijuu. (If you’ve seen Godzilla,…

    Herbert Lui

    March 5, 2026
    Creativity
  • How to find people who link to your blog

    When you write a popular blog post, there’s a good chance that someone has linked to it. You just don’t know when and where. One simple technique you can try is to search your first name and last name in quotations, and then the subject of a blog post. For example, my blog post about…

    Herbert Lui

    March 4, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Promotion
  • Your intentions need baking and cleaning

    When you intend to do something, are you set up to follow through? If you find that it’s more difficult than you think, I’d like to suggest a metaphor and two techniques: Baking new intentions: Start your workday with a paper index card which has a list of a few tasks, preferably with the most…

    Herbert Lui

    March 3, 2026
    A Matter of Time, Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations
  • A masseur’s wisdom

    A couple of days ago, my partner and I received good foot massages, along with a great motto. As the session wrapped up, the masseurs showed us some stretches to loosen up our shoulders. These were the stretches they often used themselves.  Then, one of them concluded, “To be a good masseur, be a good…

    Herbert Lui

    March 2, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Turn a creative fever into lasting inspiration

    A few days ago, an idea came to me: why is there no business book covering Pokémon? By one estimate, the company has earned over $147 billion in its existence. It just opened a theme park, and its trading cards business has survived for 30 years and gained tons of momentum. There is, clearly, a…

    Herbert Lui

    March 1, 2026
    A Matter of Time, Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Social media just doesn’t hit like a website does

    Seven years ago, the Pigeons & Planes team shut down its music publication website, thinking it might be better to connect with people on social media platforms. Last month, it started up its website again. Here’s how founder Jacob Moore explains it: All that said, we’re not sure what a music website’s role is in…

    Herbert Lui

    February 28, 2026
    Contentions, Creator Confidential, Promotion
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