Herbert Lui

Blog on creativity, marketing, and the human condition.

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  • You can’t bet on yourself if you don’t trust yourself

    What do you want to do?  If your life experiences have been anything like mine (e.g., growing up in collectivist culture, a formal education in business, working in professional services), they may have conditioned you to understand what other people wanted. Your own inclinations may appear less clearly to you because you haven’t paid attention…

    Herbert Lui

    May 30, 2026
    Creativity, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Success happens when you teach someone how you think

    You’re looking outside a window, and you see a tree. Somebody else is looking outside a different window, and sees the same tree, but from a different perspective.  Success happens when they decide to come over and stand at your window for a little bit. You discuss what you both see. Then, maybe you go…

    Herbert Lui

    May 29, 2026
    Contentions, Promotion
  • Spring cleaning the inbox

    This post is for those of you, who like me, have a particularly full inbox. Here’s a useful technique: search for the keywords of common newsletters, receipts, and marketing emails. Then bulk check them off, mark them as read, and archive them. You can do this with dozens (or, in my case, hundreds) of emails…

    Herbert Lui

    May 28, 2026
    Creator Confidential
  • Self expansion

    Or self fulfillment, or whatever the opposite of self defeat is, here’s what it sounds like: Jay-Z was the owner of an NBA team, the Brooklyn Nets. He was proud of this, and bragged about it constantly. Eventually, the news came out that he owned a fraction of 1% of the Nets (1/15th of 1%).…

    Herbert Lui

    May 27, 2026
    Expectations
  • Are your creative projects livestock or pets?

    Livestock helps a person make a living. Cows need to make milk, chicken eggs, and sheep wool. These animals were part of a business decision. While a farmer may grow fond of their livestock, there will eventually come a day when the farmer needs to send them to the butcher. It’s business. A pet is…

    Herbert Lui

    May 26, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • The power of a supportive environment

    Should you pursue something you enjoy, or something you’re good at? Which is more worthy? In Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop, a high school student asks this question to a character named Seungwoo who works as an employee at a big corporation and also writes a blog. Does this person enjoy work more, or writing…

    Herbert Lui

    May 25, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Whoever holds your dream gets to take it away

    If you’re a writer, maybe your dream is to write a book that hits the New York Times bestseller list. That’s a fine dream—and was mine, at one point!—though it comes with a caveat: whoever can put you on the list, or block you from it, is in control of your dream.  Let’s imagine that…

    Herbert Lui

    May 24, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories
  • Waking up from the trance of avoidance

    A couple of years ago, when I was employed at Figma, I reflected on the years I worked independently. I wrote, “When you work independently—as an entrepreneur, freelancer, or creator—in the early days, you actually could become more dependent on the people you know.” I’ve since returned to working independently. While I remember this lesson…

    Herbert Lui

    May 23, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • The intermediate hump

    When you’re young, you just do stuff. Because you don’t have much experience, you’re a beginner, and you have nothing to lose, it’s hard to overthink. As you gain experience and expertise, it’s easier to shoot down ideas quickly. When you’re in the intermediate hump, you experience being in the groove of shooting down ideas,…

    Herbert Lui

    May 22, 2026
    A Matter of Time, Creativity, Expectations
  • Incline to the improbable

    In late 2021, my partner and I moved to Hong Kong. Several months in, I chatted with a friend I went to high school with in Canada. He couldn’t believe I had moved there.  The music I listened to in high school, the language I spoke, my interests and friends, none of them suggested to…

    Herbert Lui

    May 21, 2026
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations, Life, Turning Stories
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