Author: Herbert Lui
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Creators as experts
One question that’s fascinated me: How can creators apply their sensibilities and position their expertise to be valuable for businesses? Recording artists and DJs now have an opportunity to apply their expertise and tastes as part of a business bundle, and subsequently to make more money. It might not be as prestigious as doing a…
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Hotel playlists
Luxury hotels have a problem: choosing the right type of music, so that it sets the right ambience for the service team and for its customers. The Wall Street Journal: “While some cutting-edge independent hotels and hip brands like W Hotels have long focused on music by hiring DJs and producing concerts, the trend is…
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Remembering the good stuff that your brain forgets
There’s a narrative floating around on Twitter (Exhibit 1, 2) that we’re meant to forget things that are unimportant to us. Forgetting is an incredibly useful feature of the brain. The brain does also have a knack to boomerang really valuable memories or ideas back—often in an exciting, relevant, way. We have a name for…
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The rolodex
You really only need a few people to make your career work. For example, in the art world, you only need one dealer, a few collectors, a couple of critics, and a couple of curators to make your career sustainable. 12 true fans. The challenge is how you actually build relationships with these people. Well,…
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What showing up every day actually means
This image, created by Sarah Arnold-Hall, really resonates. Just floss one tooth every day. 80% of running is getting your shoes on. Just make contact with the ball. You should also read: Consistency starts with inconsistency How a daily writing habit sparked my creativity To Make Better Creative Work, Aim for Acceptable, Not Perfect How…
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How to legally access an academic paper for free
If you find an academic paper you want to read in full, just email one of the authors. You can meet somebody new, it’s a common practice, and they’ll be glad you’re interested in their work. (The more famous ones might not be able to respond). I just did this today and the author sent…
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Optionality cost
I talked to my parents last night, and my mom was telling me about how she thought about my book while she was practicing her nagomi art. It was an awesome feeling. Obviously, that conversation wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t write the book. And I almost didn’t. I’d wanted to write a book throughout…
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You’ll never know when you go viral
Nicolas Cole wrote a thread today on how he’s gone viral a bunch of times, and still has no idea how to predict virality moving forward. This is a theme I’ve noticed that Ramit Sethi had written in an email I received in 2018, in which he shared that a post he spent a ton…
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Collecting to build and demonstrate expertise
I’m a big fan of services businesses (so much so that I’d started my own!). I’m an even bigger fan of those services businesses leveraging their teams to expand beyond client services, into building its own products. It’s tough—Metalab founder Andrew Wilkinson lost $10 million doing it!—but it’s not impossible. One great small bet can…
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Since you’re here, you might as well…
Stick around longer and get to know people. Pick up the plastic bag that floated right in front of you. Try a new route. Stretch or do bodyweight workouts. Pet the dog. Take it all in for a couple of minutes, and notice what catches your interest. Pause the music and listen to what your…