Author: Herbert Lui

• Impress as few people as possible

  “What do they think about me?” is a useful question. It’s best only when you consider it for a few people in your life. For example, your spouse, your best friend, a family member. As you meet more people, you can trust yourself to be respectful, civil, and collaborative. That doesn’t mean you need to…

  Herbert Lui

  October 27, 2025

  A Matter of Time, Expectations, Turning Stories

• You can always choose to be calm

  When your mind is preoccupied, it believes that there isn’t even time to breathe. Your body breathes anyway, though, whether you’re mindful of it or not. Specific academic estimates vary, though it’s clear that the range is somewhere between 10,000 to 20,000 times per day. Breathing is the most natural thing in the world, even…

  Herbert Lui

  October 26, 2025

  Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories

• Practice doesn’t make perfect, practice is permanent

  Ty Dolla $ign released his new album a week ago, Tycoon. It was an occasion for me to reflect on my interview with him. In 2016, when we shot the interview, Ty had already gained a fair amount of momentum in his career, which he has sustained in the nine years since. Ty’s still best…

  Herbert Lui

  October 25, 2025

  Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories

• The schedule is your project’s most important feature

  Imagine you come across a job post you’re interested in. You spend a week editing your resume and cover letter for the opportunity. When you go to apply, you don’t see the post anymore—in the time you were editing, the company took the listing down. Or, as you were submitting, you looked more closely and…

  Herbert Lui

  October 24, 2025

  A Matter of Time, Creativity, Creator Confidential

• Every day is an opportunity to improve a skill and create momentum

  If you want to learn to cook, you have three meals a day to try. If you want to improve your writing, you can publish on the internet anytime. Try once a day or once a week. If you want to get better at speaking, you can practice with the people around you. You can…

  Herbert Lui

  October 23, 2025

  A Matter of Time, Turning Stories

• Make a list of things you want to do while you wait

  Sometimes, small chunks open up in the marble of the day. A restaurant asks you to wait. A friend runs late. A meeting ends early. In these moments, life presents you with the rare gift of spare time. You could sit down and use your phone. You could also make something more energizing happen. Here’s…

  Herbert Lui

  October 22, 2025

  A Matter of Time, Creativity

• Don’t let a misunderstanding distract you from your goals

  In 2018, Louis Vuitton announced that the company had appointed Virgil Abloh as its new artistic director of menswear. It was a triumphant moment for Virgil, streetwear, and a new generation of designers and customers.  One day, as Virgil was going to work, he was denied entry by a security guard. When Virgil recalled this…

  Herbert Lui

  October 21, 2025

  Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories

• When you do interesting things, you learn to make boring things interesting

  One useful piece of advice I came across early on in my writing career was to do interesting things. I travelled cheaply with friends. I met artists and authors. I worked with tech companies at the forefront of software, like Shopify and Figma. I moved out of the suburbs to downtown Toronto, then to Hong…

  Herbert Lui

  October 20, 2025

  Around the World, Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories

• If optimizing for commitment doesn’t work for you, optimize for balance instead

  Early in his career, Philip Glass’s commitment to becoming a composer earned him a Fulbright scholarship to study in Europe. His scholarship covered his tuition fees with Nadia Boulanger, a revered music teacher and composer. Money was a constant concern, though. As he traveled through Europe, he mostly visited churches and cemeteries because they cost…

  Herbert Lui

  October 19, 2025

  A Matter of Time, Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories

• Treat your morning ritual like an opening chess move

  Life throws curveballs at you. A problem might come up in the evening that needs to wait until the next morning. An evening of sleep might be interrupted, or you might wake up earlier than you’d expected and not be able to fall asleep. Perhaps you want to get some fresh air in the morning.…

  Herbert Lui

  October 18, 2025

  A Matter of Time, Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories