Category: Turning Stories
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Stop trying to fill an acceptance shaped hole with ambition
If you tune into any type of media—traditional, social—you will receive the message that success will fix everything. Except it doesn’t work. Success promises to make you happy, but it can’t. You don’t need to look very far to see a successful person do something a happy person would not. The next time you crave…
Herbert Lui
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Turn a difference of kind into a difference of degree
“Once you start making things, once you take that leap, you have the same status as any other artist,” Questlove writes in Creative Quest. “I’m not saying that you’re as good. I’m not saying that you’re as important. But all of a sudden it’s a difference of degree rather than a difference of kind.” If…
Herbert Lui
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Patience creates new possibilities
If there was a recipe for making sure I don’t sleep well, a high dose of caffeine would be a key ingredient. The first hour is great—then stress, anxiety, and rumination surge, continuing through the night. The advantage is, I won’t stop working. The disadvantage is, I can’t stop or rest, even if I wanted…
Herbert Lui
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Make space for projects that show momentum, by quitting the ones that don’t
One of my friends is an entrepreneur with a wide ranging portfolio that spans real estate, franchises, ecommerce stores, and software. Some of these businesses have seen dramatic growth. Whenever we chat, he’ll describe a new business—often two or three—that he’s directly working on. I pay attention because I always learn something new. Sometimes, I…
Herbert Lui
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Restraint, and a better no
At the start of each year, some people choose a word or motto intended to be a theme. I’m usually not one of them. However, the word, “Restraint,” came to me last year, so I made that a focus. It has remained the word for this year. While I’d made progress, I felt like there…
Herbert Lui
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Leadership looks sweet and tastes bitter
One way to define a leader is someone who understands what needs to be done, and gets it done. Another way to say this: a leader sets a goal, makes a plan to achieve it, and executes on that plan. A person doesn’t need a job title or power to become a leader. They take…
Herbert Lui
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Stacking the deck to win
What’s the most important thing an executive coach can do to succeed? Choosing the right clients. More specifically, choosing to only work with leaders who demonstrate a high potential of success before the engagement. In order to do this, the coach needs to qualify potential clients very intentionally. They decline to work with anyone who…
Herbert Lui
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The lion and the rat
Here’s a good fable from Jean de La Fontaine: A Rat, in quite a foolish way, Crept from his hole between a Lion’s paws;The king of animals showed on that day His royalty, and never snapped his jaws.The kindness was not unrepaid;Yet, who’d have thought a Lion would need aid From a poor Rat? Soon…
Herbert Lui
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A bit of unconditional love, for the things you make
Raymond Carver, a writing professor and author of short stories, had friends who published their work and apologized for it not being very good. “It would have been better if I’d taken the time,” they would say. Raymond responded: I wanted to say to my friend, for heaven’s sake go do something else. There have…
Herbert Lui
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Stay with it
Imagine going up a roller coaster. The butterflies in your stomach are fluttering. There’s no turning back, you’re buckled into the seat. Without you realizing it, your breathing has grown shallow. Excitement, anxiety, and fear, all mixed up into one. The feeling crescendos as your seat gets higher and higher up into the air. All…
Herbert Lui