Category: Turning Stories
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Choose to trust yourself
Some businesses—not all, and not even most!—don’t trust you. They design their products and marketing to lock you in and make you feel reliant on them. The incentive for them is to have lots of steady customers; if you can come and go at any point, then that business isn’t as steady as it could…
Herbert Lui
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Don’t mix up your products with your art
A friend of mine is an accomplished restaurateur. His restaurant specializes in selling smash burgers. He is also a successful chef, cutting his teeth at one of the best restaurants in the city. A couple of times, I had his pasta for dinner. I made this realization the other day, though I haven’t asked him…
Herbert Lui
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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A technician’s expertise
Several months ago, I moved into a new condo. Shortly after, I noticed the arm in my condo’s dishwasher was loose. It seemed to chug along fine without. Then, a real hiccup, a few days ago: the dishwasher stopped 10 minutes into a cycle and displayed an error code. In searching for what the error…
Herbert Lui
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Five conditions that amplify your best efforts
Try jumping on a trampoline, on concrete, and on a sofa. You’ll quickly see different results, even with the same effort. Those are conditions. Each condition helps you achieve something different. Is your goal to get as high as possible, as steadily as possible or to create the safest landing? As you’re reading this, there’s…
Herbert Lui