Category: Turning Stories
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Some slight adjustments for people who take photos to remember moments
Taking photos can often make a moment more difficult to remember. Linda Henkel wrote the first academic paper on this tendency, describing it as “photo taking impairment.” Subsequent studies have replicated this finding. One of the potential explanations is that our brains know it doesn’t need to remember the experience, because the photograph will help.…
Herbert Lui
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Everyday choices
Every day, you have the opportunity to make choices. More often than not, these choices will sound something like: Do I choose the painful, gratifying path, or do I choose the easy, comfortable path? You want to make a change in your life, and you’re too tired after work. Will you wake up 15 minutes…
Herbert Lui
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The way through
Sean Blanda’s reflection on one year of running his business has been on my mind the past few weeks, particularly his reflection on ego: I have had a wandering eye — which in my case, means roughly six domains were registered with good intentions and I was late in the process with a few companies…
Herbert Lui
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The middle path
Starting in the 1990s, Europe and the U.S. outsourced manufacturing to China for a variety of reasons (mostly because it was cheaper). MIT economist David Autor coined the term “China Shock” to describe this trend, which took place suddenly over seven years. While stuff got cheaper, and American companies’ margins got bigger, this disruption also…
Herbert Lui
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Branches, trunk, and roots
Hamza and I recently joined Emil Drud’s podcast Creative Odyssey as guests. It was our first appearance as New Material. I was describing how I thought about blogging, which I described as the trunk of my practice. Emil responded with a good question: what are the roots? Hamza, Emil, and I discussed it for a…
Herbert Lui
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60%
In school, 50% was the average grade. In the working world, the average grade is closer to 0%. You can always decide not to show up, or to do the minimum. 60% is much closer to 100% than 0%. With some added effort and process changes, you could get to 80%. If you rescope or…
Herbert Lui
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What is life asking of you?
Freddie Roach hated boxing. He’d enrolled in training since he was young, and got into hundreds of fights outside the gym as well. While he created momentum as a professional boxer, he suffered a string of defeats and was eventually diagnosed with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. For a boxer who never quit a fight—in fact,…
Herbert Lui
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Deliberate deprivation
There are several ancient practices that involve deprivation. This includes fasting, celibacy, and silent retreats. What are the reasons people did this? In a world filled with even more excess and indulgence than the past, is there a case to introduce more deprivation, more intentionally, into our lives? If you’ve been flirting with someone or…
Herbert Lui
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When the dream changes
Hacks is one of my favorite shows on TV. It’s smart, hilarious, and very tightly-written. While there are many moments and lines that I like from the show (“You don’t even know what hard is”), perhaps the most meaningful one took place in the penultimate episode of the fourth season. There’s a good recap here,…
Herbert Lui
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It’s not about how you make it, it’s about how you spend it
Of the few people who accumulate vast amounts of money—tens or hundreds of millions—there are many who lose it all. They spend the money on failed businesses, expensive things like cars, illiquid investments like mansions, living out lavish group experiences with their friends and entourage. Even incredibly high earners can go broke if they’re not…
Herbert Lui