Category: Turning Stories
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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
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Just don’t it
In the late 1980s, an ad agency created a marketing campaign for Nike. The commercial featured an 80-year-old man running every morning, who says, “People ask me how I keep my teeth from chattering all the time. I leave them in my locker.” Then, a slogan flashed on the screen, “Just do it.” This phrase…
Herbert Lui
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The courage to tell (yourself) a new story
A young man discusses his latest challenge with a philosopher. Whenever he sees another young person’s story of success in a newspaper, he feels a strong sense of envy and frustration. He feels inferior, like he’s less than the other person. He’s reminded of his social standing, his modest education, and even the pimples on…
Herbert Lui
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Accept, commit, and endure
Two related, and really useful, ideas from two psychologists: You don’t need to feel better—prepared, ready, in control—before you do the difficult thing. All life asks of you is that you participate. When you avoid negative emotions, you make them feel stronger. Steven C. Hayes explores experiential avoidance and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in…
Herbert Lui
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Ask for help
Everybody needs help, at some point. (Entrepreneurs need the most help.) You will need help. Sometimes, the less you want to ask for help, the more you stand to benefit from it. People can’t help you if they don’t know you need help. Asking for help is your responsibility. Be open about your problems. People…
Herbert Lui
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The day you took your buttons back
There’s a phrase that describes when somebody else says something to cause a strong emotional reaction in you (usually irritating or annoying you): they are “pushing your buttons.” It’s not very useful, because it puts the other person in the driver’s seat. You’re passively letting your buttons get pushed. It’s useful because you can always…
Herbert Lui
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The circumstance and the experience
Life is short. Don’t spend too much of it waiting. There are two solutions: Find an alternative. Choose or create an option where you don’t need to wait. There is, apparently, a street across from Din Tai Fung in Taiwan that serves all of the people who don’t want to wait. Accept the circumstances and make…
Herbert Lui
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Three ways to understand winning
Winning is everything. If you execute on your values, ideals, and principles, winning will happen. Success isn’t about winning and losing, it’s about being your best self. Three different characters—say, Kobe Bryant, Bill Walsh, and Ted Lasso—would tell you different things about winning. You might learn something about yourself after you imagine them—or other characters—discussing…
Herbert Lui