Category: Turning Stories
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Contemplation vs. observation
Tension—which can also be described as strain, stress, and effort—is valued in our era. You and I have been conditioned to believe that these are leading indicators to success. One saying goes, “A for effort,” which acknowledges dedication even with an unsuccessful outcome. A twist on is, “E for effort.” (I take it to mean…
Herbert Lui
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The path with the best odds
You’re on a road trip. Your car is running low on fuel. You don’t think you’ll make it to your destination. The closest fuel station is out of the way. Close enough that you’ll definitely make it, far enough that an alternate path would be best. It’ll take an extra hour. You give yourself a…
Herbert Lui
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No
When you’re young, you say yes. “Accept everything, expect nothing,” the saying goes. As you refine your skills and gain experiences, new opportunities will come along. Saying yes won’t work anymore. You will need to start to say no. The first time you do it, it might feel scary, but there’ll be clearly a good…
Herbert Lui
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Defining Winning
What does Winning mean to you? This sounds like a simple question—get a higher score than the other person, the highest score in the world, etc.—until it’s not. What’s the highest score? Depends on the game. Well, then what’s the game? If the game is music, is it hip-hop or opera? If it’s hip-hop, who…
Herbert Lui
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Who is this belief useful for?
Beliefs guide the arcs of our lives, usually through stories. These can appear as simple phrases or statements. For example, “Life is a competition.” In this story, the belief might be that there is such an objective thing as winning or losing at life—otherwise it wouldn’t be a competition. Winning is good, and losing is…
Herbert Lui
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If stress was a dog
If you told a friend you didn’t feed your dog or walk it for a week, they would think you were a horrible person. You’d be seen as irresponsible and cruel. If you told a friend you felt very stressed at work for the past week—you haven’t cooked for yourself, you’ve worked into the evenings,…
Herbert Lui
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Buy less junk food for better portion control, even if it means paying more
One of the best ways to eat less junk food is to make sure you don’t have any in the house. It generally works because you make eating junk food less convenient. If you really want it, you have to work for it. There’s an extension of the original rule: buy less of it, so…
Herbert Lui
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In praise of scruffy writing
A friend of mine recently published a new book and asked for my advice for promoting it. Fortunately, I wrote a post on the topic, so I sent them the link. (It’s much easier for me to find a link to a post from my blog than a post at a social media platform.) At…
Herbert Lui
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Creative risk and precursive faith
A property of any project that involves imagination—including entrepreneurship, art, writing, etc.—is the risk that it might not work. It’s not feasible to gain much certainty on the project, or even to control how it turns out. One really helpful framework is precursive faith: believing in the work ahead of seeing any evidence. You need…
Herbert Lui
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Taking a break from writing a new book
Earlier this year, I gave myself several weeks to finish up my next book. I mapped it out on a paper calendar. I knew it was a short timeframe—it felt unrealistic and stressful!—and I still gave it a shot. Unfortunately, I was right. While I didn’t get to finish the final draft of the book,…
Herbert Lui