Category: Turning Stories
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If optimizing for commitment doesn’t work for you, optimize for balance instead
Early in his career, Philip Glass’s commitment to becoming a composer earned him a Fulbright scholarship to study in Europe. His scholarship covered his tuition fees with Nadia Boulanger, a revered music teacher and composer. Money was a constant concern, though. As he traveled through Europe, he mostly visited churches and cemeteries because they cost…
Herbert Lui
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Treat your morning ritual like an opening chess move
Life throws curveballs at you. A problem might come up in the evening that needs to wait until the next morning. An evening of sleep might be interrupted, or you might wake up earlier than you’d expected and not be able to fall asleep. Perhaps you want to get some fresh air in the morning.…
Herbert Lui
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Even if the doctor recommends doing nothing, the visit will be worth it
A lot of people—particularly men—visit the doctor less than they need to. I’ve heard some friends tell me that they’re too busy, and the doctor often sends them home without much intervention. There’s a low probability of the condition getting worse, and intervention introduces complications. Doctors even have a term for this, “the tincture of…
Herbert Lui
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A dollar is a dollar, except what it means when you earn it
Money is known to be identically exchangeable. Grocery stores will accept any dollar you pay them. How you got the money is none of their business. However, earning the dollar can be, altogether, a different situation. A dollar you earn doing work you hate, is very different from a dollar you earn for something you…
Herbert Lui
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You will have something worth saying after you write, not before
There is a sensible piece of advice that goes, write only when you have something to say. This is not useful for me. The more I write, the more I think and learn, and then the post becomes worth writing. When I write, I find something to say. If I write every day, I have…
Herbert Lui
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Only boring people get bored
I have recently been staying with family. I grew up in a suburb outside of Toronto, and my family has stayed in the area, so I have a chance to see it with fresh eyes. It is surprising how much I didn’t know about the place. There are really beautiful libraries, like the Richmond Hill…
Herbert Lui
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Craft, not fame, makes your story worth telling
I’ve bought and flipped through a couple of memoirs lately from popular recording artists. Tens of millions of people stream their music on Spotify every month. It’s not surprising that traditional publishers would offer them book deals. What’s surprising, at least to me, is how boring they are. One artist seemed to put little effort…
Herbert Lui
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Three moments from writing this week
I write every day because it’s really fun. (That’s my competitive advantage!) Here are three moments that stuck out to me this week: While I was writing this post, there was a moment when I felt as if my brain was struck by a bolt of lightning, “There was something I read about this! It’s…
Herbert Lui
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Stop chasing positive outcomes, allow them to find you with an indirect approach
If you want to fall asleep, the worst way to do it is to try to force yourself to sleep. Instead, conventional advice is to count sheep. I like to imagine a mashup of my favorite TV shows. The idea is to think about something else, and sleep naturally follows. You don’t pursue sleep directly,…
Herbert Lui
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Don’t just support it, enjoy it
Good friends, communities, and families do more than just support each other. They enjoy being around each other and getting to know each other more. Everyone knows they don’t have to be there. That’s what makes it more special. When someone is “bringing the energy,” they are deciding not just to support a project, they…
Herbert Lui