Category: Turning Stories
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Find an idea that’s easy to pick up and put down
One thing that made writing really frustrating for me early on was trying to complete a draft of an idea that I clearly didn’t have enough time to express. For example, there are many days when I have 15 minutes—maybe five!—to write. If I was still “stuck” in the middle of a draft that I’d…
Herbert Lui
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This is the perfect time
Image by Austin Chan If you’re reading this, you’re thinking, “I’m too late,” or “Other people are so much better at this than me,” or, “Why bother?” You’re probably feeling defeated, depressed, and a special kind of self-loathing that comes with awareness. You know that you shouldn’t feel this way. It’s not constructive. But you…
Herbert Lui
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Practice being bored
When was the last time you were the only person in the room not using your phone? You’re not as busy as you think. If you feel busy, it’s because you’re running away from feeling bored. While boredom feels really bad at first, it comes with a lot of benefits. For starters, it frees your…
Herbert Lui
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You vs. the parasite
I did bookkeeping for my first year of business. One year was enough for me. It was boring and very spreadsheet–heavy, and I knew I never wanted to do it again. So I did what I thought savvy entrepreneurs called “delegating.” I hired a bookkeeping and accounting firm to do it for me, and I…
Herbert Lui
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“Never do nothing”
It was earlier in his life, perhaps when he worked in finance, that Dave Spitz picked up a belief: “If you do everything on your to-do list, you’re succeeding. If you don’t, you’re failing.” Dave quit finance and eventually started California Strength, a training facility for Olympic weightlifting. While he owns a gym, he doesn’t…
Herbert Lui
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One chance
Dan Sullivan is a coach for entrepreneurs. He asks every prospective client a question, “If we were having this discussion three years from today, and you were looking back over those three years, what has to have happened in your life, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy with your progress?” It’s a…
Herbert Lui
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What’s the point?
“What’s the point in planning, if it could all end at any time?” Dustin Gorton survived the Columbine massacre at age 18. He learned how fleeting life can be that day. A blog attributes a powerful reflection to him, penned when he turned 36. It reads, “I came away with the [lesson that] death is…
Herbert Lui
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Blogging for smaller audiences and deeper connections
Making good work requires making mistakes. It’s never a straight path to the final work. If a lot of people see your creative work all the time, then it’ll be more difficult for you to make imperfect work. You won’t have space to tinker and experiment so much. You won’t even just be able to…
Herbert Lui
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Three stories about emotional reactions
1. Anthony de Mello writes in Awareness: Imagine a patient who goes to a doctor and tells him what he is suffering from. The doctor says, “Very well, I’ve understood your symptoms. Do you know what I will do? I will prescribe a medicine for your neighbor!” The patient replies, “Thank you very much, Doctor,…
Herbert Lui
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Chipping away
I used to drop everything to focus on a single project at a time. I would try to do all the tasks as soon as possible, in the hopes of getting it done and out of the way so I could relax. For example, if I had an administrative project, I told myself I’d just…
Herbert Lui