Category: Turning Stories
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A useful belief for tasteful entrepreneurs
The first year after Daniel Vassallo quit his job and went independent, his income was $33,000. The year after that, he made 10x. If you asked him how that happened, he would describe it like this, “I got a new sense of urgency at the end of 2019 and started working backwards from my financial…
Herbert Lui
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Stories as psychological moonshots
In 1969, commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo 11 on the moon. It was the first step to send people into space and discover literal galaxies of new possibilities. This project became the archetypal one for ambitious, exploratory, work; we now use the word “moonshot” to describe projects that…
Herbert Lui
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Deliberate play
When I was a child, my parents enlisted me in piano class for the better half of a decade. Those were long years. Every day, I was tasked with practicing two or three songs six times. During exam season, I would need to practice my exam songs ten times perfectly—which meant that if I made…
Herbert Lui
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Every dollar you save is a coupon on the next thing you buy
Retailers often offer incentives to encourage customers to buy more stuff. This can look like buy two get one free, buy one get one 50% off, flash sales, and free shipping thresholds. Most of these mechanisms are designed to short circuit your brain. They work against clear thinking; they give you a limited time constraint…
Herbert Lui
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Worth the wait
Late is better than never, and it’s never too late. Even if the line is long, and you missed a chance to join earlier. If the best time to start was yesterday, the second best time is today. Being patient is much easier than it looks. Some lines don’t need you to be present, so…
Herbert Lui
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Disorientation
When you first land in a new place, where you don’t speak the language, you’re probably going to make some mistakes. You’ll get in the wrong line at the airport. Queue on the wrong side of the escalator. Realize you’ve unintentionally broken etiquette or convention of some sort. This disorientation is one of the best…
Herbert Lui
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Overmatching the situation
An overmatch happens when one army has an overwhelming advantage than their opponents. Overmatching means bringing the metaphorical gun to a knife fight (or even bringing a tank). When you prepare enough, when you practice everyday, and bring enough firsthand experience (or partner up with leaders who can being that experience), you are setting yourself…
Herbert Lui
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Business is about making dreams come true
Derek Sivers reminded me of something. In Anything You Want, he writes, “Business is not about money. It’s about making dreams come true for others and for yourself.” That’s exactly why I started doing business, and somewhere in the day-to-day operations—the grind of it all—I lost this sense. I had worked with a friend on…
Herbert Lui
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A spreadsheet is a creative tool like a whiteboard is
Whenever I saw a spreadsheet, I used to think that my life was heading in the wrong direction. I had associated spreadsheets—and by extension, numbers and analytics—with soul-sucking corporate work. Whenever I saw a whiteboard, though, I would think that my life was heading in the right direction. I associated whiteboards with creativity and brainstorming.…
Herbert Lui
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When you save money, you buy freedom
I used to think the opposite. While I grew up with a family that saved a lot of money, I also saw that we procrastinated on buying things we needed. We didn’t do a lot of travel or experiences. Both of my parents’ very normal cars are over 10 years old—one is approaching 20. Later…
Herbert Lui