Herbert Lui

Blog on creativity, marketing, and the human condition.

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  • While the image of success is loud, real success is quiet

    If you asked me nine years ago, success often involved images that conveyed money, power, and respect. It was very theatrical.  Thanks to my stomach, I realized a truer, clearer, and more real definition of success. For some people, those images are worth everything, including their health. For me, I realized that they meant next…

    Herbert Lui

    December 13, 2025
    Expectations, Life, Turning Stories
  • Sometimes, the quiet achievements are the most important ones

    One winter night, nine years ago, I was a few bites into a pad gra prow with crispy pork when I felt like I was full. It made no sense because I hadn’t eaten in several hours.  A part of me still felt very hungry. When I tried forcing the food down, a technique my…

    Herbert Lui

    December 12, 2025
    Life, Turning Stories
  • Marketing readiness

    A product’s features may be complete, but that doesn’t mean it’s ready for customers yet. Before they use the product, customers want to know: What does the product do? Who’s it for? What’s a good reason I should care? There are more questions you need to ask yourself: how can you get the customer’s interest?…

    Herbert Lui

    December 11, 2025
    Contentions, Promotion
  • Writing tired

    In my ideal world, I’d wake up around 8am, eat breakfast and have a matcha latte, and write for 1-2 hours. In this state, the writing just flows out. 60–95%, I don’t write under these ideal conditions. Life is asking me to take care of other things. Instead, I keep my eyes peeled for openings…

    Herbert Lui

    December 10, 2025
    A Matter of Time, Creativity, Creator Confidential
  • Two ways to increase the value of your work

    People get value from your work and experiences when you publish it and they experience it. There are two ways to increase the value of your work: You can improve the experience (e.g., through crafting the story, or telling it in a new and interesting way). You can contextualize it further. Or, you can get…

    Herbert Lui

    December 9, 2025
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Promotion
  • The writer’s room inside your mind

    Many TV shows hire writers. These writers work together to discuss what they want to accomplish with the show, characters, and episodes. They also share what they’ve noticed and what has caught their interest.  Each writer pitches ideas, writes and edits scripts, and in the process turns them into stories that, hopefully, stick with us.…

    Herbert Lui

    December 8, 2025
    Creativity, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Cultivating a life with less deadline pressure

    Instead of counting down with a timer, try counting up with a stop watch. This is a lesson I learned from a personal trainer, who was timing me as I rested between sets. In addition to tracking what’s left to do, proactively track what you did. This is the iDoneThis philosophy. Right now, I cross…

    Herbert Lui

    December 7, 2025
    A Matter of Time, Creativity, Creator Confidential
  • Create full-time job opportunities by adding value as a freelancer

    If you’re unemployed and seeking a full-time job, you could intentionally approach freelancing as if it were an alternative to the interview process. This can be effective, because every hiring manager has too many problems and too little time. They are, often, toiling away at work that doesn’t add leverage for them (nor does it…

    Herbert Lui

    December 6, 2025
    Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Notes from a season of movement

    I’ve moved around the world more often than usual this year. I hadn’t written much about this, so I wanted to start with this post: My wife and I moved away from NYC, where we lived for two years, back to Toronto. I left my job as the director of marketing for FGX. I spent…

    Herbert Lui

    December 5, 2025
    Around the World
  • Streaks are fragile, practices are anti fragile

    Streaks are useful for keeping a behavior going. When you’re on a streak, the momentum and fear of breaking the streak carries you through to repeating a behavior. If you’ve worked out three times a week for 100 weeks straight, you want to do the same next week to keep the streak going. But what…

    Herbert Lui

    December 4, 2025
    A Matter of Time, Creativity, Creator Confidential
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