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
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
Knowing what I want to say, what’s coming from my heart, and what’s not. It’s not refinement in the editorial sense of the word; it’s refinement of sincerity. Practicing immediacy, and not letting myself get in my own head for too long. In other words, refining my senses of preciousness and detachment. Lowering my expectations, […]| Herbert Lui
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
A comedian loves his audience. He wants to make them laugh. For this reason, he is also afraid of them. If they’re displeased by, or worse—indifferent to—his routine, he may second guess himself. He might not just change his approach; he might take fewer risks. He knows that when that happens, he’s doomed. I remember […]| Herbert Lui
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
Do you like pineapples on your pizza? The style is known as a Hawaiian pizza, and it’s a polarizing topic. For example, the former president of Iceland joked that he’d ban pineapples on pizza if he could. When I lived in New York City, I searched far and wide before finding a half decent restaurant […]| Herbert Lui
There’s a TV trope called the Missing Steps Plan (it’s also an internet meme). Here’s an example from a South Park episode, which involves gnomes stealing underpants: We are all missing steps in our wishes and dreams. The question is to what degree. For example, someone who hasn’t cooked and wants to cook might have […]| Herbert Lui
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
“Only the paranoid survive,” is a great business book title. It also contains a kernel of truth for business leaders. Without paranoia, the people running a business will grow complacent, and lose to a more innovative competitor. The flip side is this: paranoia can kill too. The entrepreneur who deals with anxiety, fear, and insecurity […]| Herbert Lui
A smartphone—like an iPhone, or one that runs Android—is capable of many things. It can help you do your shopping. It can keep you in touch with thousands of people. It can notify you whenever someone is reaching out to you. Whatever your laptop computer can do, you can probably do it on your smartphone […]| Herbert Lui
Good things happen when you find the Overlap. Here’s an excerpt from a poem by Robert Frost (via Jim O’Shaughnessy) that describes the Overlap very well: My object in living is to uniteMy avocation and my vocationAs my two eyes make one in sight.Only where love and need are one,And the work is play for […]| Herbert Lui
DJ Khaled is an artist, and a very popular one at that. He doesn’t sing, rap, or make the beat. He makes songs by finding good instrumental tracks and hiring other artists to record over it. Some people—maybe a lot of them—take this to mean that he doesn’t make music. So what does he actually […]| Herbert Lui
If an author works with a traditional publisher, they’re using the publisher’s supply chain. They need their book proposal accepted by the publisher. The author needs to apply the publisher’s feedback, even if they don’t agree with it. The publisher will schedule the book’s launch, and the author will follow. The publisher will, hopefully, put […]| Herbert Lui
Being happy is a skill. When you’re making a difficult decision, you can ask yourself this: In 1,000 parallel universes, which decision makes you happier in 999 of them? If the decision makes you only happier on the condition it turns out your way, then you need to consider what’s in your control, and the […]| Herbert Lui
If you want to drive one of London’s black cabs, you’ll need to pass a test called The Knowledge. It usually requires studying for 3 to 4 years. Nowadays, you have another option: an app like Waze or Google Maps can help guide you around London. Once an app like Uber onboards you as a […]| Herbert Lui
Over 2 million people have bought Tim Ferriss’s book, The 4 Hour Workweek. Let’s say the goal of the book was to set the reader up to create a lifestyle where they don’t need to find a job. While they might need to work more than four hours, success means they’ve designed their lives for […]| Herbert Lui
A sense of immediacy means doing something today, now. Not tomorrow, the day after, or someday. Not putting it on a to-do list or into a task management system. Not until you feel ready or confident. Today, now. Backlogs don’t exist. You can delete them. Clear your mind as well. Spontaneity is a driving force. […]| Herbert Lui
A recording artist had started writing a book about creative work. Not long after, he read The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. “Every page made me feel better about my own artistic pursuits,” the artist writes. Then, doubt came over him. Rick’s book was so good that the artist wondered if he needed to write […]| Herbert Lui
In university, I attended a business school. It was good, with a decent reputation, nothing fancy enough to name drop. I picked it because I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do after studying, and the skills seemed flexible enough to apply to all sorts of jobs. Worst case, maybe I would be able […]| Herbert Lui
If you tune into any type of media—traditional, social—you will receive the message that success will fix everything. Except it doesn’t work. Success promises to make you happy, but it can’t. You don’t need to look very far to see a successful person do something a happy person would not. The next time you crave […]| Herbert Lui
“Find” because it’s a verb. It requires intention. If you’ve been waiting a long time to be found, you can flip the script and start to find. “Things” because what you’re looking for could be anything. Keep an open mind. Activities, people, and places, are good starting points. Walking down a new street. Going to […]| Herbert Lui
In Greek mythology, The Odyssey tells the story of a man, Odysseus, making a decade-long journey to return home to his family. Along the way, he and his team come across many obstacles and come up with plans to get past them. For example, Odysseus and his team encounter sirens at sea—beings who sing beautifully. […]| Herbert Lui
A place is a tool. The library helps you focus and work. The gym helps you work out. Your home helps you relax and unwind. A nice restaurant is a tool for you to get together with friends and family, share a meal, and create a new experience. If you walked into a nice restaurant, […]| Herbert Lui
“Once you start making things, once you take that leap, you have the same status as any other artist,” Questlove writes in Creative Quest. “I’m not saying that you’re as good. I’m not saying that you’re as important. But all of a sudden it’s a difference of degree rather than a difference of kind.” If […]| Herbert Lui
One of my friends is an entrepreneur with a wide ranging portfolio that spans real estate, franchises, ecommerce stores, and software. Some of these businesses have seen dramatic growth. Whenever we chat, he’ll describe a new business—often two or three—that he’s directly working on. I pay attention because I always learn something new. Sometimes, I […]| Herbert Lui
Raymond Carver, a writing professor and author of short stories, had friends who published their work and apologized for it not being very good. “It would have been better if I’d taken the time,” they would say. Raymond responded: I wanted to say to my friend, for heaven’s sake go do something else. There have […]| Herbert Lui
In the late 1980s, an ad agency created a marketing campaign for Nike. The commercial featured an 80-year-old man running every morning, who says, “People ask me how I keep my teeth from chattering all the time. I leave them in my locker.” Then, a slogan flashed on the screen, “Just do it.” This phrase […]| Herbert Lui
A contemplative exercise: If writing was a person, what would it be like? What would your relationship with it be like? For example, are you in a relationship with writing only because you hope it will bring you success and wealth? Is writing more like a friend, a spouse, or an acquaintance? Or is it […]| Herbert Lui
Starting in the 1990s, Europe and the U.S. outsourced manufacturing to China for a variety of reasons (mostly because it was cheaper). MIT economist David Autor coined the term “China Shock” to describe this trend, which took place suddenly over seven years. While stuff got cheaper, and American companies’ margins got bigger, this disruption also […]| Herbert Lui
Pusha T and Malice’s GQ interview has been making the rounds on the internet. There has been a lot of noise particularly about Push describing why he can’t work with Ye anymore, “He knows I don’t think he’s a man.” While I found the phrasing surprising, the sentiment was understandable. Push has been one of […]| Herbert Lui
In my 20s, I watched a lot of interviews with artists so I could understand how they found success. I believed I could reverse engineer these paths, and I appreciated this genre of media so much I started making my own by interviewing recording artists and authors. While I learned more than my fair share, […]| Herbert Lui
What makes a person entrepreneurial? Professor Saras D. Sarasvathy believes the distinguishing factor is in the reasoning process. She identifies two types of reasoning: When you think with causal reasoning, you focus on what you want to do—the desired end goal, or the destination—and then work backwards from that. Business leaders, managers, and strategists tend […]| Herbert Lui
I recently found out I’d sold over 3,000 copies of Creative Doing in under two years. My goal is to promote the book until I sell 10,000 copies, a number which represents the point where people are discussing it via word of mouth. I am well on my way towards it. I have been putting […]| Herbert Lui
A little over a year ago, my friend Michael asked me, “Are you a starter, a developer, or a finisher?” He explains the differences, which he learned from Kevin Kelley, in this issue of his newsletter: While I initially saw each of these elements in my work, it’s become much clearer to me that I […]| Herbert Lui
Patrick Dubroy writes: You see, warm-blooded animals — like humans or mice — have a stable body temperature that stays within a pretty narrow range. For humans, it’s around 37 degrees Celsius. A few degrees higher or lower and we’re in big trouble. Cold-blooded animals like the painted turtle can adapt their metabolism to the […]| Herbert Lui
