Blog on creativity, marketing, and the human condition.
When you’re streaming a song, you care about how it sounds. Whether it took the artist five minutes or ten years to record it matters less than if it catches your ear. Sure, if you like it, then the effort that went in may make you admire the artist more. But if you don’t like [ ] The post An artist’s effort, results, and skills appeared first on Herbert Lui .
Before the cast of The Office started filming an episode, they worked in the office for half an hour. Rather, they acted like they were working; passing each other notes, making fake phone calls, and sending emails. This behavior made the actors feel like they were actually at work. When the director started shooting a [ ] The post Go ahead appeared first on Herbert Lui .
In freshman year, my final grades ranged from 65 to 95. Even though I loved reading, I found it difficult to retain much information by passively reading textbooks at the library. During my senior year, I finally created a study technique that worked well for me. I made my own practice exams based on questions [ ] The post Make your own practice exam appeared first on Herbert Lui .
When Terence Tao uses ChatGPT, he’s able to prompt it in ways people without his knowledge of mathematics aren’t able to. Here’s an example. This suggests that if you’re an expert, you’ll be able to use AI better for that field than someone who’s not. Writing and editing is its own expertise. Part of that [ ] The post Read it with your own eyes appeared first on Herbert Lui .
Around a year ago, my wife, cat, and I had just moved from New York City back to Toronto. We stayed with my family in the suburbs. Instead of walking around everywhere, and getting thousands of steps in, all of a sudden we spent much more time in cars. That’s the way people designing the [ ] The post We make our structures, and then our structures make us appeared first on Herbert Lui .
Firefox has a really great Reader feature, which turns pages of long text into a more readable layout. It feels much softer on the eyes. However, it doesn’t work for Google Docs. And I have to review a lot of Google Docs, which I often find very hard on the eyes. Yesterday, I described the [ ] The post Making docs easier on the eyes appeared first on Herbert Lui .
“Ain t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain t no man got to be common,” goes a quote from Satchel Paige. It’s useful and energizing not only because of Satchel’s incredible story, but also because it reminds us that being common is a choice. Questlove writes in Creative Quest, “Once you start making [ ] The post Different is a choice appeared first on Herbert Lui .
An artist’s job isn’t to be perfect. It’s to make work that represents them, conveys what they want to express, and that they believe in. Many of my favorite recording artists have written, recorded, and published songs I wouldn’t want to listen to. But I respect them for doing it, because it still feels authentic [ ] The post Integrity and bad work appeared first on Herbert Lui .
In order to make something—anything!—you need to be able to experiment. And most experiments probably won’t work. If you don’t want them to reflect poorly on your body of work, call them what they are: experiments. Or, practice. They’re intended so you can learn, and will lead to your best work. The post A portfolio of experiments appeared first on Herbert Lui .
Your portfolio is a collection of something. For example, if you buy stocks, you might call that your stock portfolio. If you buy real estate, you may call it your real estate portfolio. Or, you might lump them in together and call it your investment portfolio. If you make things, a portfolio is also extremely [ ] The post Make two portfolios appeared first on Herbert Lui .