The Curious Engineer

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Herbert Lui

herbertlui.net

Blog on creativity, marketing, and the human condition.

Essays / personalGeneral

’16’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26
Posts
1,839 from 9 Apr 2016 to 30 Oct 2026
Posting
about daily (365 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog
Feed
https://herbertlui.net/feed/

Latest

October 2026

  1. The barbell of effort
  2. Realizing losing investments and experiences
  3. Sleeping beauties
  4. Joint accountability
  5. The best gift you can give someone
  6. Don’t save the good stuff
  7. True fandom
  8. Don’t wait to get asked
  9. The supporter
  10. Don’t work with clients who don’t care
  11. Effects are not excuses
  12. Gut checks
  13. Misapplying the Pareto principle
  14. The best in the world is not a global competition
  15. Aspirations need updates
  16. Instead of saying everything, just say something
  17. Priority amnesia
  18. Sophomore slump
  19. The value of a better guess
  20. Don’t play games rigged against you
  21. The accountability edge
  22. Your schedule is not the blocker
  23. It won’t get easier on its own
  24. A return to the gym
  25. Almost there
  26. Time bound does not mean rushing
  27. Creative constipation
  28. Ordinary breakthroughs
  29. The consolations of The Office’s alternate ending
  30. Space easy rewards out

September 2026

  1. Discount fixation
  2. Not making a decision is a decision
  3. An entrepreneur’s mascot
  4. Premature product positioning
  5. Time desensitization makes it easier to be patient
  6. The shifting meaning of radio
  7. Willingness is the cost of admission
  8. Keep work in perspective
  9. The line between the last to win and the first to lose
  10. A writer’s little empire
  11. Look Back
  12. The gravity of the interim
  13. After an athletic career
  14. Beauty in the ordinary
  15. Don’t paint those stripes
  16. Experimenting with a slower start to the day
  17. Introspection’s reward
  18. Zoo Run
  19. You deserve to publish
  20. If you love your work, you’re responsible for marketing it
  21. You create what you consume
  22. Make a dent on your circumstances
  23. The 100 year storm
  24. Good products can change systems
  25. The price of the spotlight
  26. Two turning stories about money
  27. Writing at a blog helps you write more elsewhere
  28. Just enough whelm
  29. Don’t bargain with reality
  30. Falling back in love, for the right reasons

August 2026

  1. Special is made of ordinary
  2. Sale on sale on sale
  3. Will rushing make anyone happy?
  4. Plan simple enough trips
  5. I will speak at Medium Day
  6. New shoes for sore ankles
  7. Rock bottom isn’t a place, it’s a decision
  8. Creative clarity
  9. The punctual bloomer
  10. Don’t pick a glamorous job
  11. “Think different” was a response
  12. Experts don’t overcorrect
  13. Don’t let activation energy expire
  14. Decompose a big idea into small projects
  15. A gentle slip out of the comfort zone
  16. Short guy syndrome
  17. Prioritize energizing environments
  18. An artist’s effort, results, and skills
  19. Go ahead
  20. Make your own practice exam
  21. Read it with your own eyes
  22. We make our structures, and then our structures make us
  23. Making docs easier on the eyes
  24. Different is a choice
  25. Integrity and bad work
  26. A portfolio of experiments
  27. Make two portfolios
  28. Master one play
  29. Don’t start with the stove top
  30. Creative slack

July 2026

  1. What worked this year may not work next year
  2. Help three people
  3. The problem market
  4. Calibrating a portfolio’s focus
  5. When time is scarce, energy is abundant
  6. The future of work is made up
  7. So many people, so many interests
  8. Simple projects survive
  9. A longer time horizon creates the conditions for abundance
  10. 5 tactics for hitting the Hacker News front page
  11. Talent-led sales
  12. Notes on making The Consistency Journal
  13. Marketing is about finding the exceptions
  14. Dare to bore me
  15. Treat your objects as if they had consciousness
  16. Notes on adopting a dog
  17. Find diverse sources of happiness
  18. Don’t settle for a bootleg
  19. Memories before Liquid Glass
  20. The freedom of generosity
  21. Venture mindset
  22. Making a product opens up new occasions
  23. Extra creative
  24. Creative focus
  25. Making in bets
  26. Public transit as a destination
  27. Buy things you need, with money you have, to impress people you like
  28. Self approval
  29. Creative stupidity
  30. Frame money with value, not morality
  31. The Love Metric

June 2026

  1. Your first try is a proof of concept
  2. Making new material with the old
  3. Make your work pay off
  4. Happiness, desires, values, and environments
  5. Creating the conditions for organic content growth
  6. A market fueled by purpose
  7. Don’t check your blog metrics yet
  8. Creative contribution
  9. Ownership requires energy and storage
  10. Developing a clearer business strategy helped unblock my writing
  11. Top 40,000,000 under 40
  12. Introducing my business writing services at LinkedIn
  13. Be the best in the world, for a few real people
  14. Against reality distortion
  15. Modest shapes
  16. Choicefulness
  17. Take your practice seriously
  18. Multiple strategies
  19. A fan of yourself
  20. Play the whole game
  21. Experience happens in the passthrough
  22. Winning at the casino
  23. Pokopia
  24. The quality of your decision making process vs. how it turns out
  25. No bad beats
  26. Landing it
  27. Remembering a restaurant
  28. Work works itself to work
  29. Good writing is like furniture

Every year

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