Top all-time · #5544
Herbert Lui
Personal blog · herbertlui.netwritingcultureproductivity
Herbert Lui's personal blog at herbertlui.net covers writing, culture and productivity. Since 2020, 13 different Hacker News readers have linked it 151 times, most often “Optionality Cost”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (2) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Herbert Lui's posts on how time pressure and writing affect thinking: a summary of Tom DeMarco's book Slack, and an essay arguing we write to learn what we think.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 2 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Blog on creativity, marketing, and the human condition.
Most-linked posts?
- Optionality Cost2 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2022-06-10
- Some slight adjustments for people who take photos to remember moments2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-06-17
- Treat your morning ritual like an opening chess move2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-10-18
- Don’t think to write, write to think2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-08-28
What Hacker News says?
Related is the book from deMarco (2002): Slack https://herbertlui.net/slack-tom-demarco-summary/ “People under time pressure don’t think faster!”
Comment linking /slack-tom-demarco-summary/
on “Too much efficiency makes everything worse (2022)”Submitted Don’t think to write, write to think as a story · 553 points
HN discussionThanks for sharing, and I totally agree! I'd respond by defining writing in this case as merely putting words on the page. No backspacing (save to correct typos), almost as if we were writing by pen. Writing is a very separate process from editing, and the two processes need to be kept very separate; the editing is where the cohesion is developed and tightened up. Naturally, research is also a separate process. Susa…
Comment linking /insights-from-the-idiot/
on “Don’t think to write, write to think”Submitted David Chang on the long, hard, stupid way as a story · 263 points
HN discussionThat's just the business model of streaming—unlike labels, there is no cross-subsidization (e.g., a more popular artist "paying for" an obscure critically acclaimed artist who doesn't sell well). You're incentivized to get plays, which ultimately gets everyone to converge. It's going to be really tough for the "middle class" of independents—whether you're in content creation or apps. But if you use streaming platfor…
Comment linking /own-your-marketing-own-your-income/
on “80% of musicians earn less than £200 a year from streaming”Submitted Bill Watterson, Picasso, and self promotion as a story · 105 points
HN discussion> You need to deliberately prioritize your growth and choose to go against the current. You need to deliberately introduce friction to the process. This resonates! Doing things the long, hard, stupid way is the extreme version/application of this opinion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41512207 Also, since convenience/comfort are so widely available now, you practically need to choose discomfort in order to gr…
Comment linking /personal-growth-happens-after-voluntary-discomfort/
on “Why friction is necessary for growth”Submitted Montage fallacy as a story · 90 points
HN discussionWe don't write just to communicate things we know, but to learn what we think. Especially in a school setting. https://herbertlui.net/dont-think-to-write-write-to-think/ I remember this every time I solve a problem while explaining it to someone in an email.
Comment linking /dont-think-to-write-write-to-think/
on “AI Checkers Forcing Kids to Write Like a Robot to Avoid Being Called a Robot”Submitted For productivity geeks, futility is a relief and a starting point as a story · 71 points
HN discussionIn Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman writes a passage that fits the same vibe as this piece: >You can’t become an ultrasuccessful lawyer or artist or politician without first “settling” on law, or art, or politics, and therefore deciding to forgo the potential rewards of other careers. If you flit between them all, you’ll succeed in none of them. Likewise, there’s no possibility of a romantic relationship being t…
Comment linking /optionality-cost/
on “Tyranny of Optionality”Submitted Turn your conference talk into a blog post as a story · 34 points
HN discussionBuilding a direct connection with your customers/audience/people is the key. As this piece suggests, an email list is a great way to get started. It could really be any list of any contact info that you can export and download as a data file at some point. I have seen physical stores leave clipboards out for people to sign up for a mailing list and that works. I feel extremely passionate about this topic and I've wr…
Comment linking /learning-to-talk-to-customers-directly/
on “TikTok Shutdown: Why building on proprietary platforms is a risky game”Submitted Recoverable and Irrecoverable Decisions as a story · 11 points
HN discussionhttps://herbertlui.net/
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Could you share your personal website here?”Submitted Treat your morning ritual like an opening chess move as a story · 7 points
HN discussionThis resonates with me! In a blog post, I wrote, "It has never been easier to avoid boredom. Distraction is all around you, offering to cover up the painful things you’re avoiding that boredom can sometimes be a gateway to. Yet without boredom, there can be no inspiration. Boredom is the mud from which the flower of imagination blossoms. Your next creative idea is just one boring moment away." https://herbertlui.net…
Comment linking /deliberate-boredom/
on “Men Who Stare at Walls”Submitted The Tyranny of the Note Taking Industrial Complex, and Other Notes on Notes as a story · 5 points
HN discussionThis is so cool! I had no idea, thanks for sharing. On the journey to find the primary source ( https://sive.rs/2008-08-tim-ferriss ), I came across this fact that Reznor started NIN in 1998 and was the only permanent member of NIN until 2016. Projects like the Foo Fighters (Dave Grohl), Bon Iver (Justin Vernon), and Tame Impala (Kevin Parker), all started as one person bands, too! (I write more about one-person res…
Comment linking /the-simple-truth-behind-successful-creative-projects-they-start-small/
on “On quitting, failing, and, “I find a lot of people who should quit don't””Submitted Don't let activation energy expire as a story · 4 points
HN discussion> So instead of trying and occasionally failing, they just... stop trying. The fear of making something bad is worse than producing nothing at all. "Loosening up" is a way to describe this skill. It reminds me of a story from Richard Feynman. In his book, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!, he recalls an art class when he was instructed to draw without looking at the paper. The first time he did it, his pencil broke…
Comment linking /publish-everything-promote-selectively/
on “A willingness to look stupid is the most underrated moat in doing creative work”Submitted Creative Focus as a story · 4 points
HN discussionhttps://herbertlui.net/ — I don't write much technical content, I usually cover marketing, creativity, and the human condition. Sharing a few posts that have resonated at hn, and highlighting the discussion (which I've found just as interesting—if not more so—as writing the post): https://herbertlui.net/dont-think-to-write-write-to-think/ hn thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32628196 https://herbertlui.ne…
Comment linking /quitting-art-careers/
on “Ask HN: Could you share your personal blog here?”Submitted If optimizing for commitment doesn't work for you, optimize for balance instead as a story · 4 points
HN discussionI've been noticing the same thing, though I'd frame it as analog getting more appealing largely because it's slower than digital. The demand for a slower pace is driven by two factors imo: Need: People can’t move so fast all the time, so they will dedicate parts of their lives to slow down and process what’s actually happening in their outer and inner worlds. It will involve activities like creative hobbies, fitness…
Comment linking /the-return-of-slow/
on “The Return to Analog”Submitted Tying my hands to the siren song of social media as a story · 4 points
HN discussionIt's mentioned in the article that this is a (really good!) painted version of The Torment of Saint Anthony, an engraving by Martin Schongauer. Michelangelo would go on to find his first patron, a Cardinal named Raffaele Riario, by forging a sculpture and artificially aging it (which, back then, was a conventional practice to demonstrate expertise and skill: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-a-forged-sculptu…
Comment linking /in-defense-of-copycats/
on “Michelangelo's First Painting, Created When He Was Only 12 or 13 Years Old”Submitted Personal growth happens after voluntary discomfort as a story · 4 points
HN discussionThere are a lot of great comments here, though I agree with the sentiment that starting a blog will not guarantee a wild career trajectory change. I've found the benefits of writing at a blog to be much more intrinsic (I practice every day). Sure, it did lay the groundwork for my career in tech marketing, but it also keeps me in the groove of "just writing"—easier said than done, and it makes me much happier. More h…
Comment linking /what-my-personal-website-and-blog-have-done-for-me/
on “Ask HN: What has your personal website/blog done for you?”Submitted If Stress Was a Dog as a story · 4 points
HN discussion
