Interview With Leo Babauta: The Husband, Father, Blogger and Author

Today we have a very special guest of “Motivate Thyself”.  Leo Babauta, author of zenhabits, Write to Done and a few very successful books, is here to answer a few questions and give us a little more insight into this great success story.  My goal with this Q and A is to tap into areas we don’t often hear about when it comes to bloggers.  The ‘behind the scenes’ person that only close friends and family get to know.  As always, Leo has been very open to share his life and experiences with us, so I hope you enjoy the interview.

Eric: Let’s start by taking a step back and look at the man behind the blogs and books. Leo, what does your wife think of all your online adventures and is she at all impressed with your great success?!

Leo: My wife is the most supportive woman in the world — I couldn’t have done any of this without her. Seriously, she doesn’t get enough credit for the encouragement she gives me, the time she allows me to spend doing all of this, and the patience she has for me. I love her for it.

She is even more excited than I am about every success, including the launch of this book. She’s my No. 1 fan, along with my mom.

Eric: What about your children. Do they understand your place in Blogopolis? And do they have any aspirations to join this wonderful world of posts and comments?

Leo: I think most of my kids don’t really understand what it is I do. I have suggested that they start blogs of their own, and I think they will sometime soon, but right now they don’t really get the concept. Except my oldest daughter, who is 15 and is a MySpacer. But she just rolls her eyes when I tell her about my success and tells me to stop bragging. It helps keep me grounded.

Eric: Now, as far as blogging is concerned, I have a two part question:

• As specifically as you possibly can be, what do you attribute your unusually quick rise to the tens of thousands of subscribers you have on zenhabits today?

Leo: Honestly, I feel like I’m just lucky. There are so many excellent bloggers out there that it’s hard to believe I rose so high so rapidly. But what I’ve tried to do that I think has worked is: 1) experiment with my life and share what I’ve learned, along with the failures; 2) be as genuine and sincere as I can; 3) provide as much useful information as I can; 4) present it in a concise and easy-to-read format; and 5) keep the reader’s interest first at all times.

But beyond that, I think the message of simplicity that I often talk about on my blog — whether that’s about simple productivity, living in the moment, living a simple and uncluttered life, or trying to get away from the overwhelming amount of information coming at us — I think this message has tapped into something in a lot of people that I didn’t realize was there. I thought I was alone in my desire for a simpler life and simpler way of doing things, but apparently there are lots of people out there wanting the same thing.

• And where do you see both zenhabits and blogging in general 5 years from now? Is this ‘bubble’ going to pop or is this blogging thing just getting started?

Leo: I generally try to stay away from speculating about the future. I am grateful to be doing what I’m doing now, and I’m just trying to enjoy the journey. I take things as they come and don’t plan too far in advance.

That said, I really feel like there are huge amounts of people out there, in my experience, who are using the Internet on a regular basis but who don’t know much about blogs. It’s really a huge group, and I think as they learn more about blogs we’ll all get more readers. We’ll see, though — if it doesn’t work out, I’m sure I’ll find something else exciting to do!

Eric: I’m really excited about your new book coming out, The Power of Less. On your accompanying site, thepowerofless.com, you use the tag line, “Do Less. Get More Done.” I love this because I think it packs the power of your books concept in a nice, neat little package. But what I would like to know is, how does THIS book on simplicity differ from the many that pack the shelves in the ‘Self Help’ sections of our local book stores? If I’m a reader pondering the purchase this book, what should I expect to receive that I can’t get anywhere else?

Leo: I think there are a lot of valuable books on simplicity out there — I get inspiration from them myself. What I try to offer in The Power of Less is what I’ve tried that has worked for me — these are tested concepts, not just ideals, and they have transformed my life and allowed me to achieve so much more than I ever thought possible, from quitting smoking to running three marathons to eliminating my debt and tripling my income to quitting my day job and starting two successful blogs.

And I’ve done all this while working fewer hours, making more time for what I love doing, and enjoying life more. It works, and that’s what I present — very practical principles and tactics that you can use right away, in your life, today. And if you do, I can guarantee that you’ll work in a more effective manner, have more time for what you love, and achieve more.

Eric: Finally, we’d all like to know, what’s next on your list of projects? Can you give us any hints into the next ‘stage’ in your online journey?

Leo: I like to work on one thing at a time, so this book has been my focus lately. But there are two projects I’d like to work on next — one after the other, of course. Both have to do with teaching people things I’ve learned: one is an online blogging course called “A-list Blogging Bootcamp” and the other is a teleseminar designed to help people take the principles in The Power of Less and put them into action, with my hands-on help. I just hope to continue to help people in whatever I do.

I just want to thank Leo for taking the time to share some of his life and insight with us and would encourage you guys to feel free and ask any questions as well as check out his excellent new site and book!

If you enjoyed this interview and think others might also benefit from this Q and A, please don’t hesitate to share this post in any way you see fit.  A quick Digg would be greatly apprecited.