Leo Babauta Story
Leo Babauta is nothing short of an enigma. The author of several best selling chart-toppers and the founder of three uber popular websites, Babauta is best known for his site Zen Habits. Leo Babauta is a game changer in the field of motivational literature, as he does not lead his audiences, but walks alongside them thus striking a benevolent chord.
Leo Bauauta offers a fresh perspective on life that is well known by all but rarely acknowledged. One of the major reasons that failure is seen as a stumbling stone is because undue emotional stigmitism is accorded to failures, drumming up drama around something that is merely a part and parcel of every person’s life. Leo’s posts on Zen Habits, where he bares all about his personal achievements while casually pointing out at the simple steps that he employed to achieve them.
An interesting point to note here is that Leo garnered his huge fan base by talking extensively about his personal life, lifestyle and goals, but little is known about the his family background. Also, the only tidbit known to the public about his personal life is the fact that he is happily married to a woman who gave his 6 kids.
A glance at Zen Habits shows us that Leo is a guy-next-door, and it is perhaps this aura he exudes that made him the hit that he is, as folks can relate to him. He does not have any formal degrees or doctorates to his name that qualify him to provide advice concerned with human psychology and behavioral patterns. The respect commanded by him is due to his commendable introspection abilities combined with his gift to communicate.
Reading the biography of Leo Babauta is akin to flipping through an illustrative self-help book. The writer and entrepreneur marks his success in quitting smoking as the first of a series of achievements chalked up to his name. He reveals that he tried seven times to quit smoking, but in vain. This did not deter him from picking himself up once more. What made his eighth attempt a success is that he analyzed his actions and thoughts during his previous attempts, and realized that he was not wholly committed to his goal. To ensure that he went the whole way on his success trial, he informed his wife and promised his daughter that he would wave goodbye to smoking, and blogged about it to turn up the expectations on him. He met with success this time and effectively gave up smoking. Anyone who read that part of his biography would see that being responsible and wholeheartedly wanting to change a habit helped him through it.
This series of failures educated him about the emotional responses that humans elicit towards failure, and this little experiment helped him approach his life better. Drawing inspiration from his success, he went about setting bigger goals for himself, one step at a time. He turned his attention towards his personal health, and with careful planning and dedication, he went about a point-to-point process of embracing a healthier life.
Leo began rising up early every morning so he could spend more time with his family, and then went on to incorporate a morning run into his schedule as the first step towards a healthier self. He kept at it consistently, and within a month graduated to 5K runs. One need to acknowledge the fact that to be able to attain a goal, they must be willing to give it their all, even if it calls for a major change in their routine. Leo systematically changed his eating habits, first removing from his meals of fried foods and sweets, and then by becoming a vegan.
Besides the impressive list of personal goals to his credit, Leo is also a role model for those seeking commercial success. It is important to note that true success comes only when one is passionate about their work. This is because the lack of job satisfaction will have a negative impact on both one’s personal and professional life, reducing their performance. All the same, one must take practical factors into consideration and be flexible in their work to make ends meet. Leo enjoyed writing and was a freelancer, but when he noticed that running a family was becoming taxing on the meager income received from freelancing, he took up a job, but continued to freelance in his spare time. This allowed him to earn almost double what he otherwise made, and still enjoy his favorite profession, besides spending time with his family.
Babauta is the founder of Zen Habits, a site that was listed not once but twice on the Top 25 Blogs list compiled by Time Magazine, within a year. Zen Habits is followed by more than 200,000 readers. Emboldened by this achievement, Leo launched a second blog named Write to Done as a platform for writers and bloggers. Embraced by more than 20,000 members and listed among the top 25 blogs for writers, Write to Done has also rung in resounding success. Mnmlist is his third blog and is dedicated to promoting a minimalistic lifestyle, encouraging readers to rid their lives of the clutter accumulated, and enjoy a better life. The Power Of Less and Zen to Done are the two books he authored and both performed well in the market.
Asked by a fellow pathfinder about the motivation behind his work, Leo responded that he did what he loved to do. He advises to refrain from attaching too much emotional value to failures and accept them as a part of life, and learn from the mistakes made. Also, a person must use trial and error methods to find the one thing that they are passionate about. To err is human, and everyone is allowed to jump ship time and again till they find their call. Success comes to those who dare to get up each time they take a fall.
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
