Leo Babauta has come a long way in the past 12 years.

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In 2005, he was an overweight smoker who was deeply in debt and had no time for his family. Later that year, he made a game-changing decision to turn his life around.

He stopped smoking. He started running. He ate better. He dug his way out of debt. He decluttered. He simplified. And he blogged about it.

Today, his website, Zen Habits, has two million readers and Leo has attracted 189,000 Twitter followers who are inspired by his journey.

In this exclusive "20 questions" interview, we learn who inspires Leo, whether he sees himself as inspirational and what he has learned from creating a blog that has 2,000,000 dedicated readers.

20 questions with Leo Babauta

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1 - How would you describe yourself in one sentence?

Leo - Grateful, full of love, and still in process.

2 - For those who aren't familiar with it, what is "Zen Habits?"

Leo - It’s a blog I started in 2007 that is about changing your habits, simplifying your life, and learning mindfulness. I’ve changed my entire life with small, simple steps that I share on the blog, and I am deeply grateful that it has helped many people change their lives as well.

3 - I understand your decision to quit smoking was a catalyst for further change in your life. Why was it so important to you that you quit? And how did quitting help you accomplish other life goals?

Leo - I had so many things I wanted to change about my life, from getting out of crushing debt to losing weight and decluttering my life. I didn’t know how to make any of these changes stick, so I decided to start with one thing. Smoking felt important, because by quitting, I felt like I was saving my own life … and the lives of my wife (who wanted to quit smoking too) and my children (who were likely to smoke if their parents smoked). So that kind of motivation helped me to find a way, and it started a snowball and then an avalanche of change in my life. By learning how to change one habit, I learned some simple principles that helped me change all the rest.

4 - On your timeline of life accomplishments, you wrote that you became a runner shortly after you quit smoking. If someone told the 2005 version of you that you'd be running a 50-mile ultramarathon in less than 10 years, what would you have said to that person?

Leo - It would have seemed impossible, so I would have just laughed at them in disbelief! And honestly, that was just one of the things I’ve accomplished that I would never have believed possible back then — from writing multiple books to starting a wildly successful blog to traveling the world to losing weight and becoming vegan to finding contentment with myself and diving deep into mindfulness and Zen. I didn’t believe in myself back then, in a way that was deeply painful.

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5 - What has been the biggest contributing factor to help you increase your endurance as a runner?

Leo - I just kept doing it. I told myself that all I had to do was lace up my shoes and step out the door. Every time I did that, I would end up going for a run. That’s all it takes — just keep doing it. The power of gradual change is quite mind-blowing.

6 - What was the most difficult food for you to give up on your road to transitioning into a fully vegan diet?

Leo - Hmm, nothing was nearly as difficult as I imagined it would be. Probably cheese was what I thought I’d miss the most. But when I gave it up, it wasn’t hard at all. So I would say that my mind was the most difficult obstacle, and no food was difficult to give up at all. It’s amazing how we can put up resistance and get in our way of wonderful changes!

7 - Who inspires you?

Leo - So many people! Anyone doing courageous things. I just spent a week with a group of people who were each creating powerful change in their worlds, some in seemingly small ways but others in huge ways. The magnitude doesn’t matter — it’s the courage of setting a mission to create something amazing in this world, and then taking action.

8 - You paint yourself as an ordinary guy; however, it is clear that you are accomplishing extraordinary things that millions of Zen Habits readers and hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers are eager to hear about. Do you see yourself as inspirational?

Leo - I don’t think of myself that way. I’m just one of so many people who are doing good in the world. We inspire each other, and so if I inspire others, I’m so happy to hear that … and I would be remiss if I didn’t say that so many others inspire me as well. My readers who change their lives based on something I say … maybe I inspired them, but they inspire me every day to do my work. We are a network of human beings who change each other.

9 - Many people have a blog; few people have 2 million readers. What tips would you give a blogger who is looking to build his/her following?

Leo - Don’t get too caught up in the numbers — instead, focus on what you can do every day to serve your audience. Write regularly, and only write posts that help your readers solve their problems in a very useful way. Understand your readers, what they want, what they struggle with, what they’re looking for when they go to your site, what annoys them about websites … and then try not to annoy them, but instead to delight them. Connect with other bloggers (or podcasters, Youtubers, etc.) and build a community. See if you can wake up every day excited about how you can help others.

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10 - What led you to waive all claims of copyright on your blog, essentially inviting people to take and repurpose your content however they choose?

Leo - I was inspired by the open source software movement, where you build on the great work and ideas of others, and more people benefit from this openness. I got tired of protecting my copyright from others who were “stealing,” and asked myself, “Is it stealing if I give it away freely? Would that feel like generosity rather than protectiveness?”

In the end, the main reason is that none of my ideas are original. I whole-heartedly stole these ideas from others, and I use my own voice to share them with the world in a way that is uniquely mine. I encourage others to steal my ideas and do the same.

11 - Where do you find the time to take on your life ambitions while being the father of six children?

Leo - In the early days, I had to wake up early to carve out some quiet time, and then steal 20-30 minutes whenever I could (during lunch, breaks, after work, before bed, etc.). But these days the kids are pretty self-sufficient, and so if I really want to focus, I put on some headphones and let them do their thing. I try to also find time to give them my full attention. I don’t have any secrets, other than knowing what’s most important to both my personal life and my business, and focusing on those things. Oh, and I'm incredibly lucky to have a wife who is my partner in all of this, and takes a lot of the burden off me.

12 - What is the most important piece of advice you hope to pass on to your children?

Leo - To love with an open heart, and to keep your heart open to the world even when it’s painful.

13 - What is your all-time favorite song?

Leo - Only one song? There’s too much pressure! You mean I have to choose one from all of the musical works of Mozart, Bach, Nirvana, the Beatles, Prince, Ella Fitzgerald, Weezer, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Aretha, Smokey Robinson, Adele, the Stones, Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, Kanye, Lil Wayne, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Queen, Patti Smith and Michael Jackson? Impossible.

OK, I choose “Linger” by the Cranberries. It was the song playing when I first kissed my wife.

14 - What is your favorite quote?

Leo - "Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." ~Lao Tzu

15 - What is your biggest pet peeve?

Leo - Rudeness of all kinds: cutting in line, aggressive and dangerous driving, people who talk a lot and don’t listen. Also excessive advertising. And people who are mean to their kids, spouses, or pets. The overuse of the word “literally.”

I’m trying to practice not getting too bothered by these, actually.

16 - What scares you?

Leo - Having the weight of other people’s expectations on me, or what I imagine those expectations to be. Having someone I love be very upset at me. The idea of losing my kids.

17 - Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

Leo - I have no idea — I have never been right about those kinds of things. Every year has been an absolute surprise. So I’ve learned to just be curious: what might this year bring? What about this week, or this day? What will the next few moments bring? Having an open mind and no idea of what will happen releases the expectations and opens me to whatever might unfold.

That said, if in 10 years I’m on a beach somewhere, meditating with people or doing some yoga, that sounds great to me!

18 - You get to have dinner with three people, living or dead. Who are you eating with?

Leo - Buddha, Jesus, and Shakespeare. I would have a million questions for them, but mostly I think we would play Charades, Werewolf and Truth or Dare.

19 - Where is one place that you've not yet traveled to, that is on the top of your list to visit?

Leo - Nepal. New Zealand. Africa. India. Russia. Costa Rica. Tibet. So many, and I refuse to choose one! :)

20 - What is one thing very few people know about you?

Leo - I am still a scared little boy inside.

Thanks to Leo for sharing his positive perspective in this edition of "20 questions."

As always, thanks to all of you for taking the time to read.

Who would you like to see me throw 20 questions at? Drop me a comment below and I'll work on setting up the interview.

If you like what you read, be sure to follow my blog!

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