I owe a great deal to Leo Babauta.

Before discovering Zen Habits while web surfing a few years back, I’d never paid any attention to blogs, thinking they were merely somewhat exhibitionist online diaries. Leo changed all that for me.

It helped that at the time he was talking a lot about David Allen’s Getting Things Done, exploring it, and developing his own stripped-down version, Zen To Done. I’m a productivity and systems geek. I was hooked.

But mainly what Leo did for me was show me that a blog could be topical, useful, and interesting…and make me think, “Hey! I could do that, too!”

So I was happy to hear of his just-released book, Focus: A Simplicity Manifesto in the Age of Distraction, and I downloaded the free version within minutes of hitting the page. As I waited for the download to finish, I noticed where he’d written, “…you’re free to review the book, give away the free version on your blog, or interview me.”

Considering that Leo is almost singlehandedly responsible for opening me up to the world of blogging, I jumped at the chance to interview him. Then, in the midst of thinking about what I wanted to ask him, it struck me that I’d rather give  my readers the opportunity to do the asking.

So thanks to everyone who shared with me what they wanted to ask Leo! They’re great questions..and here are the answers.

————-oOo————-

Q: Leo, I know you’re an advocate of gradual, one-step-at-a-time change. But sometimes we really do get jolted by unexpected insights or new ways of thinking. Since starting Zen Habits, have you had any “lightbulb” moments when something just clicked for you suddenly? Even if you didn’t do anything about it right away?

Leo: I have those moments all the time. That’s what I love about life—there’s never any shortage of things to learn!

Some examples:  the amazing connection that you can form with readers and other bloggers when you start a blog, the way that blogging forces you to reflect on your life and what you’ve learned, the difficulty and joy in finding a way to communicate what you’ve learned clearly so that readers can understand and put it into action, the joy of giving up goals for your business, the passion I’ve found for what I’m doing, the power of stripping down my site to nothing but the content. I could go on all day.

Q: I’m currently reading Focus, and unsurprisingly, I think the content is fantastic. But I’m curious—what was your process for choosing and organizing the material in it?

Leo: I started with the issues I face with finding focus, and the solutions that have worked for me. I expanded with some of the broader philosophical things I’ve been exploring and learning about.

Then I asked readers to share some of their problems, and the holes that I didn’t cover, and they responded brilliantly. I wrote a bunch of chapters to address these problems and holes, and I think it turned out much better than if I hadn’t gotten feedback from readers.

Q: One of my readers would like to know what advice you would give someone with a pattern of all-or-nothing thinking, who gets overwhelmed by everything (s)he thinks (s)he has to do, and can’t imagine tackling only one small change at a time? Someone who thinks, “At that rate, I’ll never get anywhere”?

Leo: I’d suggest a little experiment: one week, try tackling everything you want to tackle at once. The next week, force yourself to make one small change and do only that. Repeat this experiment once more if you dare. See which works better. I don’t know which will work best, but it would be fun to find out.

Q: Another reader asks, “How can we convert intellectual understanding into action? I know everything up here (taps head), but I have such a hard time implementing it!”

Leo: You don’t really understand something until you do it. I conduct little experiments of 1 or 2 weeks, sometimes up to a month. I say, “What would happen if I try this?”

And then I see what happens—sometimes I “fail”, but actually it’s a successful experiment because I’ve learned something. So I suggest you approach it by putting everything you learn to a practical test—a 1 or 2 week experiment—and see what you can learn from actually doing.

Q: Here’s another insightful one—“I love the idea of rewarding myself for building positive habits, but the kinds of simple pleasures you talk about are actually hard work for me. I get antsy and uncomfortable just sitting and enjoying a sunset, or walking without my mp3 player, etc. What are some absolute baby steps for amped-up, anxious people who find stillness scary?”

Leo: It might be interesting to explore why you’re afraid of stillness. What are you afraid might happen? What’s stopping you from giving it a try, and enjoying it? Be completely honest with yourself or you’re wasting your time.

If you can figure out your fear, you’re bringing it out into the light. Then you need to shine more light on it:  is it really real? Test it out with a small test:  sit still for one minute, and see what happens. Did your fears come true? If not, maybe the fear isn’t grounded in reality—try a slightly longer test, and so on, until you gain the confidence needed to toss the fear aside.

Another important thing: find ways to be still or quiet that you actually enjoy. If you don’t like sunsets, maybe you like a quiet bath, or a massage from your spouse, or reading a good novel, or doing some yoga, or looking at art. There are so many ways to find beauty in stillness—if you haven’t found it, keep looking.

Q: A reader wants to know, “What role does fine art play in a lifestyle that values simplicity and decluttering?”

Leo: Simplify and declutter so that the fine art may stand out, so that you may enjoy it more fully.

A painting in your home, for example, is much better appreciated if it isn’t surrounded by clutter. Great music is better enjoyed when you’ve found the stillness and quiet that doesn’t distract from the music. A beautiful novel is best experienced when you’re able to shut off technology and disconnect for a little while. By simplifying, you find the time and space to enjoy art.

Q: And finally, someone asked a personal question. She’d like to know how your recent move to San Francisco has affected your own life’s simplicity and focus? (I’m going to tack on my own question, since I live here, too, and ask you what the biggest surprise has been for you about San Francisco?)

Leo: The process of finding simplicity and focus are the same no matter where you are—they just allow you to enjoy wherever you are that much better.

Guam is a very different place than San Francisco, and I love the differences between the two wonderful places, but in the end, I still love writing, spending time with my family, reading, getting outside and getting active, taking walks, enjoying simple food. That hasn’t changed, but the nature and people and food have.

The biggest surprise … hmmm. I can’t really think of anything, except the Giants making it to the World Series! I’ve been a Giants fan since I was a teen-ager, so this has been incredible. Other than that, I came into the city without expectations, so no surprises or disappointments. Everything has been perfect.

————-oOo————-

Considering that last answer, it’s definitely fitting that as I sit here finalizing this post for publication tomorrow morning, the San Francisco Giants have just won the world series. I can hear the fireworks and happy yelling through my open window right now. (Go, Giants!)

Thank you, Leo, for agreeing to this interview and responding so quickly to my request. You’re a blogger and a gentleman.

And thanks once again to those who contributed their questions. Feel free to continue the conversation in the comments!

I can’t resist one more plug for National Novel Writing Month, which starts at MIDNIGHT TOMORROW! (Yep, somehow midnight on Halloween night seems very fitting.)

Even though I’m very sad about not doing it this year myself, NaNoWriMo was one of the key things that taught me how to start fighting back against my perfectionism when I first participated in November of 2005.

I’ve done it three times since then, and successfully completed a horribly raw and unedited 50,000-word novel twice. And I don’t think I’ve ever found a better—or more fun—crash course in how to throw your inner critic out the window (or at least lock her/him in a closet for a while).

So it’s worth stating again how heartily I endorse this program. If you’ve never heard of it and you’re intrigued, or if you have and you’re on the fence about participating, NOW is the time . . . because it won’t come around again for another year!

If you have specific questions I can answer about NaNoWriMo for you, feel free to post them in the comments below or send me a private e-mail at the address in the very bottom line of my “About Me” page. I’ll make a point of checking that at least a few times today and tomorrow.

I also want to make two offers for anyone who’d like to get involved . . .

If you do NaNoWriMo this November and would like a personal cheerleader, I’d be happy to be your NaNoBuddy via e-mail. You can send me your word counts if you want to keep yourself gently . . . ac-count-able (heh). Or you can just check in with me and tell me how it’s going, and I can reply with hearty cheering-you-on messages and any advice I can offer.

If you’d like to be part of this adventure of literary and creative abandon, but don’t want to actually, you know, write a novel, consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Office of Letters and Light, the parent non-profit which runs NaNoWriMo and other beneficial programs—many for children.

There’s something in it for you if you do, hopefully. A very good friend of mine is doing NaNo (again!) and she’s personally raising funds to get into a special Write-a-Thon here in San Francisco on November 22. If she makes her stated goal, she will not only get in herself, but she’ll be able to bring one guest.

That will be me.

If she raises enough to qualify us both to attend the third annual “Night of Writing Dangerously,” I promise to blog from there and give you an insider’s view of the unbridled thrills and excitement. Maybe I can even take a little videocam, record a few brief interviews with other writers, and post them here. (I haven’t included a video in a blog post yet! Hmmm . . .)

Oh, if you’d like to donate, you might want the link:

Donate to my writerly friend’s NaNoWriMo fundraising page here! Just click the link and then the “Sponsor Me” button (after reading her lovely page, of course).

So there you have it, ladies and gents.

A fantastic month-long chance to play with imperfection begins tomorrow.

You can join in if you’re inspired to.

If you do, you can take me up on my offer to be your NaNoBuddy.

And/or you can donate to the cause and hopefully get me in the door to blog from the Write-a-Thon itself.

Or none of the above. Of course it’s up to you. But I couldn’t resist one more reminder that NaNoWriMo 2009 starts at MIDNIGHT TOMORROW! )

And now for something completely different.

For the past several days, just half a block from my Bill-Paying Job in San Francisco’s downtown Financial District, a small blackbird has achieved international fame by persecuting pedestrians and entertaining onlookers. Swoops, as the bird has been affectionately named, is simply protecting his newborn chicks. It is a perfect collision–literally–of the natural world, technology, and our human desire to connect and share with each other.

Feathered defender of your nest, meet the Internet.

My roommate and I stopped to watch on our way to the BART station after work today. Sure enough, there was Swoops, vigorously living up to his moniker. People were taking pictures with their cell phones. Some even had small video cameras. We watched for several minutes, along with the small yet ever-changing crowd which now congregates at SGZ (Swoops Ground Zero), then grinned at each other and headed for the subway after a close call when Swoops briefly zoomed over to our (opposite!) side of the street.

I didn’t realize until I got home to check YouTube that our neighborhood dive-bomber had become internationally famous. He even has his own dedicated blog.

In fact, should you find yourself in the Bay Area and wish to stop by Front Street between California and Sacramento to see the show (for however long it lasts–apparently these chicks will soon leave their doting parent with a case of Empty Nest Syndrome), Swoops’s dedicated fans at the Chronicle have even provided some handy suggestions on the proper Attack Bird Viewing Etiquette and Best Practices. (No, I’m not kidding. Click on it–you know you want to.)

Nothing profound here . . . or maybe I’m just too tired to come up with any profundity tonight. I simply wanted to share a perfect little San Francisco oddity which is quite literally happening around the corner from me.

Signing off,

A Swoops Fan