Leo Babauta Talks About the Power of Slowing Down and Intentional Living

In this special Flashback Friday episode, I’m revisiting a conversation I had with my long-time friend and the founder of Zen Habits, Leo Babauta. This episode offers timeless insights into slowing down, living intentionally, and focusing on what truly matters. In 2024, Leo and I caught up to reflect on how much – or how little – has changed since our initial conversation. His wisdom and practices remain as relevant today as they were back then. If you're not familiar with Zen Habits, it's a blog that has stood the test of time. Over the years, Leo has shifted focus from pure productivity to a more holistic and sustainable approach to living. In this episode, we explore how those philosophies have evolved and deepened, and how they continue to serve us both personally and professionally. Key Discussion Points The importance of slowing down and focusing on what truly matters in life and work How Leo manages his time with a large family and multiple projects without burning out The power of consistency versus sustainability in daily habits How Zen Habits has evolved as Leo's life has changed, but the core principles remain the same Leo’s approach to balancing digital tools and paper for organization The difference between productivity as efficiency and productivity as aligning intention and attention As always, it's a pleasure to share these insights from my conversation with Leo. I’ve found that many of the lessons we discussed back in 2011 continue to resonate, especially as the pace of life and work increases. I hope you find these reflections valuable and that they inspire you to slow down and focus on what truly matters. (Originally recorded in 2011) Links Worth Exploring Connect with Leo: Website | Instagram | X/Twitter Check out the Fearless Living Academy: Learn more Watch Leo's YouTube channel: Check it out Listen to Leo's podcast: Hear it here While you're listening: Check out Episode 299 of Cal Newport's podcast Related Conversation: Episode 229: Exploring Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport Related Blog Post: The Rushing Feeling: How to Hush it Thanks to all of the sponsors of this episode. You can find all of the sponsors you heard me mention on this episode on our Podcast Sponsors page. Want to support the podcast? Beyond checking out our sponsors, you can subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. You can subscribe on Spotify and also on Apple Podcasts. Not using either of those to get your podcasts? Just click on this link and then paste the podcast feed into your podcast app of choice. Thanks again for listening to A Productive Conversation. See you later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices