Principle 1: By setting limitations, we must choose the essential. So in everything you do, learn to set limitations. Principle 2: By choosing the essential, we create great impact with minimal resources. Always choose the essential to maximize your time and energy.
LEO BABAUTA
In circa 2008, I discovered Zen Habits and Leo Babauta. I want to say that Leo changed my life, but he didn't. I was still an atheist back then. I was never a smoker, so I didn't need to learn how to quit smoking. I had no interest in his vegan advice, but I did like what he said about minimalism and simple living. Basically, Leo was a very practical giver of advice. Today, he is not practical at all with his turn to life coaching and fearless living and whatever. Today's Zen Habits is not the one I was reading back in 2008.
In 2011, Leo took a different direction and eschewed productivity advice in favor of simple living. He advised his readers to Toss Productivity Out and do less stuff. I think this is the moment that Leo lost his popularity and initial fanbase. This was the beginning of the decline of Zen Habits.
I remember that this was the time I stopped following Leo. I found his new posts to be insipid and unhelpful. The simple fact is that Leo tapped into the desire for people to improve themselves and gave them simple and practical advice for that improvement. Those tips still hold up today. Then, Leo started "washing his bowl" and meditating and telling people to "breathe." I couldn't breathe because I wanted to vomit.
The thing that Leo inspired in me was to create my own simple and practical advice. The nickname I gave to my version of things was "Blue Collar Habits." Basically, it was Zen Habits without the Zen. I think it would make a good book except my advice keeps changing as I learn better ways. The gist of the blue collar habits is to find simple and practical solutions to the problems of living. Leo got the simple part right, but he has lost the practical part.
There are other people in this lane. One of them is Tim Ferriss with his weird schemes. Another is Ryan Holiday with his modernized stoic philosophy. Then, there are The Minimalists who know one note of the song and play it over and over. All of these people have some good points to make but none of them nailed it like Leo did back in 2008. Leo was the complete package.
What do you do when you have quit smoking, eradicated your debt, achieved physical fitness, and learned how to manage your time and money? You face the fact that your life is empty and meaningless. Striving to achieve these goals gave your life purpose. With achievement comes emptiness which breeds anxiety. Hence, you have to go in a religious direction to find that fulfillment. For Leo, it was Zen Buddhism or his version of it. It doesn't matter because Zen is a dead end.
My religion is Roman Catholicism. I can recognize nuggets of wisdom in Buddhism, Confucius, the Stoics, the ancient Greek philosophers, and military leaders. As they say, "All wisdom is God's wisdom." The problem is that all of these paths are fundamentally a way to have religion without having God.
I have tried the religion without God stuff. It doesn't work. Your meditation is time you could have spent on taking a nap. Stoicism aims to make you feel calm in this awful world except you are never going to achieve this calm. Your emotions are never going to leave you. All you can do is control them and hide them.
I miss the old Zen Habits. But I don't really need it anymore. I find practical advice from other bloggers and YouTubers. I also aspire to give practical advice. The Gentle Reader will have to judge the practicality of that advice.
