Nice interview by Leo at Zen Habits of Steve Pavlina: On Motivation, Handling Email, Daily Routines, How He Got Started, and Much More. Pavlina is the Uber-blogger in the personal growth niche.Read the whole interesting interview.Blogging God Steve Pavlina Interview: On Motivation, Handling Email, Daily Routines, How He Got Started, and Much More
One of the biggest and earliest blogging successes, especially in the field of personal development, was uber-blogger Steve Pavlina. Today I’m thrilled to share with you my interview with Steve on a variety of topics we’re both interested in — from motivation to passion to daily routines to staying positive and more.
Steve has just published a book that I’m sure will be an instant best-seller: Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth
. Give it a look — Steve’s writings on personal development never fail to be insightful and interesting.
In this interview, Steve has been very generous in sharing a pretty deep look into his personal life and philosophy. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I have!
Leo: What are the 4-5 most important things in your life — the things you love to do and are passionate about?
Steve Pavlina: Here are some of the things I’m most passionate about:
- Learning – I love new experiences. Never having tried something is reason enough for me to want to dive in and experience it. Sometimes this means learning from books, blogs, audio programs, or workshops. Other times it involves personal experimentation. Usually I do a mix of both. I especially love being a total beginner in a field that’s new to me because I learn rapidly at that stage. I have a wide variety of interests, and I’m curious about everything. For example, I trained in martial arts (Tae Kwon Do and Kempo), learned to juggle, tried polyphasic sleep for 5-1/2 months, became a raw foodist, and did lots of other fascinating things.
- Connecting – I love connecting with people all over the world, especially people who are very growth-oriented. I usually prefer to bypass small talk and have fun, lively, and/or deep discussions. I love talking to people until I can look in their eyes and see a part of myself looking back at me. I believe that we’re all cells in the larger body of humanity and that no one is truly separate from anyone else.
- Expressing Ideas – I love creatively expressing ideas through writing, blogging, speaking, podcasting, and more. The specific media I use isn’t important. I just enjoy the artistry of turning intangible ideas into some form of tangible expression. To me this feels like I’m sharing a piece of myself with the world.
- Helping People Grow – I love when I can help someone achieve a new “aha” breakthrough in their level of awareness. Perhaps the most frequent is when someone tells me one of my articles helped them quit an unfulfilling job to courageously pursue a more fulfilling career. It’s so wonderful to know that the work I’m doing is making a real difference in people’s lives and that I’m not just writing for myself alone. When I first started blogging, I didn’t expect that the feedback I received would affect me so deeply, but it really gets to me on an emotional level. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to make the world a little bit better.
- Being Courageous – I love doing things that scare me. I’m not talking about physical risks like crocodile wrestling. I’m referring to the much more pervasive challenge of accepting myself as I am and expressing myself fully. In kindergarten I was the shy kid who played by himself in the sandbox, and I could never look people in the eye when I talked to them. At a young age, I learned that it wasn’t safe for me to express myself. I grew up with a lot of sadness and repressed anger. Later I realized that I’d die with many regrets if I allowed fear to dictate what I would and wouldn’t do. So I made a commitment to live by the mantra, “Whatever I fear, I must face.” If I feel trepidatious about something, I interpret my fear as a flashing green arrow pointing toward a new growth experience. I’ve learned that whenever I turn and face my fears, they gradually dissolve, and with each fear that is overcome, I feel a little more present and alive. So I make a deliberate habit of identifying things that make me feel anxious or fearful, and then I push myself to go out and do them. I’ve come a long way since that shy kindergartener, but there is always more healing to be done.
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