Site Update: July 2020

Greetings, all!

This July 2020 site update comes not from a new location, but from a new perspective. My outlook on the world and on the future has become much more optimistic over the past month, which is astonishing given the times we live in.  It’s incredible how far a simple internet connection and daily determination in pursuit of your dreams will take you.

Each month, I look back at what’s happened with JoeBalcom.com over the previous month. If you’ve missed any articles, you can check them out here, and I’ve included links to the most popular ones further down in this post.

If you missed my previous updates, check out Site Update: June 2020, and Site Update May 2020.

July 2020 was the busiest month yet for the site. This was my third month of live posts, and just my second full month, but things are picking up faster than I could ever have expected. While I did not travel anywhere due to COVID round-two, I was able to write more, learn more, and built more than I ever have in the span of one month.

My posting schedule in July was a bit erratic compared to my original goal of M/W/F every week. I realize that with more creative endeavors on the horizon that will require more of my time and attention, I’m going to begin posting twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It’s a cadence that will allow me to stay in the consistent writing habit yet give the projects I’m working on the proper attention they need.

Writing

12 Favorite Problems: A Practical Framework for Discovering Your Purpose, which could apply to the Mind and Work categories, was my first “viral” essay. It got over 4,000 readers within the first hour of publishing, and 10,000+ in the following days. Absolutely mind-boggling for such a young blog site, but I think it speaks to the urgency with which we are all looking for answers in our own lives. I believe we all have to do some soul searching during these summer months, and this essay is a practical place to start!

MIND— I wrote 16 Vital Lessons from 60 Days of Writing Online, 3 Powerful Tactics for Hacking Procrastination, Crossing Your Rubicon, and The Irrational Fear of Vulnerability, all with the goal of helping you break down those mental barriers in your head to getting what you want out of life.

WORK— I wrote How to Stand Out at Work. How to Make Time to Reinvent Yourself, a redux edition of Why I Quit a Six-Figure Existence to Create my Own Destiny. These were particularly important because work doesn’t have to be something we dread. Work doesn’t have to be something that sucks all our energy from us every day. There are always options to make work more meaningful and more resonant.

TRAVEL— Regrettably, I did not address travel this month. I think the times we live in required more of a focus on the mind and work, and I kind of let that dictate my writing in July. Never fear! There are plenty of travel-related essays in the pipeline, so stay tuned!

What’s Next

Essays

With my new Wed/Sat cadence, I expect to publish at least nine essays in the month of August, including:

• The Sea Change of the 21st Century (held over from July)
• Travel experiences in Bermuda and Costa Rica (also held over from July)
• Stop Eating Fortune Cookies!
• And much much more fun where those came from.

Projects

Site re-brand: August 1^st, tomorrow, will mark the launch of a more focused approach to this site. Complete with a new logo, new colors, new photos, a new weekly newsletter format (with a brand-new eBook when you sign up!), and a comprehensive layout of the Unparalleled community. Check back in tomorrow for all the new excitement!

Unparalleled Live: I will be rolling out a full information page on the Unparalleled Live course and community tomorrow, as we prepare for a beta launch in September. If you would like to take part, just email me at [email protected] More details to come in the Unparalleled Weekly Newsletter!

Audience Participation

I first just want to thank everyone who has reached out to me with feedback and support. While there are times when I feel like I’m writing to myself and not resonating with anyone, your feedback means everything to me and simply keeps me going on my mission.

Of course, I’d love to hear from YOU! You can subscribe to my newsletter and reply directly to those emails, we can chat on Twitter, or you could simply comment below any of my posts.

Also, tell your friends, and tell the world about an essay of mine that has resonated with you the most.

Thank you for spending time in July 2020 reading my work on this site. I appreciate the time you spend here because I know you could be using that time for many other important things in your life.

And if there’s anything I’d like you to take with you going forward, here it is in one line:

Don’t wait for your future. Create it.

-JB