Site Update: June 2020

Live from Amish Country

Greetings from the farmlands of south central PA, where I’ve been reacclimating to the Eastern time zone and sedentary life after a three week cross-country road trip in June 2020.

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 it last month, here is Site Update: May 2020. I think this will be a neat way to track the site’s progression.

June 2020 was a busy month for the site. It was my second month of live posts, and my first full month. Despite travelling 8400 miles to the Pacific coast and back, I posted 13 essays while staying mostly consistent with a 3x/week cadence. I plan on continuing that for the month of July.

Writing

In June, I’ve begun to home in on the primary themes of Mind, Work, and Travel. They’re not set in stone, but it certainly seems to be where my writing is taking me.

MIND – I wrote about The Unfinished Jigsaw Puzzle, Proving Yourself Wrong Will Prove You Right Every Time, and Pencil Paradigm Shifts. I plan on moving deeper into topics on mental health in July, in addition to more on practical philosophy.

WORK – I wrote about How to Be Extraordinarily Ordinary, how to Work on Purpose, Not by Default, and my most popular post of the month 12 Lessons from Saying No to a Life of Mediocrity.

TRAVEL – Writing from the American West, I wrote Reflections from a Week of Vagabonding (here is Part II as well), and Driving Coast to Coast (to Coast): How to Take the Road Trip of a Lifetime.

I’ve also revamped my bio page. It’s a little more vulnerable and visible than I’m comfortable with, and that’s the point. The goal is to get comfortable with myself, while expanding my comfort zone further every single day.

Gratefulness

Having the time, the means, and the freedom to take the ultimate road trip across America with my girlfriend is something that hasn’t fully hit me yet but is something I’ve really appreciated.

Having the resources and the time to devote to a project like this site. I feel that I’m beginning to understand what it is I’m here to do, and I plan on doubling down on that.

I’ve received feedback from many people saying they are enjoying the site. Your comments and feedback mean the world to me. Please keep reading and writing!

What’s Next

I’ll be staying put for a while this month, so I’ll be putting a lot of time and energy into making this site the best that it can possibly be.

Essays

Despite being on the road through most of June 2020, I stayed remarkably consistent in my publishing cadence. Thrice-weekly essays will continue to be posted each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This month, I plan on writing about the following topics, among several others:

• Lessons from 60 Days of Writing in Public
• Crossing Your Rubicon
• Disrupting Higher Education
• Essays on my experiences in the Costa Rican rainforest and the eccentric island of Bermuda.

I hope you enjoy my writing, and I always welcome your feedback.

Projects

I haven’t officially announced anything, but in addition to the building of this site, I’ve been quietly working on a big project called Unparalleled Live. What it is will be laid out in its entirety in an upcoming essay. You can read a bit more about the thinking behind it on my Start Here page.

Audience Participation

You can participate in the development of this project in several ways:

I am rolling out a newsletter called the Unparalleled Weekly.

Periodically, I will be sending out an exclusive email with the best hacks, actionable tips, fascinating reads, personal anecdotes, favorite podcasts, my most popular essay from the week before, and much much more.

• If you like my site, you’ll love my exclusive weekly email. You can sign up below for the free newsletter.

• Leave a comment at the bottom of any essay. Feel free to share your thoughts and include a link back to your own site if you have one.
• Contact me on Twitter or Facebook. Tell me what you think so far. Tell me what you love. Tell me what sucks. I can use all the feedback you can provide, so don’t be shy!
• Tell your friends, tell anyone who might resonate with a particular piece, or tell the world by sharing your favorite post.

Thank You

I appreciate the time you spent here in June 2020. Don’t forget that you have the power to change your mind, see new things, learn new skills, and live an unparalleled life!

-JB