I’ve been writing on the internet since sometime in 2008.
I have always believed that sharing your thoughts and ideas was a gift to others and a gift to yourself.
I have personally gained so much from the process of writing and publishing.
Personal and Professional Growth
Over my many years of writing, I’ve had a number of different blogs and newsletters.
- Each presented me with an opportunity to learn. Writing requires me to research, reflect, and organize my ideas.
- Each forced me to think about the world around me. I had to understand my original perspective, critically examine my beliefs and behaviors, and consider what I wanted to do next.
- Each post, on each blog, was an exercise in effective communication. It wasn’t enough to just brain dump and hit publish.
I believe writing gives you an opportunity to lead sometimes by nothing more than simply initiating a new conversation with a unique perspective.
Ideas have the power to change minds, alter behavior, and spur people, including yourself, into action.
The Path to Becoming Superhuman
When I was working in social media, I was committed to changing the world by helping people leverage the opportunities created by these technologies. To make a long story short, I stopped working as a social media and content strategist in 2019. I was ready to make my dent in universe in other ways.
A long running theme present in my writing from the beginning, is a deep fascinated with growth, both personally and professionally. “Learning new skills and applying those skills to worthy endeavors” could justifiably be the subtitle of my autobiography.
My blog on jeffgibbard.com was renamed Becoming Superhuman in 2020 as I shifted away from the Social Media industry. Toward the end of 2023, I knew Becoming Superhuman needed its own home. The ideas on Becoming Superhuman were competing with more than a decade of posts focused on social media, marketing, and sales, and sharing space with my work as a professional keynote speaker.
So, in late 2023, I bought the most expensive domain name in my life (this one), and began the painful process of separating and migrating my content in order to relaunch Becoming Superhuman.
All social media and day in the life posts moved to my online archive, and all Becoming Superhuman posts have moved here.
The Relaunch of Becoming Superhuman
Becoming Superhuman relaunched on Feb 20, 2024.
What you will notice about posts prior to that date versus posts published afterwards is a shift in tone and framing.
The original Becoming Superhuman posts were often observations about the world written with prescriptive advice to the reader about what they ought to do. It subtly implied a teacher-student relationship between me and my readers, and may have positioned me as an expert with wisdom to share. A few things didn’t feel quite right to me.
- I don’t want to tell anyone what to do, just as I don’t want anyone telling me what to do.
- I don’t want to write from the outside looking in, I’m not trying to be Guru.
- I don’t want to think about SEO or self-promotion as I write.
Looking back on my writing, I think the posts that simultaneously connected and resonated with my readers the most, while also being the most enjoyable for me to write, were more personal.
So, here is the shift for the relaunch…
- I’m going to write what I’m doing — or have done — to Become Superhuman, instead of telling you what to do.
- I’m going to breakdown the process I’m going through — or have gone through — in pursuit Becoming Superhuman, instead of possibly giving the impression I’ve figured it out.
- I’m going to focus on making an impact, instead of worrying about traffic or boosting my own image.
What to Expect from Becoming Superhuman
The goal is to publish at least once, every week.
Every single post is about changing the world in some way. Primarily, I am in pursuit of a world that is kinder, safer, and more equitable.
- The values that shape every post can be found in my Superhero Code.
- The method of analysis that I apply to every post can be found in my Superhuman Framework.
Each post will begin with a goal, observation, or problem along with my perspective on its connection to changing the world, explicitly stated.
I will then share my own process of applying the Superhuman Framework to it. This means that in each post, I will be sharing with you:
- what I learned about the problem or goal, and how I learned it.
- what sort of thinking I applied, and how that process went.
- what I believe are the most important things to communicate, and how I plan to continue clarifying and sharing that message.
- what opportunities I see for leadership, and how I am planning to show up.
- what actions I’m doing now or will do in the future, and the process I will be applying.
You get to decide
Becoming Superhuman was always meant to be about the process, and it is one I am going through rather than one I’ve already been through. There shouldn’t be a gap between us, so I’m done telling anyone what to do. Besides, that’s not who I am or who I want to be.
I’d rather tell you what I believe is important and share with you how I’m going about it by documenting my process.
It’s always been up to you what to do next. But I remain hopeful that some of you who read this will pick up at least one thing that will help us bring about a better world, together.
I hope you enjoyed this post.
If this is your first time here or you haven’t yet become a subscriber, I hope you’ll join me.
If you’re already a subscriber, I hope you love it enough to help support my work as a writer by becoming a member, where you’ll also get all sorts of other benefits.
