Change and Growth
Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life.
Herbert Otto
The year 2010 was a year of many changes for me. I want to make 2011 the year of growth.
I was looking at the way my site was designed for the past month, and something did not feel right for me. I debated about what to do about this problem I was having. After seeing many other redesigns across the blogosphere that I follow, I decided I would make the leap into the new year with not only a new design, but a change of platform: to WordPress.
I am familiar with WordPress from one of my earlier blogs that I don’t update any longer (Isolated), so making the leap would only prove difficult if I could not import my posts from the Squarespace server. Thankfully, they have an export function for Movable Type, which can then be imported into WordPress.
Next up, Theme.
Choosing a theme for the WordPress install is one of the most difficult choices to make. The debate rages over choosing one of those SEO-optimized themes like Thesis, or purchasing a theme from WooThemes or other service. Both of these options are a bit out of my price range and I have a hard time justifying the cost of a theme when there are so many free ones. After much browsing, I settled on the theme of Privet. Privet was an easy choice for me. It has a similar feel to it like my old design, but with a fresh take on things. I did have to make a few minor adjustments to it to so it jived with me.
Experimental Growth
Altering the design of this blog is only the beginning for me. I noticed significant traffic changes with my review of The 4 Hour Body. I would like to grow that traffic to the next tier by following up with that review with other reviews and essays that are current, as I mentioned in my 2011: Don’t Move, Improve post. I also aim to develop more posts that will continue to stand up against the test of time. People have been calling them pillar posts or evergreens, but they are more like monoliths to me.
Pillars imply to me that they are supporting a structure above them.
Evergreens are still slowly growing, living organisms.
Monoliths are extremely large rocks, solid, unmovable, and are noticed from a distance.
I want to create a zen garden of these monoliths and allow them to take more of the focus for this site. I also want people to discover these monoliths, which this theme will allow people to do so more easily than before.
Unlike most niche blogs, however, I will not focus these monoliths on one subject matter. I want to experiment, grow, and discover new readers. I want to emphasize the polymath portion of the tagline for the site. There is more to the world than social media and blogging. I want to touch on ideas like community developments and city planning, social change, new economics, and so on. I have been reading so much great content lately in the most unlikely of sources and I want to be able to share these ideas beyond sharing a link to them.
There is going to be more growth happening in my life outside of my writings here as I discover a true path for work, exploring exercises and my health, and becoming a true parent as my daughter grows older. I am excited to start exploring and growing in these areas, and hope you will follow me on this journey.
Quick Notes
- The quote at the beginning is taken from: Zen and the art of making a living: a practical guide to creative career design (Empoweryou.com). I only discovered this book a few days ago, and have been blown away by the impact it is having on me already. It is over 500 pages in length, so a complete review is a ways away, but I will surely be mentioning it in the near future.
- Tags were not imported to this site, so I am slowly rebuilding the tag cloud. Currently, I have gone through the first three pages of posts, and the rest are going to take a while.
- If you come across a problem with a link or picture not appearing properly, please let me know by using the contact form in the upper-right hand corner.
- If there are any must-install WordPress plugins that I should have, please let me know in the comments. I’m staying away from Aweber and other mail list plugins for now, but will try out any other suggestions you may have.
By James McCullough
- More at
Talk is Cheap. Really Cheap. - Four Sides | Four Sides
Feb 11, 2011 @ 07:05:04
[...] previously mentioned the rather large tome, Zen and the art of making a living, which has been weighing down my kitchen [...]
Mar 17, 2011 @ 08:54:00
Blog design can be over-rated. Often, cool blog themes tend to emphasize the wrong things. This from a guy who is obsessed with design, how information is displayed, and interaction.
I might mention that it took three years to do the design of one of my previous corporate websites. That included the production of an oil reproduction of Raphael’s engagement, 3D animations inspired by Ghost in the Machine, blah blah blah
If you ever find your way to my unofficial blog, you’ll see that the emphasis is on the word. My theme is simple. My use of plug-ins is minimal.
Read – if you must. Observe what’s going on. Observe yourself in interaction with your world – that includes your daughter. Reflect. Feel. Write. Share. These are more important than blog themes.
Hopefully, this advice is useful for you.