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A personal reflection on finding unexpected love and joy after embracing solitude, and the liberating effects of letting go of social media and embracing real connections.

2024 - Year of Discipline

2024 - Year of Discipline

Today is Bell Let's Talk Day, a day focused on mental health awareness. For the past few years, I have been using it to talk about a theme for the next year.

Turning 14 Years Old

Another challenging year, but coming out stronger than in the past.

Latest

Weathering the Storm - A Story of Moving On

Play the video, then read on: Since my (ex)-girlfriend left me over a week ago, I have found myself with a lot more time to do whatever I want. A good portion of that time has been thinking. I can’t say specifically what I have been contemplating, because at this point in my life, my mind is wandering a lot. What I can tell you is that thinking has helped me sort everything out for the better. There have been multiple times before where I wanted to sit down and write out my thoughts, to resp

Tags: dating | life | relationships

Merlin Mann - Scared Shitless

> You can be scared and still do it anyway. Regardless of whatever it is. — Merlin Mann Merlin Mann [http://www.merlinmann.com] gave a talk at Webstock [http://www.webstock.org.nz/] in Wellington, New Zealand in February that has been sweeping around the blogosphere in various ways. It was titled “Scared Shitless [http://www.43folders.com/2011/03/28/scared-shitless].” I first heard about it during his excellent podcast with Dan Benjamin, Back to Work [http://5by5.tv/b2w/6], but couldn’t fin

Tags: fear | life | merlin mann

The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau

Let me start by saying that this is not a formal book review, but more of a discussion of the book. Another Harajuku Moment I believe that the world tells you a message by having certain people or ideas pop up in groups of three. If I come across a certain concept on several different websites or books, that’s a clear message to me that I should probably write about it and share it with others who may not have come across it yet. Over the weekend, several things aligned that could not have been

Tags: 4 hour body | chris guillebeau | life

About Me

I'm James McCullough: entrepreneur, writer, father, and coffee-fueled polymath. Here, I explore big ideas across diverse topics, offering fresh perspectives on our complex world.

Tags: about me | james mccullough

Don't Move, Improve

> Success will come only to those who are willing to have a little blind faith–in themselves, in their art, and in their ability to stand tall and take the world by storm. — Ashley Ambirge, The Middle Finger Project [http://www.themiddlefingerproject.org/resolutions-are-for-chumps-i-choose-revolution/] With 2010 now over, a lot of people have been writing about their meditations on the previous year and what they have planned for the next (examples: Murray [http://www.murlu.com/2011-goals/]

Tags: blogging | fitness | life | writing

On Reading- Gawker, and the Trifecta of Reading

> … Blogs are emphasizing the trait that’s always defined them, the fact that they’re an ongoing flow of information instead of just a collection of published pages. — Anil Dash, Gawker Is A Blog. Just Like Twitter [http://dashes.com/anil/2010/12/gawker-is-a-blog-just-like-twitter.html]. It’s been two months since I last wrote about the importance of reading [http://www.foursides.ca/pausing-to-read-site-design] and how it is changing in the digital age, and I thought it was important to revis

Tags: amazon | iphone | kindle | reading

Pausing to Read - Site Design

> Instapaper does point to a clear flaw in newspaper and magazine website design: The reading experience is rarely, if ever, the priority. For better or worse, it typically takes a backseat to organizing and promoting content and generating pageviews. — Jake Brooks [http://brooksinbeta.com/] Joanne of Tomorrow Museum [http://tomorrowmuseum.com/2010/10/06/instapaper-and-readability-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-design/] pointed me to this article [http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2

Tags: design | reading | work | writing

The Social Network Review

> Marylin Delpy: The site got 2200 hits within 2 hours? Mark Zuckerberg: Thousand. Marylin Delpy: I’m sorry? Mark Zuckerberg: Twenty-two thousand. I saw The Social Network [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0034G4P7Q/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0034G4P7Q&linkCode=as2&tag=four0b-20&linkId=JPONPNXGFCO5S64I] tonight with my girlfriend, and I tried to go into the movie with a clear head. After the better part of the year watching the trailers, reading the rum

Tags: facebook | movies | reviews

Breaking the SEO Chains, or The Value of Not Blogging

> There is so much to write that I haven’t written. And I’ll never get to paper. And while it’s frustrating, to worry too much about it is as much a feckless effort as consternation over time passing. It just happens. Joanne McNeil, Tomorrow Museum [http://www.tomorrowmuseum.com] Joanne wrote that quote in her post titled, “Blogging After Not Blogging [http://tomorrowmuseum.com/2010/09/08/blogging-after-not-blogging/trackback/],” and I thought about my own experiences in trying to write som

Tags: digital sabbatical | life | writing

Jeff Jarvis, Google Me, and the Future of the Internet

Note from October 2014: Google Me was the precursor to Google+. With the latest discussion surrounding the end of the web [http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/all/1], and now the end of the telephone number [http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/28/phone-numbers-dead/], I returned to speculating about the shape of Google Me and the future of the Internet. I still believe that the way Google Me will be used will eventually be that of a content generator [/blog/2010/7/12/why-google-me-is-n

Tags: facebook | google | technology

Digital Sabbatical

> It was all just starting to feel too much like an eating disorder or like academic mania — being preoccupied with thoughts you don’t care about, compulsively seeking information that is at once overwhelming and boring, soliciting the approval of people you don’t know, relying on your own anxiety for stimulation. Alice Gregory, Ornament of My Might [http://bluefugate.tumblr.com/post/841565843/new-life] As I sit here, staring at my growing number of unread articles in Google Reader (437 at la

Tags: digital sabbatical | life

The Paleo Leap, or A Step Back in Time

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have finished reading The Primal Blueprint [http://amzn.to/2qQy8jX]. It’s an incredibly easy read to get through, as the writing style is conversational and the layout is straight forward. One could skim this book by reading the chapter summaries, check out the appendixes in the back, and be well on their way to making the change to a primal diet. While reading several blogs about the primal diet, I decided I would run a quick experiment for myself to see ho

Tags: 4 hour body | diet | fitness | paleo

Pathways: A DCMF Review 2009 Edition (Dawson City Music Festival)

A journey always has a beginning and an end, a home and a destination. [http://isolation.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/100_3128.jpg] On most of the modern trips, there is a sound track that follows us every step of the way, whether it’s a few albums or the whistling wind through the trees with a few birds singing. The trip up to the Dawson City Music Festival is quite the journey that makes you feel like you have climbed up and down a mountain, or gone for a long stroll at an easy pace, or just

Tags: dawson city | music | yukon

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