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Tag Archives: Silicon Valley

The Dirt Road Home

11 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by Joanne Fedeyko in Inspiration, Life's Lessons

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Tags

canada, farm girl, friends, life lessons, Silicon Valley

I’m at home and winding down with my glass of red wine after a Canadian going away party that gave me a gift I wasn’t expecting.

You always think … “I hope I meet someone fun … or, I hope it’s a good group of peeps” … or maybe I’m the only one that thinks that and if so, then maybe be careful if you invite me to your party in the future for fear of my expectations .. LOL.

But alas, my honest self is here to reveal that those expectations are always on my mind … That I meet someone or I learn something that I can apply in my life and become a better person because of.

So tonight …. I’m happy to say that the evening exceeded my expectations. And sometimes my expectations are high (which don’t judge, isn’t a bad thing) … but sometimes they truly are as grass roots as the farm that I grew up on.

high level 2017

This is today’s view from the road to my “home” where I grew up and where I learnt so many lessons that I’m still applying to my life today.

Why?

Well tonight I met someone who grew up similar to me … on a farm … who made it from nowhere to somewhere … and who now looks at life from the same viewpoint as me.   Yes, one side is capitalism …. no shame there, but also from a perspective of purpose, planet and people.  And, my God, it was refreshing.  Just the whole conversation and perspective blew my mind and inspired my thinking.

And yet I can’t help but find it fascinating that you can meet someone at a party for people that you know (relatively) very little, and you can connect with a random stranger in a profound way, even though you’re from completely (and I mean completely) different subsets of the world.  But (and here’s the good part) with a glass of wine (or two) and LOADS of curiosity … you can uncover that your simplistic upbringing has created a similar mindset and belief system that, unbeknownst to you, is probably a reason why you’re sitting across from each other talking about a subject that would bore the rest of the guests in attendance.

But for me … what I loved, is that I could talk for hours and feel so grateful for the random encounter that somehow, now, seemed perfectly curated.

Because no matter if you’re 33 … or 46 … married with two kids … or twice married and no kids … from East Germany or Northern Alberta … Communist or Capitalist …. it is really amazing how much we can feel and learn and appreciate in a short period of time, and with absolutely no reason whatsoever, feel an amazing bond of energy that lifts your soul and makes you take a pause in life … if only for a moment.

And the icing on the cake is when you can share a story about the long road “home” … that only had two left turns after 5,6, 8 hours of driving …. before you reached a vast farmland that seemed to offer so little, but in the end gave you everything you needed in life …. then I’ll call that a hell of a win for a Saturday night.

Beyond grateful … for where I grew up … and for where I am today.

Mediocrity Is Not An Option

05 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by Joanne Fedeyko in Business, Inspiration

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Tags

conference, entrepreneurs, inspiration, mc hammer, mediocrity, method product, rap music, Silicon Valley, startup, startup grind

This week I have the privilege of attending an entrepreneur conference here in the Silicon Valley called Startup Grind. After about 14 hours of speakers, networking and sometimes a sheer overload of inspiration (hard to believe but true), I’m reminded of a phrase I heard (and have tried to live by) many years ago — mediocrity is not an option. And it surely is no destination!

I’m humbled to live in an area where there is such amazing talent, inspiration and knowledge — and I’m thrilled that I get to learn from, and meet, so many people that have a sincere passion to change the world. It might be with a healthcare product — or the arts — or it could be with an idea that they haven’t thought of yet … it actually doesn’t matter because their desire is contagious. And I love that. When I’m in the room with my notebook in hand, and Twitter update formulating in my head, I feel like I am exactly where I am supposed to be. Even though I’m not on stage enthralling the audience with my audacious product that scaled to a billion users overnight (yet – ha ha), it still feels like I’m in the exact right place in my life right now.

We should never (ever) settle for anything less than our heart desires, or that which our dreams create. Mediocrity is really not an option – not when we have the world at our fingertips and access to so much inspiration all around us.

If your passion isn’t startup entrepreneurism, that’s Ok — you have another passion and that is what you need to feed. And if you don’t know what your passion is, that is OK as well – you can find it. Do this exercise each day until you find something that moves you — wake up every morning 10 minutes before your alarm typically goes off and grab a pen and a blank piece of paper and complete the following:

“If I could do anything that I wanted to do today, be anything I wanted to be … I would _______”. And don’t put sleep in or take a long bath … while those are noble aspirations, think about what really moves your heart and what you’re naturally attracted to that may or may not be getting attention on a daily basis. Do this every day and I promise you, clarity will come.

For there is a whole life ahead of us — so read carefully when I write (as quote from Rose Tremain)  — “Life is not a dress rehearsal!”

People – let’s get inspired! Let’s not accept mediocrity, or as my new Startup Grind friend, and one day future billionaire Thomas Griffin wrote, “do not accept tasteless mediocrity” which sounds way more savvy and 21st century.

MC Hammer ont he Startup Grind Stage

MC Hammer on the Startup Grind Stage !!

Method Co-Founder Eric Ryan with the best presentation of the day!

Method Co-Founder Eric Ryan with the funniest presentation of the day!

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