My guests this week are Jim and Amy Yurchenco. Jim and Amy have both live and work in Palo Alto, California. Jim was the first employee for worldwide engineering firm Ideo and Amy, most recently as a software engineer for Intuit. In addition to their professional careers, they have canoed the Mississippi River and hiked tens of thousands of miles in 10 different countries (Wales, Turkey, Spain, Scotland, Slovakia, Japan, Italy, France, Australia, USA). In case you didn’t know it is 24,000 miles to travel around the world! Their mileage is incredible.

It’s no secret that this year has taught us how much we value the outdoors, silence, nature, and adventure. This is a fascinating conversation where we discuss:

• how to prioritize what matters most to you and live it out
• the lessons you learn by spending extensive time in the back country
• what it is like paddling the Mississippi River from start to finish 
• Living differently than your peers
• Life is shorter than you think
• Each of their different perspectives about work
• No one starts as a master builder
• If you’re willing to fail you’re willing to learn
• how every adventure ads up
• Leaving your mark on the world and more! 

This conversation was a blast to have, and I am excited to share this week’s episode with Jim and Amy Yurchenco with you. For more information on Jim and Amy you can check out their website here: http://doingmiles.com/about-us/

RECAP

1:32 Daily rhythms of an active lifestyle

5:31 Enjoy practicing my craft

6:36 Fell in love with a shared passion

9:49 Sunday tradition, hiking every week sun up to sun down

10:26 Completely changing our environment

11:00 How much we don’t know

12:37 Natural World was not created for us

16:12 The river is so much bigger than you are

19:02 Software development pays the bills

21:22 Career advancement was not important to me

26:32 I drew the line with work and non work

31:14 Compounding miles

31:32 No one starts as a master builder

44:59 By the time you’ve reached stress your prepared

48:44 Passion for getting as much out of life as possible

51:22 Riding for the joy of riding

52:00 Knowing when to turn back the risk is not worth

55:07 Not failure, I just learned it won’t work

56:36 We were prepared for whatever could happen

1:01:34 People who died always prepared for the expectations they expected

1:02:22 What’s the opposite of the desired outcome I want

1:13:54 Clarify what’s necessary and what’s not

1:16:55 Life is shorter than you think

1:17:15 trade offs for what you value

1:21:36 How do you make your mark on the world

RESOURCES

• http://doingmiles.com/about-us/
• Matt Haaga State Farm: https://www.matthaaga.com/
• https://abjets.com/