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# Tanaka Mutakwa

Ideas for pushing yourself to succeed in your goals and ambitions, building habits that stick and doing great work.

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://mutakwa.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Review your progress](https://mutakwa.com/review-your-progress/) - January has flown by and we have already started the second month of the year. At the start of the year, many people would have set their new year resolutions or goals for the year. How is that going? Are you making great progress or do you need some serious recalibration already? A few weeks
- [Goals need systems](https://mutakwa.com/goals-need-systems/) - The new year is well underway. Most people would have already set their new year resolutions or goals for this year. This is a good start, but goals and resolutions alone will not get you the success you need. Goals are endpoints, and you need to come up with systems that guide you in your
- [The story of Pahari African Restaurant](https://mutakwa.com/the-story-of-pahari-african-restaurant/) - Pahari African Restaurant is nestled on the corner of Cecil Road and Swift Street in the multifaceted and culturally-diverse suburb of Salt River in Cape Town, South Africa. At this location, you will find our family restaurant which offers guests an authentic African cuisine dining experience. Some say you should never do business with your
- [Building good habits](https://mutakwa.com/building-good-habits/) - Today is my 33rd birthday. As usual, I am excited about what the future has to offer. I have tried to make it a tradition to write an article on my birthday. I unfortunately broke the tradition last year as I never got round to writing an article on the day. In the theme of
- [Uncertain times](https://mutakwa.com/uncertain-times/) - Today is my 31st birthday. I have always found writing to be a great way to leave a snapshot of my thoughts at any point in time. Given that a birthday is a great reflection point I have decided to write an article every year on my birthday. I hope to come back to these articles
- [Tech Leadership Meetup Cape Town](https://mutakwa.com/tech-leadership-meetup-cape-town/) - Along with Benny Ou and Ruberto Paulo, I am excited to share that we will be starting a tech leadership meetup in Cape Town. The idea is to build a community of longtime, new, and aspiring technology leaders. Our mission is for the community to help each other learn through conversation and sharing of ideas.
- [Starting as VP of Engineering at Names & Faces](https://mutakwa.com/starting-as-vp-of-engineering-at-names-faces/) - I'm excited to announce that I will be taking on the VP of Engineering role at Names & Faces starting today. Names & Faces aims to offer any growing company a simple and fast directory of employees built specifically for that purpose alone. Names & Faces solves a problem experienced by everyone from the CEO to
- [Leaving Prodigy Finance](https://mutakwa.com/leaving-prodigy-finance/) - I started at Prodigy Finance as a Software Engineer in January 2015. When I started there were a total of 28 employees across the whole company and we had funded 1875 students in total. Today as I leave there are over 200 employees across the company and we have funded over 14500 students. It has
- [Thirty: The journey continues](https://mutakwa.com/thirty-the-journey-continues/) - I remember the day clearly, 4th of February 2008, my student visa finally came out after a long wait of over two months. A few hours after collecting the visa I was on a flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. My first time outside of Zimbabwe. I was already late for university orientation week so I
- [Onboarding for software engineers](https://mutakwa.com/onboarding-for-software-engineers/) - On Friday 8th of February 2019 I delivered a talk at the RubyFuza Conference in Cape Town. Rubyfuza is the longest run Ruby conference in South Africa. The conference is mostly attended by software engineers. My talk was about “Onboarding for software engineers”. I have decided to write up the content I shared into an
- [Tackling My 1st Comrades Marathon](https://mutakwa.com/tackling-my-1st-comrades-marathon/) - On Sunday 10th of June 2018 I completed my first ever Comrades Marathon. In a time of 9 hours 33 minutes. There is no better feeling than crossing that finish line. Six months of training had come to fruition. Amongst runners, the Comrades Marathon is one of the pinnacle races. It is the world's largest
- [Great Things Start Small](https://mutakwa.com/great-things-start-small/) - Today is my 29th birthday. I have always found writing to be a great way to leave a snapshot of my thoughts at any point in time. Given that a birthday is a great reflection point I have decided to write an article every year on my birthday. I hope to come back to these articles
- [Run Your Own Race](https://mutakwa.com/run-your-own-race/) - Today is my 28th birthday. I have always found writing to be a great way to leave a snapshot of my thoughts at any point in time. Given that a birthday is a great reflection point I thought I could leave a snapshot of 28 year old Tanaka's mindset. Here is what I think I have figured
- [Tashinga Mutakwa](https://mutakwa.com/tashinga-mutakwa/) - On the 14th of January in 1992, I was a few months from my 3rd birthday. On this day my parents blessed me with a younger brother. They named him Tashinga Gerald Mutakwa. Life was never the same after that. Tashinga seemed to have been born with a "I will go for what I want"
- [The constant pursuit for learning](https://mutakwa.com/the-constant-pursuit-for-learning/) - Day two of the Scrum Gathering South Africa 2016 conference is about to begin. My role at work is "Software Engineer", which at the basic level can be seen as someone who solves problems and translates them to code in some programming language to build software. This conference is about processes, methodologies and managing teams.
- [Why I Run](https://mutakwa.com/why-i-run/) - I've run many races since the beginning of 2015. Last year I completed 35 races and this year I have completed 10 races. A few of my friends have asked me what problems I am running away from, or if I know anything that other people do not know. The prize however goes to the friend who
- [2015 Reflections: Signing out](https://mutakwa.com/2015-reflections-signing-out/) - As much as one can try run away from it, the end of the year brings with it feelings of reflection. 2015 has been one of the best years of my life and this morning when I woke up I decided to take note of why it was so good. 1) My older brother Tendayi
- [You Only Live Once](https://mutakwa.com/you-only-live-once/) - I remember when I started high school in 2002, I thought I would never finish. Six years seemed like such a long time. I was 13 then and in those days I thought 20 year old people were very old. I had the same feeling when I started my first year of university in 2008,
- [Books I Read In January 2015](https://mutakwa.com/books-i-read-in-january-2015/) - Seeing what someone is reading is like seeing the 1st derivative of their thinking. Over the last few years I have learned a lot from other people sharing the books they read. I have decided to do the same. At the end of each month I will share with you the books I would have
- [Books I Read In February 2015](https://mutakwa.com/books-i-read-in-february-2015/) - February was a good month. I managed to read and complete 5 books. At the end of each month I share with you the books I read in that month. Seeing what someone is reading is like seeing the 1st derivative of their thinking. A lot can be learnt from seeing another person's reading list. A full
- [Your fears can help you](https://mutakwa.com/your-fears-can-help-you/) - Brian Tracy is the author of Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want -- Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible. He grew up with a fear of poverty. He feared not having enough money, being broke, and being destitute. Brian knew that this fear had originated during his childhood because his parents, who grew up
- [Make Things Happen](https://mutakwa.com/make-things-happen/) - My dad's Whatsapp status has been "Make things happen" since August last year. I would want him to change it to "NoDaysOff" but I guess the current message is still inspirational in itself. Thinking about it now, "Make things happen" could easily have been one of the NoDaysOff Values as it aligns well with the
- [Don't Limit Yourself](https://mutakwa.com/dont-limit-yourself/) - At the start of this year I set an ambitious fitness goal for myself. The goal, to run 12 official races by the end of the year. This seemed challenging enough given that I had only done 6 official races the previous year. As of Sunday the 7th June, I had run 20 official races
- [When I go through bad times](https://mutakwa.com/when-i-go-through-bad-times/) - Life does not always go our way. We all go through emotional struggles, failed relationships, work stress, loss of a loved one and so on. We may also experience physical struggles such as lack of sleep, injuries, illness or general ill-being. Going through a rough patch is tough as one might not feel good about
- [Why I do not watch the news](https://mutakwa.com/why-i-do-not-watch-the-news/) - I have not intentionally watched the news on television in a long time. Initially this transition just happened organically, but then I eventually made an explicit call that I will not spend my time watching news on television. We live in an information and device filled world where the demand for our attention is high.
- [Learn Something New Every Day](https://mutakwa.com/learn-something-new-every-day/) - As I am growing older, I am realising how important knowledge really is. Imagine if we were to ask someone 100 years from now what puzzles them about people who lived in our century. I’d guess they would say: Those people walked around with devices that had access to all the information about the world
- [Eliminate Distractions: What high school study time can teach us about focus](https://mutakwa.com/eliminate-distractions-what-high-school-study-time-can-teach-us-about-focus/) - Throughout my high school career, which was between the year 2001 and 2007, I was enrolled at a boarding school. After supper was served, all boarding students had a compulsory study period that we called "Prep Time". This study period, which was conducted in the various dormitory/ hostel common rooms, lasted about two hours. Strict
- [60 Things I Have learned From My Dad](https://mutakwa.com/60-things-i-have-learned-from-my-dad/) - My dad turned 60 today. Born in 1955 at a rural hospital in a small town called Gutu in Zimbabwe. A lot has happened in his life. My dad is not perfect, but he has taught me invaluable lessons about work, marriage, parenting, ambition, practical skills and life in general. Some of the lessons are things
- [Easy To Be Great, Harder To Be Consistent](https://mutakwa.com/easy-to-be-great-harder-to-be-consistent/) - In performing better work, getting fitter, eating healthier or achieving some level of success in most areas of life, a large number of people realise that being consistent pays off. Everyone wants to achieve greatness or successful results in various endeavours but few people manage to be consistent in their pursuit of such goals. In
- [Life Lessons From My 1st Marathon](https://mutakwa.com/life-lessons-from-my-1st-marathon/) - It is often said that a marathon, by its nature, is an endurance test that seeks to challenge the limits of one’s body. Well, this past Sunday I ran my 1st ever full marathon, the Cape Peninsula marathon, a 42km race held in Cape Town which starts in Greenpoint and ends in Simons Town. Running
- [Where will you be in 5 years time? Choose carefully](https://mutakwa.com/where-will-you-be-in-5-years-time-choose-carefully/) - Where you will be in a few years time will depend on the books you read and the people you surround yourself with. The books you read open up your mind to various new perspectives. Great books are more than just entertainment, they provide an education. A great book has the power to change your
- [The Accountability Buddy Effect](https://mutakwa.com/the-accountability-buddy-effect/) - Last year I managed to go and train in the gym 138 times. I should have comfortably reached 150 times had I not been travelling between October and November. That is the most disciplined training year I have ever had in my life. I have always been generally active, however, in the past, I used
- [I Was Such a Fool Back Then](https://mutakwa.com/i-was-such-a-fool-back-then/) - I remember talking to one of my work colleagues some time back, about how as software engineers we sometimes look back at the programs we wrote in the past and cannot help it but say "I was such a fool back then". Over time you learn about better ways to program, through reading, videos, mentorship and actually
- [Giving Yourself Advice](https://mutakwa.com/giving-yourself-advice/) - Most of the time when your friends or family ask you for advice, you find it easy to give an opinion and help out. When you are looking at other people's lives you find it easy to identify their problems and offer your solutions. However when it comes to giving yourself advice, you have your own emotions involved and you find it difficult
- [Things of value take time](https://mutakwa.com/things-of-value-take-time/) - As the year began about a month ago, most people thought about their new year's resolutions and perhaps even wrote them down. I do not make new year's resolutions anymore, I used to but now I try set goals and build habits that align with those goals. As Leo Babauta says Resolutions are like wishful thinking,
- [What I wish I knew when I was in high school!](https://mutakwa.com/what-i-wish-i-knew-when-i-was-in-high-school/) - I was asked by the Investment Society at the University of Cape Town to come speak to 100 high school students, as part of an initiative called 100-UP. The initiative seeks to address the under-representation of learners from disadvantaged backgrounds into the University of Cape Town. It also looks to empower the learners through teaching
- [What does No Days Off even mean?](https://mutakwa.com/what-does-no-days-off-even-mean/) - I have received a few messages in the lines of, "Tanaka, tell me more about this NoDaysOff thing, what does it mean?" While I am in the process of writing a longer detailed article that I will either post on my blog or it will be one of the articles on the NoDaysOff Magazine (if
- [Why do some people succeed while others remain average?](https://mutakwa.com/why-do-some-people-succeed-while-others-remain-average/) - On a sunny afternoon, twenty years ago, three young students graduated from the same university. They were very much alike, these three young students. They all had been better than average students, were all personable and as most young college graduates are – were filled with ambitious dreams for the future. Recently, these three students
- [Announcing the launch of Impact Tutors!](https://mutakwa.com/announcing-the-launch-of-impact-tutors/) - When we launched Prep-Hub toward the end of last year, our mission was clear, "To make a positive contribution to education around the world." We built Prep-Hub because we realized a service that allows students to collaborate and discuss academic concepts globally, was missing. There are still features we will be adding to Prep-Hub to make it a
- [Time, you can't own it, but you can use it. Is time playing on your team?](https://mutakwa.com/time-you-cant-own-it-but-you-can-use-it-is-time-playing-on-your-team/) - One of my old high school friends gave me a call yesterday, he mentioned he was in Cape Town and it actually turned out he was quite close to the area I reside in, so we arranged to meet up after work. I had not seen him since the earlier days of high school when
- [In our technologically oriented environment, you must keep exercising your brain!](https://mutakwa.com/in-our-technologically-oriented-environment-you-must-keep-exercising-your-brain/) - “To go along with this self-control, we must do whatever we can to cultivate a greater memory capacity – one of the most important skills in our technologically oriented environment. The problem that technology presents us is that it increases the amount of information at our disposal, but slowly degrades the power of our memory
- [My recipe for preparing & passing exams.](https://mutakwa.com/my-recipe-for-preparing-passing-exams/) - I've used the same exam preparation method since I was 16 and I have always done well when it comes to important academic exams. In 2005 I had the best Odinary Level (O-Level) results at my high school (Kyle College in Masvingo, Zimbabwe) and in 2007 my results were also amongst the top Advanced Level
- [Zimbabwe 2013 National Budget speech - Where ICT fits in.](https://mutakwa.com/zimbabwe-2013-national-budget-speech-where-ict-fits-in/) - Last week I managed to download a copy of the 273 page Zimbabwe budget speech transcript that Minister of Finance Tendai Biti shared with the country. I have not read the whole speech (273 pages is a lot to consume in a few days) but I have managed to read the section I am mainly
- [Product before money - (Lessons from a year of NoDaysOff)](https://mutakwa.com/product-before-money-lessons-from-a-year-of-nodaysoff/) - I haven't blogged in a bit, and this time its not even writers block that kept me away. I blame it on the NoDaysOff lifestyle, seriously! Disclaimer - I am not yet successful and I do not own a software company that is making billions of dollars but I do think I can share the
- [Prep-hub: A past exam / test platform for students](https://mutakwa.com/prep-hub-a-past-exam-test-platform-for-students/) - In the last 2 weeks, one of my friends Chanda Pwapwa (also a software developer) and I have been developing an application for the Google Apps Developer Challenge, a competition wherein developers worldwide are given the chance to demonstrate what they can do with the Google Apps API and the Google Drive API. Our entry for this
- [Identify a human need & go out to fill it](https://mutakwa.com/identify-a-human-need-go-out-to-fill-it/) - Recently, an article came to my attention about a Ugandan IT student who has become wealthy / successful through developing mobile applications, leading him to be known as the Mark Zuckerberg of Africa. If you want to read the whole article, you can find it at http://www.africabusinesscommunities.com/index.php/rss-abc-blogs/200425-erika-amoako-agyei-africa-business-review. Basically, the article describes how the 22-year-old Abdu
- [RescueTime: a tool that can help students cure procrastination](https://mutakwa.com/rescuetime-a-tool-that-can-help-students-cure-procrastination/) - RescueTime touts itself as “a personal analytics service that shows you how you spend your time and provides tools to help you be more productive.” In other words, RescueTime studies your computer habits and tells you when you’re slacking off instead of doing what’s important. It’s a really useful and convenient tool that does not
- [How I got started in computers & programming?](https://mutakwa.com/how-i-got-started-in-computers-programming/) - About a month ago Scott Hanselman (former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee) blogged about how he got started in computers and programming. At the end of his interesting blog post he asks his readers "What's your story?", basically encouraging readers to share their stories on how
- [Getting things done](https://mutakwa.com/getting-things-done/) - A blog post titled "Getting things done" is the last thing I should be writing about given that I haven't made a post in just over 2 months. Even I was surprised that it has been that long since my last post on the blog, time really waits for no man as they say. The
- [Raise the village: Making an inspiring difference through an iPhone](https://mutakwa.com/raise-the-village-making-an-inspiring-difference-through-an-iphone/) - Raise the village, an iPhone app designed by New Charity Era actually helps the population of a poor village in Uganda (Kapir Atiira). The Raise the village app allows customers to build a virtual village from scratch by building huts, schools, crop farms and more. The user also has the ability to buy collection items
- [Lessons from a developed country: Israel's start-up success ](https://mutakwa.com/lessons-from-a-developed-country-israels-start-up-success/) - Tiny Israel, a country embroiled in conflicts for decades, has managed to transform itself from a stretch of farmland into a high-tech wonder. Israel currently has almost 4,000 active technology start-ups - more than any other country outside the United States, according to Israel Venture Capital Research Centre. In 2010 alone the flow of venture
- [Technology helping the fight against HIV/AIDS](https://mutakwa.com/how-technology-has-helped-in-the-fight-against-hivaids/) - Most people are aware that it was World AIDS Day last Thursday. World AIDS Day on 1 December brings together people from around the world to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and demonstrate international solidarity in the face of the pandemic. The day is an opportunity for public and private partners to spread awareness about the status
- [Lessons from a fellow developing country: M-PESA](https://mutakwa.com/lessons-from-a-fellow-developing-country-m-pesa/) - Imagine a world where banks are nowhere near where you live. The nearest branch is 10 kilometres away, but it takes you almost an hour to get there by foot and bus because you don’t have your own vehicle. With waiting times at the branch, that’s a round-trip of two hours – a quarter or
- [An e-reader for every child in developing countries](https://mutakwa.com/an-e-reader-for-every-child-in-developing-countries/) - I recently (3 months ago) purchased an Amazon Kindle electronic reader (e-reader) device and since then I have only read once hard copy book in contrast to the five electronic books I have read on the Kindle. E-readers have many advantages, they are optimized to reduce eye strain, books are cheaper, can carry multiple books
- [Bridging the digital divide](https://mutakwa.com/bridging-the-digital-divide-2/) - I initially wrote this as an article and it was published in newspapers "The Zimbabwean" & "The Zimbabwean Financial Gazette" in May 2011. The modern world is quickly moving towards a ubiquitous computing era. Ubiquitous computing, or calm technology, is a paradigm shift where technology becomes virtually invisible in our lives. Instead of having a desk-top
- [Exploiting the power of social networking sites](https://mutakwa.com/exploiting-the-power-of-social-networking-sites/) - Human communication has evolved over time. The history of communication dates back to prehistoric times, with significant changes in communication technologies (media and appropriate inscription tools) evolving in tandem with shifts in political and economic systems, and by extension, systems of power. From the days of the smoke signal to an instant chat message on a social

## Pages

- [Talks / Podcasts](https://mutakwa.com/speaking/) - The following is a list of conference talks, interviews and podcasts I have featured on. If you’d like me to speak at your event or feature on your podcast you can reach out to me on LinkedIn or Twitter. DevConf 2023 - Assessing the performance of your engineering team DevConf 2022 - Making the leap
- [About Me](https://mutakwa.com/about/) - My name is Tanaka Mutakwa, I am a Software Engineering Leader, Founder & organiser of Tech Leadership, Co-owner at Pahari African Restaurant, Founder of the NoDaysOff Lifestyle Brand, also on a running journey. You can find a list of conference talks, interviews and podcasts I have featured on here. On this blog I write about
- [Life Mission Statement](https://mutakwa.com/life-mission-statement/) - My purpose/definition of this life varies from time-to-time but one fact that remains constant is the constant desire to be significant. This in effect raises the question: What legacy do I want to leave behind? I want to inspire, mentor, coach, to be a distinguished example, to instil belief and motivate fellow humans to step
- [Newsletter](https://mutakwa.com/newsletter/) - Get an update every time an article is released on Tanaka Mutakwa's blog. Tanaka Mutakwa enjoys writing about ideas for pushing yourself to succeed in your goals and ambitions, building habits that stick and mastering your craft. Just enter your email address below and click “Get Updates!” Email Address

## Categories

- [General Interest](https://mutakwa.com/category/generalinterest/)