Tanaka Mutakwa

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 joked that I’m running all these races in the hope to meet my future wife at one of these races.

A guy I used to work with once said he finds running to be a very lonely sport. I can understand where he was coming from, but after participating in all these races over the last year or so, I have found that running is not as lonely as one would first believe.

Running has allowed me to explore the Western Cape

Western Cape races take place at different locations each weekend. I have run in Paarl, Gordons Bay, Stellenbosch, Mamre, Franschoek, Atlantis, Langebaan, Seapoint, Greenpoint, Constantia, Athlone, Kuilsrivier, Koeberg Nature Reserve, Somerset West, Wellington, Century City, Bellville, Hout Bay to Camps Bay, Greepoint to Simonstown passing through Muizenberg and Fish Hoek, and who knows how many other places. Some of these places I may have never visited if it was not for running.

Being the Western Cape, the views along the races are usually breathtaking.

 I’ve run in the Constantia vineyards at night, with a headlamp. An incredible experience I recommend for all runners.

Last year I went for race in Langebaan with a few friends. We made a road trip out of it and stayed in Langebaan for the weekend. We are going again this year, we are now calling it “The Annual Langebaan Weekend Away.” This time ten of us are going. In fact we are going there this coming weekend.

Running has given me the opportunity to meet new people

I did not know half of the people in this picture before I started running. I met them at the races.

Breakfast and exploring after the runs

After each race I usually go for breakfast with my friends. It gives us a good opportunity to discover new restaurants and socialise after some fitness activity. Depending on the location of the race, some further exploring of the area also happens.

After a race in Stellenbosch last year, I drove around four different wine estates with my friend Samuel and bought a few bottles of some fermented grape juice.

At the end of the Constantia Night trail runs we got given a bottle each of some wine from the Groot Constantia estate. A worthy gift for people who have just run up and down a mountain at night.

Running has challenged me mentally and physically

Murakami once described running as “both exercise and a metaphor.” The real marathon is life. It’s the doing every day. Running doesn’t need to be justified or applied to some end. You run because keeping a healthy body and clear mind is part of your job as a human being. Because it’s a commitment you made to yourself that you’re obligated to keep no matter how tired, how busy or how burnt out you feel. In other words, it’s practice—proof of your ability—in always having a little bit extra in you.

The races I remember most are the ones where I set my personal best times. Its on those days where I pushed my boundaries and challenged myself physically and mentally. There is a lot to running that is in the mind but the physical aspect cannot be ignored, if you want to truly experience the physical side of it, run a full marathon.

My personal best in a 10km race is currently 42 minutes and 52 seconds.

 

My personal best in a 21.1km race (half marathon) is currently 1 hour, 38 minutes and 40 seconds.

 

My personal best in a 42.2km race (full marathon) is currently 3 hours, 58 minutes 49 seconds.

Running has strengthened my friendships

I have run a large number of races with my friends. There have been a few races where I have run alone but it is a rare occurrence. Getting fit with friends can make all the difference between working hard enough to get results and missing races altogether. It’s harder to miss a race when someone is counting on you. Agree to a meeting time, and stick to it. I have a lot of post race pictures with friends, here are a few of them below.

The Century City Express race with Prashila, Himal, Cherel and Matan.

The ATC 4 x 3km relay race with Tatenda, Takudzwa and Jesse.

Greenpoint Park Run with Takudzwa, Nigel, Nyasha, Tatenda, Ropa, Zaahir, Sydne, and Dave.

The Lion of Africa race with Jesse, Sesethu and Takudzwa.

The Gun Run with Samuel, Jateen and Dismasi.

Running has strengthened my work relationships

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.” – Nelson Mandela

When I worked at Allan Gray we formed a relay team with the software engineers above and participated in the ATC 4 x 3km relay race in Greenpoint, Cape Town.

Last year, along with some of the team from Prodigy Finance (my current workplace) we participated in the Gun Run.

Running has strengthened my family relationships

I completed a trail run with my dad in Stellenbosch. This was a few days after his 60th birthday. My friend joked that “it literally runs in the family.”

I’ve also run a few races with my younger brother (guy in the blue shorts), he doesn’t run as many races but he is still on the right side of 25 I guess.

The joy of seeing people challenge themselves

A good friend sent me this message a week back –> “Bro, I ran 3kms the other day and I almost died. What is the best way to get into this fitness thing?” I responded –> “You have to be consistent man, you can’t go wrong with consistency. Run that 3km once or twice a week, after a while it will become easier and you will be able to do 5km, then 10km, and more. Its not about the distance though, its the consistency bro!”

It is always great to see people challenge themselves and the joy they derive when they accomplish the challenge.

I was there when my fellow Zimbabwean friend Zaahir ran his 1st Park Run.

I was there when Mali ran her first 10km race.

I was there when Moshin completed his first 10km race.

I was there when Takudzwa completed his first 15km race.

I was there when Tadious (the guy on my left) completed his first 10km race.

I was there when Andile (the guy wearing red) completed his first full marathon.

Running has given me a sense of achievement

One day I can show my kids my medals collection and say “look what your dad achieved when he was young.”

On one of the weekends last year I decided to do some DIY and build a medal display on my wall.

This is the current state of the medal display. I think some DIY for another one may be due soon.

The opportunity for interesting stories

After one of the half marathon races in Mamre last year I met a Zimbabwean guy named Norbert. He asked me what position I came in the race and I told him. Since its not a typical question people ask each other after these runs unless you are a professional runner, I asked him what position he came, he responded “I came 22nd.” I asked him what his finishing time was and the told me some impressive time (I’ve forgotten the actual time he mentioned).

This is where the story becomes interesting, after further probing I found out that was Nobert’s first race ever in his life. He is actually a farm worker in the Mamre area and since the race was hosted in that area he just took the opportunity to come and try it out. Nobert said he had not run since high school. Its incredible, he even said he jogged from the farm to the race’s starting point. I’ve always believed I have some element of natural fitness in me but this guy was notches above me. I encouraged him to keep running and to participate in more races, you never know where it goes.

I’ve met Norbert at about 4 more races after that. At the last race I met him which was earlier this year, he told me he has now joined a running club and they train twice a week. I won’t be surprised to see Nobert finishing in the top ten for the big races soon.

Made sure I took a photo with Norbert (the guy in the middle) in case he becomes a celebrity athlete in a few years.

Sometimes you get to meet inspirational individuals

It was an honour and a privilege to meet the South African rugby team (Springboks) 1995 world cup winning captain Francois Pienaar at the end of the Cape Town Marathon.

Why do I really run?

I run because I enjoy it. I run because I need it. More than that, running and being fitness oriented has become part of my lifestyle. Running is not lonely, running is very social, running has been a source of inspiration in many ways.

I am grateful to live in a city that has a strong fitness culture. There is a race almost every weekend. So next time you are in Cape Town for those who don’t live here, and next time you feel the urge to go for a run for those who live in Cape Town. Let’s go for a run. You know where to find me.

I still haven’t met my future wife at any of the races yet, but who knows what will happen at this coming weekend’s race.

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 got married and his wife Sancia just fit into the family like a glove, as if she has always been there. He set a brilliant example for my younger brother and I. I would rate his wedding day as my best day of 2015, it was amazing. As per standard the African aunts have started sending me the “You’re Next messages” to add some pressure on me. My brother is 5 years older than me though so I’m still good for the next 5 years I hope.

2) My younger brother Tashinga graduated and switched over from dependent to independent. Welcome to real life bro.

3) Keeping to my explorer attitude, I managed to travel to Mozambique, Australia and technically one could argue Namibia. Travelling will always remain at the top of my priorities. One can learn so much from getting out of their comfortable environment and learning about other people and cultures.

4) At the beginning of the year I started working at a company that fits into the model of what has always been my dream workplace. A startup that makes a significant difference in people’s lives. Its been a good year of learning at Prodigy Finance, and I have confidence that the company is going to be big, keep an eye out for us.

5) My 3 side businesses / projects ended the year on a profitable note, with 2 of them doing very well.

6) I ran 35 official races this year, 23 more than my goal at the beginning of the year. Amongst those were 1 full 42.2km marathon (my 1st one ever) and 9 half 21.1km marathons.

7) When I walk out of the office today I would have officially completed 5 years since I started working. Time flies once you join the rat race, but I’ve enjoyed it so far and learnt a ridiculous amount. I now have a good idea of what I want from my career and what to aim for in the future. Also I have reached a level where I know I do make a solid contribution to the environment I work in and that is always important.

8) My dad celebrated his 60th birthday in February and we even ran a trail run together when they were down in Cape Town. As Oliver Mtukudzi says “Ivai Navo”. On his birthday I wrote about 60 things I’ve learned from him here.

9) My siblings and I were all together in the same city for the first time in 9 years. My older brother left Zimbabwe in 2006 for Australia and he had not returned to Africa since then. My older sister lives in Johannesburg, and my younger brother and I are Capetonians. After my brother’s wedding he finally decided to come back to Africa for his honeymoon. The final leg of that trip was in Cape Town and my older sister joined us too from Johannesburg. It was the first time we were all in one place in a very long time, to say we had good times would be an understatement. We are making sure its never that long till we are together again.

10) Above all things, 2015 has been a happy year. The achievements and everything else do not matter unless you are happy as an individual. If there is anything I reinforced in 2015 its to be myself and to be happy. What a happy year it was, as my friend Takudzwa Makotore likes to say “We lived our best lives”

My rugby coach from high school always used to encourage us at practice and half time team talks with the words “Men You Must Keep Moving Forward.” While 2015 is probably going to be difficult to beat all I can do is keep moving forward!

May the best of your todays be the worst of your tomorrows.

Cheers to 2015, stay safe out there tonight!

All the best in 2016 #NoDaysOff

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, the completion of my degree seemed so far away.

Now I am 26, have been out of university and working for almost 5 years (half a decade). Time and tide wait for no man!

YOLO is an acronym for “You Only Live Once”, similar to the latin aphorism carpe diem which is usually translated as “seize the day.” While humans have always known and understood the meaning of “You Only Live Once”, the term YOLO was popularised more recently by the rap artist Aubrey Graham (who records under the mononym Drake) in his commercially successful song “The Motto“.

This lead to a lot of people abusing YOLO as an excuse to do things considered reckless or irresponsible working on the idea that one should enjoy life, even if that entails taking risks. What can easily be missed is the real motivation you should draw from the reality behind the words “You Only Live Once”.

Sometimes you can learn the same life lesson from multiple sources. This has happened to me recently and I would like to share 3 different messages from different sources, that inspired this article.

1) Extracted from Drew Houston’s Commencement Speech

That night I realised that there are no warmups, no practice rounds, no reset buttons. Every day we’re writing a few more words of a story. And when you die, it’s not like “here lies Drew, he came in 174th place.” So from then on, I stopped trying to make my life perfect, and instead tried to make it interesting. I wanted my story to be an adventure – and that’s made all the difference.

2) Extracted from this brilliant article by Sam Altman

Life is not a dress rehearsal—this is probably it. Make it count. Time is extremely limited and goes by fast. Do what makes you happy and fulfilled—few people get remembered hundreds of years after they die anyway. Don’t do stuff that doesn’t make you happy (this happens most often when other people want you to do something). Don’t spend time trying to maintain relationships with people you don’t like, and cut negative people out of your life. Negativity is really bad. Don’t let yourself make excuses for not doing the things you want to do.

3) A Tweet by Ryan Holiday

In 50 years most of us will be dead and forgotten. Those who are not forgotten will still be dead.

The message from these 3 different sources is very clear. It may be tough to take in but it is the reality we live in. Time is constantly moving and this life that you have is your one chance to be present and live to your full potential.

A large number of people either live in the past, postpone their dreams for the future, hold back on things they want to do due to fear of failure or live their lives to attempt to please others. Just knowing that “You Only Live Once” should be enough to move you away from this.

Living In The Past

Living in the past comes in two forms and both forms can hold you back. There is regretting decisions you made or things you did in the past. Then there is basking in past glories, when you did something great and you are still living in that world.

Regret can be viewed as past tense decision making so you should attempt to move away from it as fast as possible. The past has come and gone and everyone makes mistakes. What you need to realize is that each day you are given a new opportunity to make a difference, to forget about the past and to move on with your life. Don’t allow the past to hold you back.

Basking in past glories is an interesting one. Its good to celebrate success, but it is also important to grow with it and move on to the next challenges. Basking in past glories can leave you feeling entitled and can also lead you to missing out on great opportunities. That time when you were the head-boy in high school came and went, that time you were the manager of a department at a top corporate came and went.

Learn and grow from your success. Imagine if Barack Obama had stopped and basked in the glory of being the head of Harvard’s Law Review, he would never have been the president of the United States.

Postponing For The Future / Procrastination

I once attended a talk where one of the speakers began his talk by saying, “There are 2 days you should never be worried about in your life. Yesterday, because it has already happened and there is nothing you can change about it and tomorrow because it is not guaranteed that you will see it.” We have already talked about the past above so I will talk about the future.

While it is good to plan your future so you have a general direction of where you are going, you should never postpone something you can do today for tomorrow. Pushing out important things to tomorrow is commonly known as procrastination.

Tomorrow becomes tomorrow again and eventually becomes never. You aren’t guaranteed to be here tomorrow and given that you only live once, that should be enough motivation for you to not push out important things for tomorrow. Steven Covey was right to make one of the habits “Put First Things First” in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Fear Of Failure

The fear of failure has held back so many people from achieving their goals and dreams. Most things are not as risky as they seem or as risky as people make them out to be. The thing people don’t get is that even if you fail at your ambitious thing it’s very hard to fail completely.

There will always be valuable lessons to learn from your failed attempts. Bill Gates’s first company made software for traffic lights. Steve Jobs’s first company made plastic whistles that let you make free phone calls. Both failed, but it’s hard to imagine they were too upset about it. I’m sure they both learnt something that helped them move on and eventually succeed.

So don’t hold back on your goals and ambitions because of the fear of failure. Mark Twain did leave us with some wise words to use any time we feel fear creeping in, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”

Living To Please Others

Living to please others is also a trap a lot of people fall into. As much as we are social beings, the root to happiness lies in understanding yourself well and doing things that make you happy. Most people are busy with their own lives in any case they hardly have time to stop and look at what you are doing.

Do not let other people determine your destiny. You can be inspired by others but do not try to be someone else. Mark Zuckerberg will always be a better Mark Zuckerberg than you try to be. In the same way no-one can be a better you than yourself.

This Is It

Sometimes we make life complicated when it is not necessary. Next time you start to regret the past, procrastinate, have a fear failure or think of doing things just to please others, just remember you only live once (YOLO) and time flies. Rather go out there and appreciate each day you get, be present and make use of each day because tomorrow is not promised.

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 fundamental principles of success. To be successful in your goals and ambitions you need to be able to make things happen. Looking at his status a few days back made me realise how much it aligns with my thinking lately.

I have been having a debate with myself. The debate is trying to answer the question; should I be taking more actions toward my goals and ambitions vs reading/learning about how I can achieve my goals and ambitions?

I have read a significant number of non-fiction books on talent & skill acquisition, success, human psychology, entrepreneurship, and technology. My biggest fear at the moment is that I spend a large amount of time learning about all this and don’t give enough time to put it into practice. That could mean all that reading was just a form of intellectual masturbation. Lately my mind has been biased towards taking more action.

Learning how to program

I have been working as a professional software engineer for about 5 years now. I have learnt about programming through many valuable resources such as books, online video tutorials, and informative blog posts. While I value all these resources, the times when I have really mastered a programming concept is by doing real work. It is from actually building software systems at work and side projects that most of the tangible and valuable lessons came from. While there are software patterns and practices I have read about, never used and have gone on to forget about because I never got to put them into practice.

Learning about entrepreneurship

The same can be said about my entrepreneurial journey. I have read quite a number of books about various aspects of business. My favourite business book is still The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman, such a rich source of valuable information. I am passionate about entrepreneurship so reading and learning about business always fascinates me. However most of the tangible business lessons I have learnt have come from actual businesses I have started and operated with friends or by myself. These lessons include learning about how business registration and tax works, how to acquire users as a technology startup, marketing products, and how to get media publicity for your business. There are also lessons buried in each of the businesses that I started that went on to fail. There are always lessons in failure, but that is a topic of discussion for another day.

A few weeks back one of my friends updated their Facebook status to the following: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe”, a quote attributed to former president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. I couldn’t help but think to myself, what if the axe is ready after two hours of sharpening. I know the message from the quote is that adequate preparation is required for any important task and that should not be missed. However, I have seen through myself and other people many examples of the axe being sharpened for too long. In the worst cases, the axe is sharpened for such a long time that the important task of chopping down a tree never happens.

There must be a balance of some sort, I am certain one needs both to learn about how to do something and to actually do the thing. Finding that balance is important, but at this point I sit more on the “taking action” side of the fence. There are just more tangible lessons to be learnt on that side. It can also be argued that you should move before you are ready. Your mind can deceive you into believing you are not ready when you are fully capable of executing the task at hand.

Those who attack problems and life with the most initiative and energy usually win. We talk about courage as a society, but we forget that at its most basic level it’s really just taking action. If you want momentum, you’ll have to create it yourself, right now, by getting up and getting started.

One of the NoDaysOff Values is Action Bias. This is the value most closely related to the title of this blog post. This value is important because it is only through taking action that we can achieve our goals and ambitions. So without asking you to sharpen the saw even further by reading more of this article, go out there and Make Things Happen!

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 before the half year mark. Maybe it is time I hang up my running shoes and wait for next year? Not at all!

I had figured if I could do one official race each month I would achieve the target by the end of the year. First weekend of the year, I decided to get the January race out of the way. I registered and ran a 15km race from Hout Bay to Camps Bay in Cape Town. The race was tough, given that I had not run for almost 4 months. I enjoyed it, I felt accomplished at the end of the race. 11 races to go, I told myself.

I must have enjoyed the race a little too much because after that race I decided to check if there was another race the following weekend. Turns out there was, I ended up registering for it and running. The following weekend the same happened. Things were going well, I had already completed 3 months worth of runs in the first 3 weeks of the year. Before I knew it I had convinced myself that running every weekend is possible and as a result it became a habit that I developed. I subsequently went on to run my first full marathon in February. I surpassed my initial goal of 12 races for the year by the end of April, only a third into the year.

Turn your goals into habits

Self-help books and blogs suggest the setting of goals as an important step for making progress. Setting a precise goal is good, but without enough predictive data it can be limiting. Emphasis should be on building the right habits. In my case, my goal of running 12 official races was limiting, as I could definitely do more. I am fortunate I did not stop once I reached my initial goal.

Review your goals

You should review your goals often. You must try as much as you can to get early feedback. Early feedback allows you to realign yourself if you are slacking or to adjust your goal if you are doing well. In my case I adjusted my goal from a fixed number of official races for the year to building the habit of running one official race every weekend. It is also important to note that while setting a precise goal may be limiting, it was the initial act of setting the goal that got me running in the first place. So the goal did serve a purpose, but it was important to readjust it as soon as I found I was going to achieve it quickly.

Now I am aiming to complete 50 official races by the end of the year. Could I be limiting myself again? I don’t know. What I know is that I will be out there running again on Saturday morning. Its more than a goal now, it is a habit. Don’t Limit Yourself!