S.W.I.M

Black  people swimming. Oxymoron perhaps? Well I'll tell you one thing, back in primary school when people of colour were still the minority in model-c schools, when it came to swimming, things were, how should I put this? AWKWARD! I remember my first swimming lesson, first grade, age 6, all the Caucasians (and my friend Sanele as the only black representative) jumped in and started to swim laps, while the rest of us non Caucasians  (yes Indian included, all one of her) did the "chuchu train" which entailed holding on the the wall and moving along like a train. The only thing we had in common with the "advanced" swimmers was that we all got wet *holds back tears*

A couple of lessons later I decided I had had enough and took the plunge! I let go of the wall! I was the first of the beginners to break free, graduating from wall-holding to a kicking board!!! 

And that was the highlight of my swimming career.

This year I decided to resume swimming. Obviously I had come a long way from the "chuchu train" days but I was no Chad le Clos. I was actually really inspired by the SA team at the Olympics last year, so decided I would give this a go and perhaps, hopefully maybe, one day in my dreams, in my next life, I would swim for South Africa *clears throat*

So I did a bit of research, emailed a few schools called a few places until I found My Swim, a swimming school in Olivedale, Johannesburg. It's perfect and for all ages and all levels of swimming. 

I have gone religiously every week even during winter! Every week is a focus on a different stroke. First you do legs, then arms then full stroke. I thought doing breaststroke with no legs (legs crossed) was bad...until I moved on to butterfly!!

Butterfly! After my first attempt at this style, I turned around and  told my instructor that if ever I was thrown in the sea and a shark was after me, I doubt I'll ever default to butterfly!

I have since improved and starting to even enjoy it! But even then I would still pick the other three over butterfly in an attempt water/shark getaway...though I have never seen one revert to backstroke in the movies when chased by a shark *thinking*

Swimming is actually not as bad as people make it out to be. Once you get your breathing right and learn to relax your body, half the battle is won!

This topic is a bit left field from what I usually write but the purpose was to subtly convince people, especially my people of colour to take up swimming as a pastime. This business of black people not being able to swim is just about as inaccurate as "white man can't jump"...no wait, bad comparison.

I have always been about living a balanced life. I played sports from hockey to netball (which I bowed down gracefully out of after only making the D team in high school), to basketball and athletics throughout my school career and still managed to get good grades. During my university years I traded this for gym which I've maintained to this day. 

In a late meeting at work I once mentioned I had to go swimming (I swim in the evenings) and everybody laughed (because I'm black). But I was serious, that's what happens when you're me. I'm so random  and sarcastic my boss says she often can't tell if I'm being serious or not *sigh*

Besides the health and fitness benefits of swimming, for me it was more about the discipline of picking something, sticking to it and working at perfecting it.

So one day. While you're busy having a fun time at the beach there in Durban (because Cape Town water is just too cold) and you see a black girl swimming away from a ferocious shark, smile and wave...and then probably rush for help! A pool is one thing but the ocean, well that's another story! 

Project Management

So I'm about six months away from my third year anniversary of being in the www (wonderful working world) and I really feel it's high time somebody gave me a directorship role or something! What does a girl need to do to be appointed as CEO around here?! …don't answer that! 

I know it takes a lot of hard work, dedication and years of experience to get to the top but believe me, I'm climbing; Project Management or man-AGE-ment as Trevor Noah would say is well under way. I’ve taken a lot of knocks along the way (and I know there are plenty more to come) and only those really close to me know exactly to what extent but through it all I’ve managed to keep my head up and tread on! I acknowledge that I’m still pretty much a rookie in all this but I thought I would share some of the things that I’ve learnt through my experiences:

 

1.        Speak up

I learnt this the hard way and it even affected my career growth at some point. I’m a very opinionated person in general but loud is not what most people would describe me. I won’t go into an argument unless I know all the facts but I’ve come to learn that sometimes you just have to speak your mind, challenge points and raise your own. Nothing says forgettable more than being (as silent as) a mouse. If you never speak up, you really don’t exist. So who’s going to give you opportunities if you are invisible?

If you find this difficult to do, I suggest you pick up a book titled “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain (or you could check out her website: http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/). The book doesn’t necessarily push introverts to change into extroverts but rather for introverts to find the power within and shine in a world where everybody is expected to be bold! Through this book I’ve not only learnt to embrace my introverted nature but also somehow transformed into an “extravert” (cross between introvert and extrovert).

 

2.        Roll with the punches

It’s tough out here! But the more you get ruffled, the tougher your skin gets the better you get at handling tough situations. In the wise words of Joseph P. Kennedy “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” and why would one even dispute? If you know anything about the Kennedy’s you’d know that even if you were the dog’s walker’s friend’s sister’s wife you would be privy to some of their wealth, power and success…ok, maybe not so much, but their successes must’ve been due to endurance during tough situations, as is with all the other successful people we know!

 

3.        Takes risks

The worse that could happen is you getting fired and out of a job and left out to beg in the dusty streets of Johannesburg not knowing where your next meal will come from. Who needs a job anyway? Kidding! In my second year of my degree, the first thing I learnt in my Investments class was the bigger the risk, the greater the reward, and so it stands in life. Yes, you may get your fingers burnt but most of the time, taking a leap of faith is usually worth all the burns.

 

4.        Think outside the box

This is tough when working with people over 100 years old because they are usually not open to new things. Nonetheless, try new things. I’m quite lucky in this regard because the role I took on was completely new which means I get to set the precedent! I like order, which is perfect because my boss is a perfectionist on steroids so most of the time we are building new business processes and constantly looking for new ways to make the business money outside its day to day practices.

 

5.        Ask for challenges

Nothing gets to me more than boredom! My brain needs to be used to full capacity and until I can work out a Rubik cube in 2 minutes flat, I will be asking for challenges. And then when I figure out this Rubik cube thing, I’ll look for a tougher benchmark then I’ll TAKE OVER THE WORLD *cues “Pinkie and the Brain” theme song*

 

6.        Ask questions

How will you learn otherwise?

 

7.        Keep track of your performance

Different companies call performance documents different names, but whether called a KPA, KPD, PO etc., keep on top of it. These measures are not only to keep the company informed on your level of competency, but also for your own tracking purposes and to be conscious of your strengths and weaknesses, leveraging off the former and improving the latter.

 

8.        Stay in check i.e. Don’t. Check. Out!

I think the minute we are unhappy with our jobs or serving notice, it almost becomes inevitable to check out mentally from your current role. But as long as you are still there, you might as well get the job done right, you don’t want to leave a bad taste in your old employer’s mouth once you move on, even if you never plan to go back there.

 

 

9.        Build strong working relationships

In Zulu we say “umuntu, ungumuntu, ngabantu” the English equivalent of this is “No man is an island”

One of my first bosses when I was working in sales back in 2011, used to always tell me, you need to gain people’s trust so that they can support you along the way! I’ve seen this pan out in my daily dealings, if people like you, they will support you in all that you do, and the higher their power, the faster you can get things done. But obviously for you to gain their trust you have to prove yourself to them, and you have to be nice (not in a “I’m-sucking-up-and-do-not-have-a-back-bone kind of way though), you have to show competency, you have to show up and you must be the perfect picture of humility, which brings me to my last point…

 

10.     Stay humble

Nobody likes a show off!

 

I’m going to come back to this list in a couple of years’ time to sense check its accuracy, obviously it’s not exhaustive but I doubt I’m too far off the mark.

About Time

“When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.”  - A.W. Tozer

When God was handing out friends, he reserved all the unpunctual ones for me!

I am a punctual person. I like to be on time and when people need me to get things done I like to deliver before they expect it. I however, have exactly one punctual friend. Lulu is so punctual she makes me look bad! She's the only person I know who's more punctual than my dad. Back in the day going to town use to be a treat for us; my dad would say "wait for me by the car in five minutes” and if you were there in six minutes, you could wave the trip to town goodbye. Sorry for you! Better luck next month!

If I measured the status of my friendships by punctuality I would have no friends. Oh ok, I’d have one. This is how my friends operate: if I need them to be somewhere at 14h00, I tell them to be there at 12h00 and I can expect the first person to get there at 16h00! No names mentioned *sips water*

They say wasting someone's time is the same as disrespecting them as a person. We all have 24 hours and once a second has passed you can never get it back. Unless you can physically remove an hour from your day and donate it to somebody else, respect every second of their time! It's simple etiquette, if you're going to be late, notify people well in advance. If it happens again...don't let it happen again!

Time heals all wounds

When I was younger this was in a literal sense. I would fall and earn a huge scab on my leg but in time the skin would gradually reconnect and I would heal. The older you get the more you wish that this would be the only kind of hurt you would go through! But it still remains, over time you heal nonetheless.

Perfection takes time

I need to meditate on this! I'm a perfectionist who doesn't have time to take time to perfect anything; I want to perfect it and I want to perfect it NOW! Blame my zodiac sign for this.

In time you will get what is due to you 

We get so caught up keeping up with the Joneses we forget that we did not start the race at the same time, let alone run on the same track! We put ourselves under unnecessary pressure because you look to the right and Sipho is on property ownership number two at the tender age of 25 (*side note* ever noticed how in primary school story sums there is always a Sipho- who is this Sipho guy??), you look to the left and Sandy just got her big break...FOR THE TENTH TIME! Life is unfair like that, we can’t just get what we want when we want it, but in time, all that’s due to you will make its way to you. So learn to be patient, keep moving forward and focus on your own race.

And that’s all I have for this time. Thank you for taking the time to stop by! Till next time...

The diary of...

*ushers off some dust and removes spiders web*

It’s been a while since I last wrote; as usual I’ve been thinking a lot about a lot of things! I’ve also been reading a lot from fiction novels (after having read five consecutive non-fiction books, I’ve decided to take a bit of a breather) to financial publications and business articles; my latest obsession are Harvard Business Review and Forbes.

Is it not funny how social media has turned us into a transparent and secret-sharing people? I once tweeted “Before Facebook asked ‘What’s on your mind’ and Twitter tweets and BBM status, what did we do with our thoughts?” and someone (male) replied “We just had voices in our heads” while another (female) said “WE KEPT DIARIES”!

 And that’s it! There was once a time when we did not want anyone knowing what we were thinking; our private thoughts were private. I recall for my fourteenth birthday, my friend, Nikita bought me a diary. With a lock! I was so paranoid about who would lay their hands on it (even though it had a lock) that I devised codes for really hectic and intimated words like “boy” which was coded “gummy bear” and hug which was “marshmallow” and the big one; “kiss” which was coded “volcano”. Now try stringing together a sentence using all three and go ahead and judge at how ridiculous I must’ve sounded in a single diary entry! Now that all seems like a century ago! How I will explain to my children that there was once a time when we actually wrote our thoughts down when in 2013 we already not only want to tell people what we’re eating, we want them to see! The proof is in the pudding after all, or perhaps in the photo? Don’t you just love Instagram?!

*The pen is mightier than the sword…

At the moment I’m on a dairy-style-writing high!

I’m currently reading “Spud – Learning to Fly” and I find John van de Ruit so hilarious, at times I have to put the book down and just laugh. I grew up reading The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend so moving to Spud was only a natural progression J

I’d dedicated to reading a hundred pages of Spud a day so I could finish the book in a week but as I was half way, a friend of mine told me about a blog called **Zulu Girl Goes 2 JHB which I decided to check out, little did I know that I would be so consumed I would sacrifice my sleep to read up to the last chapter. You know that saying “The pen is mightier than the sword”? Well this blog has taken that to another level! In just under two weeks the blog as gone viral! Do not underestimate the power of social media! The issues covered have sparked discussions, some are angry, others emotional and others agitated. It speaks of the reality that we live in and will probably make a lot of parents uncomfortable about sending their daughters off to Johannesburg to study. Tomorrow morning (28 April) the author will be interviewed on Talk Radio 702 (92.7fm) so hopefully then we can all get a better understanding of how this whole concept came about?

The reason why this particular blog (Zulu Girl Goes 2 JHB ) caught my attention was because this very blog that I started was not only to share my experiences but also to keep my creative juices flowing while I work on my book which I was (or am?) hoping to get published in the near future which follows the same premise as Zulu Girl Goes 2 JHB but only half as crude and controversial. But after reading Zulu Girl Goes 2 JHB I looked at my manuscript which I’ve been working on since 2009 and thought to myself:

SHOULD I EVEN BOTHER FINISHING IT??

*“You use this proverb to say that you can solve problems or achieve your purpose better and more effectively through communication with words than by violence with weapons. Edward George Bulwer Lytton (1803-1873), an English novelist, wrote this for the first time in 1839. He wrote, ‘Beneath the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier than the sword.’” (http://oels.byu.edu/student/idioms/proverbs/the_pen.html)

**Zulu Girl Goes 2 JHB can be found on the following link: http://diaryofazulugirl.tumblr.com/

I feel the need to add the disclaimer: Read at your own risk! Not for sensitive readers!

Project: Happyness

HAPPY NEW YEAR…ummm…I think?

This post is long over due, but better late than never they say...

Introducing; Project Happyness J

This is an initiative I took on at the beginning of the year from something I saw while trotting around the bloggosphere.

Life can sometimes be so overwhelming! The bad things take it upon themselves to happen all at the same time. The WRONG time! We wallow in our sorrows and forget about our blessings, yet we have so much more to be grateful for!

I started my jar of blessings & happyness in the beginning year. It's looking a little bleak appearance-wise but I'm working on "prettyfying" it.

Here are some pretty neat ones I found on the net for inspiration...

I’m challenging YOU to make 2013 your year of gratitudeJ

Peace. Love. And happyness...

Zee

Follow your heart...

A friend of mine got his third degree yesterday. I will not mention his name but those who know me and know him will know that this is about him.

Over the years we've drifted apart and somehow, somewhere along the line we reunite. No matter how far the silence periods are apart when we do communicate it's as if the gaps were never there.

I met Friend in 2006, he was young, doing well, stayed in the Jhb northern suburbs, drove a nice car and had a comfortable job there at Bank City in town. He had an intriguing and inquisitive mind, he was smart and arrogant and the ladies loved him.

2007/08 he gave it all up to follow one of his many passions; journalism. He told me he wanted to work for nobody but The M&G. He became a full time student, initially staying at res then home then commuted by bus. I remember one of his former "admirers" telling what a joke it was that he came from a sports car to no car at all. She laughed. She didn't know. Great things awaited for this young man and she had no idea.

During his time as a Wits Journalism Post Graduate student he did well, naturally, enjoyed his craft and even wrote for the institution's newspaper. After graduating he went on to write for The M&G, like he had said he would.

While working as a journalist, his other passion surfaced its head. You see, in the early stages of our friendship, he told me he would one day become I judge. It was in passing so I didn't really take it seriously, I mean, I wanted to be Will Smith's housewife but some things are better left off as fairytales, you know? Turns out this dream wasn't far fetched at all. So he gave it all up. Again. And enrolled at Wits Law School as a full time student. This time he told me he wanted to work for a certain leading African law firm I will stick to naming "BG" (you never know with these law people, one mention and I find myself in jail, no thanks). Guess what? Yesterday he got his Law Degree after 3 years> His third degree and next year he will be at that very firm, like he had said.

It really sounds like a movie now that I think of it. I know he was working on an autobiography a couple of years ago and I really hope he sees it through because such a story should not go untold. I may have watered it down a bit but the message is clear; if you really set your MIND to it, you can ACHIEVE it, corny as it sounds, it's true and Friend is proof.

Now Friend may either love me or loathe me for putting his life out there like this, but if he ever happens to come across this blog post, I'll just deny it was about him...unless he likes it, of course!

A series of unfortunate events

You know what I feel like right now? I feel like going back to my childhood and smacking myself every time I played house or anything resembling being an adult. I don’t know why we were in such a rush to grow up because being an adult actually comes with this big and nasty incurable disease called “RESPONIBILITY” and ever since I started working it seems to be growing like a big fat wart on my face that won’t go away! I’ve had a couple of incidents in the past couple of months that are constant reminders, painful lessons if you must, that teach me to up my responsibility game…

Rewind to December 2011, I had barely stayed a week in my pretty two bedroom apartment in Cape Town northern suburbs when I came home from work to find that my place had got broken into and my laptop and professional camera were gone. I called the police, who came promptly after an hour at most, no finger prints were detected and I did not know the serial numbers of either of the stolen goods. Neither of the two were insured.

Lesson 1:

·         Always make sure all windows and doors are closed when leaving the house.

·         Insure all valuable items.

·         Thieves don’t care how long it took you to save up, so you can buy yourself these luxury wants.

I cried and got over it and one of the policemen who had come to take the statement asked for my friend’s BBM pin. A month later I replaced my stolen camera with a big and better one…

June 2012, exactly 6 months after my thieving incident, I’m driving out of a hotel parking lot, talking and laughing with my friend and in the process bump a tree. My bumper and spotlight came off. Did I freak out? No. Insurance was going to pay for it! Surely after paying R1250 a month for the past eight months meant everything was covered…or so I thought. After going to the police station to fill in an incident form, I called my insurance broker, Alexander Forbes at the time and sent in all other necessary documents. Everything went well, I took my car to a dealership approved panel beater and got quoted a hefty amount of R7500, but I didn’t freak out because my insurance had me covered. I joyfully sent in the quote and a rental was delivered to me. I was sorted. And then, while diligently completing my daily tasks at work, I get a call from Alexander Forbes demanding me to return the rental and notifying me that I would be covering the repairs myself because I had breached some part of the contract (one vital sentence I had overlooked). By this time my car had already been fixed. They waited a whole four days to tell me this? On top of it all the lady who spoke to me was unbelievingly rude about it. I was fuming and was not going to go down without a fight, so I went onto Hello Peter and lodged a complaint. Ultimately, A.Forbes paid 40% of the cost and I covered the rest.

Lesson 2:

·         Be vigilant when moving out of tight parking spots, especially if they are in close proximity to stationary objects.

·         Read every line of your insurance contract before signing

August 2012, excited to start practising on my camera after an insightful photography class at Vega, I made a quick stop by Chicken Licken to get some hot wings. When I got home, I opened my boot and my camera was gone! I did the usual; made an incident report and called my insurance. You see, after my first camera being stolen, I made sure that this one got insured. All was good until I got a call back from my insurance broker, now Budget Insurance (I was so angry with Alexander Forbes, I changed) telling me that they would not be covering my loss as there was no forced sign of break in. See what had happened is that the thieves sent ‘signals’ to my car that blocked the lock, so when I thought I had locked, I actually hadn’t (this is the simplest way I can explain it). Anyway, because I had been through my contract thoroughly, I caught them out and they ended up paying 50% for a mistake they had made. Based on this I should’ve stayed with Budget Insurance, they’re a decent bunch, but I have since moved to Outsurance.

Lesson 3:

Always double check your doors after locking your car

October 2012, just over a month after moving back to Jhb, I wake up and the cap of my review mirror on the passenger’s side is gone. There are no other signs of damage. Till this day I have no idea how this came about but suspect it may have been stolen while I was at Fourways Mall the previous day. Next day I take the car to a dealership, I mean, it’s just the cover, it can’t cost me that much! When I get there I’m quoted an estimate of R2600. I nearly fainted, told them I would go home and think about it. After several phone calls to panel beaters all over Jhb, my only option was the dealership as the panel beaters don’t have this part. I decided to go back to the dealership, this time I was quoted a whooping R4800! Now I am driving around with a review mirror that has wires sticking out, looking like a reckless driver (or possibly even a thief)! It shall remain like this till I sum up the courage to cough up that amount.

The mystery of the missing mirror cap

Lesson 4:

 I have learnt no lesson here but that cars are such an expense and that if I was born in another era, it probably would have been cheaper to repair a donkey (plus donkeys don’t need petrol to keep going)!

Honestly, I’m tired of this growing up business! I’m tired of being taught lessons and I’m tired of Responsibility! Seriously, I want out, where’s the Suggestion Box???