Achieve Big Goals
A blueprint from the man who cycled alone 3,257km from Musina to Cape Town for 10,000 school shoes.
Hi—I'm Vusi Sindane
- Husband (19yrs) and father
- Former C-Suite executive (quit in 2022)
- Master's student in Applied Ethics (Wits)
- Cycled unassisted from Musina to Cape Town (2023)
- Software engineer and founder of skybookings.com
In 2022 I left corporate to take back control of my life. In 2023 I cycled the length of South Africa for 10,000 school shoes. Upon return, I built skybookings.com from R0 with no funding, launched it in 2024 and we are projecting over R5m revenue by September 2025. I am also a master’s candidate in applied ethics at Wits. It boils down to a blueprint I learned from a family that hosted me when cycling through the Eastern Cape — a system I will share with you in the article below.
The Mission Impossible Blueprint
This is a summary of the blueprint. For a breakdown, please scroll down.
Seek out individuals at the pinnacle of success in your area of interest. The person who inspired me before I cycled from Musina to Cape Town was Mark Beaumont, who cycled from Cairo to Cape Town in 41 days to break a world record. His book, Africa Solo, is what switched the lights on for me.
So, go out and find your hero. Avoid super famous people about whom a lot is written. Find people whose stories are not so popular, that way you get real stories, often directly from them.
You cannot repeat their achievements. While this is sometimes possible, it is not the point. The goal is to learn their routines, mindset and way of thinking, rather than to be like them.
In my case, I thought if Mark could cycle 11,000km from Cairo to Cape Town, crossing 8 countries in 41 days, surely I could cycle the length of one country — my country — about 1800km, where there were no language barriers, wars or big logistical and medical risks.
Before starting on your mission, conduct a thorough analysis of potential challenges. The system I created, which you can read more about below, is to draw up an upside-down pyramid and divide it into three parts.
Part 1 (at the bottom): Identify factors that could kill you or put you in great danger
Part 2 (middle): Recognise obstacles that might derail your mission. While these may not kill you per se, they will certainly end the mission if they happen.
Part 3 (top): List all the things that are not mission-critical, but will certainly make life miserable.
Review your risk pyramid, starting at the bottom. Find as many ways as possible to reduce the risks. This could mean changing your mission to avoid things that could kill you, or carrying additional equipment for mission-critical risks.
In my case, I spent months doing research and used social media to find people who had cycled from Musina to Cape Town before. Many were happy to help, provide tips and donate equipment.
Ultimately, what began as a 1,800 km mission from Musina to Cape Town became a 3,257 km journey because my route completely changed owing to risk adjustments and new information I received.
This is the hardest part of the mission. Forget about naysayers. Forget about being ready with everything needed. So long as your major risk areas are taken care of, get started.
A break down of the blueprint
Dear Achiever,
Before we get started…
> People have said I should write a book about my cycling journey. So, I thought about starting with this 7-10 min article. Take your time. If you’re in a rush, keep the link open and come back to it later.
> Also, towards the end of the article, I will make you an offer if you want to work with me. But if you look at the length of the article, you’ll know that I will share as much as practically possible in this format. So, grab your notebook and coffee.
> I use personal stories to share important ideas, but this is not about me.
I hope this will be one of the most transformative articles you’ve read in a long time. So let’s get started…
why are you here?
Maybe you’re just curious.
Maybe a friend brought you here.
Maybe you’re tired of spinning your wheels.
Maybe you’ve tried writing down your goals, and that doesn’t seem to work
(I don’t know… but)
I think it’s because deep down, you know you have the potential. I also think you know that life is easier at the top than in the middle or the bottom. It’s probably worse in the middle!
You also know that top achievers have access to doors that others do not know exist. When you are average you have to chase people. When you’re a top achiever, you’re chased, and your biggest problem is learning to say no.
So how do we get there?
- You don’t need another list,
- Another hack
- Another motivational youtube clip
No, you need a system — something easy to follow and repeatable. You need a blueprint.
So, I will share my blueprint, the same one I used to cycle across the country, and build skybookings.com from nothing to where we are now, projecting R5 million by September 2025.
But before we get to the system, let me tell you how I stumbled upon it. It came together bit by bit over several years — It’s actually a crazy story, and you’ll love it.
Okay, rewind to 2016.
(…by the way, what were you doing in 2016, and how have things changed since then?)
My uncle was trying to lose weight — he’s still trying to lose weight today 😪 — anyway, so he bought a bicycle. The bike was uncomfortable for him, so he borrowed another one from a friend.
With two bikes, he asked me to join him. Easy.
3km later, trying climbing up hill, I was on the ground at someone’s gate, gasping for air. Dogs barking and rattling the gate. Lights out. My uncle, who was twice my weight, had to cycle back to get me.
I became a laughing stock for weeks. I was the guy who couldn’t even cycle 3km!
My bruised ego wouldn’t let me give up. I had to show them! So, I kept cycling.
….8km (by week 3)
………13km (by week 4)
…………..22km (by week 6)
Progress
After about two month, I went to our cycling shop for maintenance. I asked the guys how far they cycled — you see the confidence had come back! The shop owner shouting from the other side of the store said, “We have a group. We cycle about 40km every morning!”
Damn! “How on earth did they do that?”
As it turned out, they were using road bikes (the ones with the thin wheels) and they wore proper cycling lights — light, fast, aerodynamic — while I was on a cheap mountain bike, heavy as a truck, and catching wind like a parachute.
I saved up and got my first road bike and some gear. Just like that, I was cycling 40-50km on Saturdays or Sundays. It was a leap frog!
Eight months later I was invited to a race — 94km across Johannesburg. Of course, I was ready! Or so I thought.
I became one of the guys pushing their bikes up a hill while watching others glide up. Again, I wondered how on earth they did it.
I picked up cycling magazines and blogs and learned that diet was the key. There was a science behind eating, you see…
Bear with me here — this is crucial because it leads to the system I’m about to share
Our muscles are like batteries that store energy.💪🏾 Training makes the batteries bigger and more efficient. But imagine entering a race with a big battery that’s not fully charged. Pointless!
So, here’s the insight…
When you’re fit, your muscles carry about 3hrs worth of fuel. That’s why cyclists and runners eat lots of carbohydrates the night before (pasta, rice, pap, potatoes, etc.). It fills up their batteries. Then an hour or so before riding, they eat another mountain of carbs. This is like holding the next 2hrs of fuel in the stomach (like a power bank) — totalling 5hrs of fuel.
Then, as they cycle and use up the fuel in their muscles, the fuel in their stomach is digested and pumped to the muscles as well. Meanwhile, they snack on bananas, energy drinks, and so on — adding even more fuel.
So, you see? Cycling long distances has nothing to do with fitness (at some point). It has more to do with understanding how the body creates energy.
This became a massive lesson that I applied elsewhere, especially in my business.
Let me distill the lesson.
Top achievers have a blueprint. It usually has nothing to do with talent, individual brilliance or magic. It’s usually a system, a science, a code — it’s something repeatable, something you too could do, if only you knew what it was.
> WARNING: YouTube will give you parts of the blueprint, a bit like jigsaw a puzzle with missing pieces. This makes it difficult to achieve full transformation in minimum time without getting lost first, switching from one YouTuber to the next, sometimes with contradicting information.
> WARNING 2: Chat GPT is probably worse because it lacks lived experiences. As a software engineer with 24 years experience, I can say with authority — Chat GPT is a statistical average of what everyone on the internet posted in a given topic. So, it lacks nuance. I would say stay way from it until you know what you’re doing and you’re using it to refine your ideas.
> WARNING 3: What you need is a Mentor. But sometimes, especially older mentors, can be stuck in their ways and you could end up following an old rusty system that only works if you are privileged or have advantages like them.
> SOLUTION: What you need a meta-system; a system for developing systems.
This sounds complicated, I know, but it’s super easy. Let me break it down for you.
Cycling from Musina to Cape Town put me in the top 1% of cyclists in South Africa. But it was far easier than people think — surprisingly easier as you will soon find out.
So, here’s the blueprint
:: just thinking… You know what’s great? The people who are too lazy to read won’t even get to this point of the article. So, already you are ahead of 80% of the crowd, just by getting to this point of the article.
(anyway)
Here’s my system. It’s in parts, which I will share step by step, so bear with me.
Here are steps 1 and 2.
1. FIND THE TOP 1%
2. DO 10% OF WHAT THEY DID
This is counter intuitive, but here me out.
After I figured out the nutrition system for cycling, I stumbled upon Mark Beaumont, the man who cycled from Cairo to Cape Town — alone (no team, no assistance). INSANE!!
Then I learned he cycled around the world ALONE —— LIKE, TRIPLE INSANE!
I watched his documentary on YouTube (they have since taken it down), and bought his book — Africa Solo.
While reading his book, I was slowly convinced that what he did was not magic. He had a system he repeated every day, and I could copy it.
So, I thought to myself, if he could cycle 11,000 km across 8 countries in 41 days, on a foreign continent surely I could cycle the length of 1 country, where I knew the language — about 1800km from Musina to Cape Town — right?
RIGHT!
IN CASE YOU’RE NOT FOLLOWING. HERE’S THE BIG INSIGHT.
It’s about being at the bottom of the top 1%. This still makes you better than 90% and it’s far easier than being at the top of the top 1%
You see, I’m not the best cyclist in the country. I’m not the strongest; I’m not the fittest. But I’m among the few who cycled the length of the country unassisted.
But remember I said it was easier than you think — here’s another insight.
>>back to the story…
I started mapping my journey on Google Maps. When I told my family and friend, everyone thought I was crazy, and that I would be run over by taxis and trucks, or get robbed — “This is South Africa bro” one friend told me.
They asked questions I couldn’t answer, which crushed my spirit. Sadly, I set the project aside for 7 years.
But during that time, the dream was planted and was slowly growing like a seed in fertile soil. Eventually, I quit my corporate job in 2022 (for other reasons) and the first thing I wanted to do was fulfil my dream.
First, I did the obvious.
I knew I needed to get fit — by then I was super unfit (eating corporate junk food and hardly exercising, stuck in boardrooms, pushing papers and kind regards) and I didn’t even have a bicycle anymore. I had even developed asthma.
So I started running every day whatever distance I could manage. The distance did not matter. Showing up every day mattered.
I started all over again, this time running and walking…
… 500m (week 1-2)
…… 2km (week 2 – 5)
………. 6km ( week 6 – 8)
After about 2 months I was running 7-10km per day. (Sounds familiar right?) Start where you are with what you have.
But I was a bit smarter this time. I knew about blueprints and codes. I knew I didn’t want to run marathons. So, I looked up ultrarunners (top 1% of runners), read up on their journeys and tried to figure out what they did that others did not do.
One thing I learned is that trail running is better for your joints than running on the road (flat surface) because you make a different impact with every step — so, I started running on different terrain, sometimes covering 20km, followed by yoga stretching exercises to void injuries.
By month 3 of consistent running and walking I could run 15km, have a meeting, and then run 15km home.
Now… before we go to part 2. Let’s summarise.
Step 1. Find the top 1% of the people you want to be like.
Step 2. Do 10% of what they do to download their blueprint (not to be like them)
Go it? Great… (moving on)
Now, here’s part 2: Sizing up the mission
I knew what I wanted to do was risky. In fact, getting robbed, getting run over by a taxi or a truck was real. Moreoever, running into medical problem was just as possible. So, I needed to size up the mission.
- I listed all the things that could kill me.
- I listed all the things that would not kill me, but could end the mission.
- I listed all the things that would not end the mission, but could make my life difficult on the mission
As it turned out, there was a pattern. Here it is.
(1) the things that could kill me were small in number and happened infrequently. I could reduce the risk of them happening with big picture planning — I’ll get to this in a moment.
(2) the things that could ruin the mission were more in number, but they were preventable.
(3) the things that could make my life difficult were plenty in number, and required discipline to avoid them.
So, I turned the mission into an inverted triangle (like the one you see below).
THE KILLERS: I also learned that when cycling long distances, there’s hardly any traffic. So, the risk of being run over or getting robbed was smaller than I thought. Also, I would be safer travelling alone than in a group to avoid car accidents. This was counterintuitive, but it’s big-picture thinking. Just looking at the facts reveals the insights.
THE SERIOUS: I also shifted my plan from cycling on main roads and highways to cycling along towns where there were likely people, clinics or medical help nearby. That’s why I cycled over 3000km instead of 1800km — the distance from Musina to Cape Town with a car. I carried extra mechanical gear, water bottles, a tent and a sleeping bag in case I got stranded.
THE AVOIDABLE: I also developed a daily routine like sleeping at 7 pm, doing yoga before sleeping, and starting the day at 4 pm (a) to leave busy towns before traffic started, and (b) to get as much daylight as possible to solve problems that could arise.
In other words, I took the risk profile and de-risked it as much as possible. That’s another massive lesson: It sounds glorious to take on a massive risk, but it’s dumb. Successful people do the opposite — they derisk derisk derisk!
By the time I was ready to cycle, everyone thought I was on a suicide mission, but I knew that, as much as possible, anyone could do what I was planning if they had my blueprint.
What happened next on the journey was pure magic. Many people showed up, helped me on the way, prepared meals, offered water, and accommodation, serviced my bicycle, all of which made the journey even easier. Above all, my wife became my copilot — on the phone — fielding calls from the media and coordinating with people, while my kids became social media managers! Who would have known? It all worked out perfectly, as if I had done it before.
Of course, I would not have known about the magical things that would happen, but I was prepared for the worst.
You see? I developed a blueprint, a system, a code. Crucially, it’s not a cycling blueprint — it’s a blueprint for everything! It’s a meta-blueprint.
Let’s summarise
STEP 1: Find the top 1% in your chosen field.
STEP 2: Aim to do 10% of what they did. This is so you can download their blueprint. Remember, this will also put you above 90% but at the bottom of the top 1% — a great place to be, where you will get lots of support from a new circle of influence, while rising above the rest.
STEP 3: Size up your mission. What will kill you? What will end your mission? What will make life difficult?
STEP 4: De-Risk, De-Risk, De-risk
Design your mission to avoid unnecessary risks (but don’t downsize it); de-risking it might even make the mission bigger.
Now… for step 5.
It’s cliché 🙄, but the reason it’s a cliche because almost everyone gets stuck here.
I got stuck here for 7 years.
When you’re satisfied with your blueprint to step 4, get started!
Remember what happened when I told friends and family? But the second time around — because of following the blueprint steps — my conviction was impenetrable. I was going to do it, rain or shine.
So, I asked a friend to drop me off at the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa. 40 days later, he picked me up in Cape Town. A dream accomplished — a man transformed.
I was invited by professional soccer players, Tour de France cyclists, radio stations, newspapers, dined with the biggest fundraisers in the country, and invited to talks by some of the biggest companies in the country.
Best of all, I raised money for 3,500 pairs of school shoes as I write — and broke into new circles of influence.
So, STEP 5 (the most underrated): Get Started. Once you have the blueprint, forget about the journey. Just started…
Then the magic happens...
When you dare to do crazy things, crazy things happen.
- Doors you never thought existed open
- People in high places call you (not the other way around)
- You get new opportunities
- You tap into a new circle of influence
- You carry weight — you matter.
Now it’s your turn.
If you still need clarity or more info, you might appreciate a workbook I created in response to many people asking how I did it.
While I’ve shared the core blueprint with you, the Workbook creates exercises and walks you through the journey in much greater detail. It’s a tool you can use for months — it’s what I still use.
Here are examples of topics covered in the workbook.
Example 1: Choosing a Mission
Choosing a mission can be chaotic. You have to make trade-offs in other areas of life: personal, professional, recreational, spiritual, and so on. How do you make these big life choices without destroying your family or career? The Achiever Workbook decodes this problem and shares a system you can use.
I’ll be honest. I made some mistakes in this area, and I documented them in the Workbook so you can avoid them.
Example 2: Types of Goals
There are different kinds of goals.
- Type A: My goal of cycling from Musina to Cape Town was what I call an individual goal — achieving it depended on my willingness to keep going.
- Type B: Raising money for school shoes was a social goal — it depended on other people’s buy-in
These two types of goals require a different approach. In the Achiever Workbook, I decode both types of goals and give you tools for achieving them — they are very different, and not knowing the difference could have you spinning your wheels and putting in lots of effort without getting results.
Example 3: Fear vs Danger
There’s a fine line between fear and danger. The problem is we experience both in more or less the same way —fear, excuses, procrastination, reluctance, lack of confidence.
The Workbook deals with this problem and gives real examples — e.g. when I cycled 24km in a mountain with leopards — and helps to assess situations in a way that separates fear and danger.
BUT I AM NERVOUS SHARING THIS. Here’s why
I wrote the workbook a year ago, but it’s been sitting on my hard drive.
I’ve been nervous about releasing it. What if you think it’s trash? Will my system work for you? What happens if it doesn’t work for you?
You see? These feelings never go away, but I remembered that I have a blueprint — so, I’ve been studying the best authors and teachers, and all I want to do is 10% of what they did…
Starting with making a risky offer (for me)…
How would you feel about downloading my Workbook today for R500? Would it be worth it?
Okay, let’s scratch that! How about you download it today, and review it for 7 days and if you only if are satisfied, pay R250.
So, pay half price if (and only if) you are happy.
This means all the risk is on me to deliver upfront.
But I’ll ask for one thing.
To reduce admin, I’ll ask for your payment details, but worry not — you will only be charged in 7 days, after the trial if you do not cancel.
Plus, I will not have your payment details directly. I use paystack, a reputable online payment provider approved by all South African banks, Visa and Mastercard, that processes online payments. With your permission, they will schedule a payment to go off after 7 days.
Plus, after downloading the book, you will get a link to cancel the scheduled payment. If you go through the workbook and find it’s not worth it, just hit the cancel link within the next 7 days and you will not be charged a cent.
Still have doubts? Here’s a personal bonus
You see, I know that the internet is a wild and unforgiving place. So…
If you take the offer today, you will also have access to me on email.
This will not always be the case because I am building a startup and getting busier by the day. I also plan on more adventures. So I will be unreaching, and the opportunity will be frankly gone! But I’ve set aside some time now as part of launching this workbook — take advantage of it.
That means after downloading the workbook, you will get my personal email address and I will be on stand by to clarify any confusions or guide you along the way.
Please note: The price of the workbook will automatically go up to R500 per copy when we get to 100 downloads. Be advised that I have a WhatsApp group with over 150 fans who followed my cycling journey; and over 1,000 readers in my email list.
So, don’t delay. If you are seeing this message it means you still have a chance. But If you try to come back next month, next week or who knows, maybe in a day or so, you might unnecessarily miss a 50% discount and pay double — which would be a shame.
So… let’s get going.
I’ve lined up some extra bonuses… keep reading
What do I get?
- 5 day guided email course
- PDF The Achiever - download now
- PDF The Leap - download now
- Email support with Vusi Sindane
Get inspired, get prepared, get the tools. Achieve your wildest goals
This button will give you full access to all the content after entering your payment details. You’ll have a link to cancel your trial before 7 days and be charged nothing. No strings attached.
I will be the first to admit it. I used to write down my tasks and goals everyday and watch my list grow. Then I started another one, but that one also grew from a to do list to a list of things I have not done — a failure list.
I was lucky to meet a mentour who changed my perspective. He asked me a question that transformed my thinking about goal-setting and gave me the blueprint and courage I used to cycle from Musina to Cape Town.
Day 1 Takeaway: A new way of thinking about goals and tasks. It's actually not about the goal. It's about what comes before setting a goal.
When cycling from Musina to Cape Town, I had two goals. The first was cycling, and the second was raising money for 10,000 school shoes.
I was hosted by a wealthy family in Plettenberg Bay who pointed out that these are two entirely different goals and that achieving them required a different approach. Their insights led to raising hundreds of thousands that you will find transformative.
Day 2 Takeaway: Two types of goals that require a different approach to achieving them.
Nothing wastes time more than working on the wrong tasks. But which tasks should you prioritise? How do you choose between urgent and important? What if you don't have money to delegate?
Day three is all about organising tasks and choosing one. But not just choosing randomly—it's about choosing the task that will make the biggest difference.
Day 3 Takeaway: Organising tasks and choosing the most effective ones.
Procrastination and persistence are biggest enemies of getting things done.
As you can imagine, there are some days I did not want to wake up and cycle. It was even harder during training.
On day 4, I will teach you a hack I learned from my coach. It has to do with a discovery scientists made from studying parole judges back in the 1800s.
Once you learn this little hack, you will consistently beat procrastinating and never fall off the wagon.
Day 4 Takeaway: A little hack to beat procrastination and become more consistent.
Working with others introduces another dynamic. Instead of depending on yourself to get things done, you have to depend on others as well.
This section introduces team dynamics and what it takes to set and achieve goals in groups— a truly transformative skill.
Day 5 Takeaway: The secret to setting goals in a team. A reliable method for getting things done as a group.
This button will give you full access to all the content after entering your payment details. You’ll have a link to cancel your trial before 7 days and be charged nothing. No strings attached.
Frequently asked questions
This course is for anyone who knows that have the potential and the commitment to make a transformation. Vusi will give you a goal-setting system you can use to think about, organise, and achieve your goals.
This is not a motivational course. If you still need to be convinced that your goals are important, and that working towards them will have a transformative impact on your life, then this course is not for you.
This is based on experience from someone who has done something. It is based on tools that are proven to have worked — not theoretically, but in a real-world journey where the stakes are high.
I am 40 years old, married 12 years and been with my wife for 19 years.
I started selling things in primary school and became a software developer in high school. My career has been a mix of building and launching my own software and consulting for large companies.
In 2016, I transitioned from software development to a management and leadership role where I took a full time employment role for the first time. I became the Group COO of 16 companies by 2019, leading operations of R150m a year and contributing to projects worth R2bn.
In 2022, I quit the corporate world — because I hated the scheming and politics — and took a sabbatical, cycling 3,257km across South Africa to raise funds for 10,000 school shoes.
The journey taught me vital lessons, which I am now dedicated to imparting to other people. Goal-setting is among the critical lessons learned, and it would be a privilege to share it with you.
If you can answer yes to the following questions, then the course will work for you.
- Are you serious about persuing your goals?
- Have you tried and failed to achieve important goals?
- Are you swamped with tasks and task lists?
- Do you feel like you're working very hard, but not making enough progress?
- Are you trying to find a better way of working?
If your answer is yes to all of the above, then this course is guaranteed to work for you.
Course: After signing up, you will receive Day 1. Then every day for the next 5 days you will receive another instalment.
1-on-1: You will also receive a link to my calendar to schedule a one on one session at a time that suits us both. You will notice that I charge R2,500 per session, but it will be at no additional charge for you.
Email Support: Throughout your course journey I will be available to answer questions you may have. This is another value-added bonus at no additional charge. Notice, that most online courses do not offer any support from the course-maker.
Chat GPT is probably a good resource if you are completely new to goal-setting.
However, the problem with Chat GPT is that it provides generic information. My goal will this course is to provide experience-based specialised content.
As I suggested earlier, this course is not for complete beginners. It is for people who have tried various goal-setting strategies and are now ready for a tried and tested way of thinking and approaching goals.
In short, you can ask for your money back anytime: whether after watching the first video or 10 years from now. Frankly, I do not want to work with sleezy people who just want a refund for unethical reasons. Secondly, if I did not deliver the value, I do not deserve to keep your hard-earned money. So, for me it's simple: anyone who wants a refund me get it—no questions asked.
