The whole goal of contrarian living has been to learn by standing on shoulder of giants. In this quest to deepen my learning, I think it’s time to dive deep into the lives of people who have taken road less traveled. This week, I spent time learning about the life of Haruki Murakami. Even read his memoir for the second time “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” and went deep into the rabbit hole called the internet to learn more about him.
The Life Of Murakami
“Most of what I know about writing, I’ve learned through running every day.”
You may be familiar with the work of Murakami. A writer, runner and an amazing thinker. He has written more than 25 books during his lifetime and has run at-least one marathon every year from the age of 33. Not to mention many ultra marathons.
Before turning into a full time writer, he was running a successful bar with his wife. He spent 10 years running the bar. One day while watching a baseball match, he suddenly realised that he could write a novel. That’s when his writing journey started.
After a couple of successful novels, he decided to take up writing full time. He then sold his bar to focus on writing full time despite have a huge debt in hand. He is someone who believed in living a systems based life and never committing less than 100% to any of his endeavors. He is someone who never liked to do things halfheartedly and have regrets.
"I Knew that if I did things halfheartedly and they didn't work out, I'd always have regrets."
Desire & Motivation Are Important For Good Behavior
Murakami used to smoke almost sixty cigarettes a day during his time running a restaurant. As he started writing and enjoying the process, he realised that writing was something he wanted to do for a long time for which he had make sure that he lived longer. Smoking had to go.
He started running. Over time, his desire to run grew stronger as well. He knew he had to quit smoking to run longer distances. To replace poor habits, you need to build newer habits. I recently learnt about the Fogg Behavior Model. As per this model, for any behavior to happen, you need three things. Motivation, Ability and Desire. Murakami had each of the three working in his favor. He was successfully able to get rid of smoking and replaced it with running and living a healthier lifestyle.
Thoughts On Competition
Long term success is only possible if you focus on yourself rather than your neighbor. Take the example of any successful investor, artist, or sportsman who have been able to post successful results repeatedly over longer time frames. They focused on improving themselves every day. Murakami followed a similar strategy.
Be it his writing or running long distance, or even competing in triathlons, Murakami never competed. He only cared about meeting the standards and goals he set for himself. He focused on improving himself each day.
Consistency Is Key
Murakami is a living example of the 10,000 hours rule popularised by Malcom Gladwell in book “Outliers” in which he noted that the key to achieve expertise in any skill is to practice for at-least 10,000 hours. Murakami has run more than 25 marathons and many ultra marathons in his life time. He has published more than 25 books so far. Such results are not achieved without having systems built in life. Murakami had a few rules for himself when it came to running and writing -
He made a rule to never take two days off in a row from running.
"Running every day is like a lifeline for me, so I'm not going to layoff or quit just because I am busy. I only have a few reasons to keep running and a truckload of them to quit"
He never walked during a run. Even when he ran ultra marathons.
"I stopped a lot to stretch, but I never walked. I didn't come here to walk. I came to run."
He would make sure that he got 30 to 40 miles of running every week.
“Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest.”
He writes for four to six hours a day. During his writing time, no one could disturb him.
He would wake up before sun rise and sleep before 10.
He believes that the first most important thing for a writer is talent. The second and third most important things are focus and endurance. You can have a lot of talent and great ideas but without focus and endurance, they are just “ideas”. Writing and running every day for more than three decades requires exceptional focus.
Further, in order to keep the rhythm going, he would stop running or writing at the point at which he felt he could do more of it.He believes that it is important for long term projects. The flywheel needs to continue at a set motion.
Living A Good Life
He has always believed in living a life with clear goals than living in a fog. His goals were simple. One marathon every year. Living a natural life. Building indispensable relationship with his readers.
Ever heard of 1,000 true fans written by Kevin Kelly? Murakami has followed this rule even since he started writing. He has focused to write for the one reader out of ten who would read his repeat work. That’s been his focus all his life. To write for one person who would read all of his writings.
He enjoys being alone. He makes sure that he spends the hour or two running everyday and his four to six hours of writing time alone. I believe it’s important to learn to live alone if you want to accomplish something signficant in your life. Warren Buffet is a classic example who sits in his office alone and reads. He has been doing this for decades.
Good Reads
The Underground Worlds Of Haruki Murakami
When I’m running, I’m just running. I empty my mind. I have no idea what I’m thinking while I’m running. Maybe nothing. But, you know, you have to be tough to write for a long time. To write one book is not so difficult, but to keep writing for many years is very close to impossible. You need the power of concentration and endurance. I sometimes write very unhealthy things. Weird things. Twisted things. I think you have to be very healthy if you want to write unhealthy things. That’s a paradox, but it’s true. Some writers led very unhealthy lives—like Baudelaire. But, in my opinion, those days are gone. This is a very complicated world, and you have to be strong to survive, to get through the chaos. I became a writer when I was thirty years old, and I started running when I was thirty-two or thirty-three. I decided to start running every day because I wanted to see what would happen. I think life is a kind of laboratory where you can try anything. And in the end I think it was good for me, because I became tough.
When I Write Fiction I Go To Weird, Secret Places In Myself
I’m a realistic person, a practical person, but when I write fiction I go to weird, secret places in myself. What I am doing is an exploration of myself – inside myself. If you close your eyes and dive into yourself you can see a different world. It’s like exploring the cosmos, but inside yourself. You go to a different place, where it’s very dangerous and scary, and it’s important to know the way back.
The Fierce Imagination of Haruki Murakami (Highly recommended)
“Concentration is one of the happiest things in my life,” he said. “If you cannot concentrate, you are not so happy. I’m not a fast thinker, but once I am interested in something, I am doing it for many years. I don’t get bored. I’m kind of a big kettle. It takes time to get boiled, but then I’m always hot.”
Writing Advice From Haruki Murakami
When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at four a.m. and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for ten kilometers or swim for fifteen hundred meters (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at nine p.m. I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind. But to hold to such repetition for so long—six months to a year—requires a good amount of mental and physical strength. In that sense, writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.
When I Run I Am In A Peaceful Place
I am convinced that artists who lead an unhealthy life burn out more quickly. Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin were the heroes of my youth -- all of them died young, even though they didn’t deserve to. Only geniuses like Mozart or Pushkin deserve an early death. Jimi Hendrix was good, but not so smart because he took drugs. Working artistically is unhealthy; an artist should lead a healthy life to make up for it. Finding a story is a dangerous thing for an author; running helps me to avert that danger.
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Take care and stay safe.
The Simple Life Of Haruki Murakami
Excellent work
Brilliant write-up !!