UAE | Education
Students told to pursue their dreams
Success in life is not about generating money, said UAE Rally Champion Mohammad Bin Sulayem, while addressing students at the 19th Gulf Education and Training Exhibition (GETEX).
- By Reema Saffarini, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 April 14, 2007
Dubai: Success in life is not about generating money, said UAE Rally Champion Mohammad Bin Sulayem, while addressing students at the 19th Gulf Education and Training Exhibition (GETEX).
The education fair is held at the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre. It concludes today.
As one of the "career gurus" chosen to speak about his experience in sports and career opportunities in the field, the president of the Emirates Automobile and Touring Club received a lot of interest from students.
"I have spent 20 years in rally races. I used to think that my high school friends were the successful ones with all the money they were making, but it turned out I was the luckiest. It's not about the money. It's doing what you love," he said.
Coming from a political family - his father was Shaikh Rashid's advisor - Bin Sulayem said that taught him discipline.
Discipline
"What matters in the end are the manners that you learn at home and the discipline you acquire. Sitting at the Ruler's Court with my father, I used to just listen to what others say and that taught me a lot about dealing with people," he said.
Determination, however, is what is important when pursuing sports, according to Bin Sulayem.
Reminiscing on his childhood days, he said his passion for driving cars first started at the age 11 when he used to "take the car for a drive when the driver was sleeping".
However, despite his family's objection to the career path he chose for himself, Bin Sulayem said he persevered and pursued his passion until he succeeded. "Success comes with practice and determination. If you love something, give it your everything. Never start something then give up midway just because it is difficult," he said.
Bin Sulayem used examples from his life to illustrate that. He said after a car accident that left him almost paralysed, he still pursued his love for rally racing and was as a result named the Most Courageous Sportsman of 1988 by a French television channel.
Bin Sulayem added that education is a necessary ongoing process. "There is a saying that goes: youth is wasted on the young. A lot of young people these days think because they are good at something then they are the best and this is not true. You never stop learning and educating yourself," he said.
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