What Mo Salah can teach you about a great career

Like many people from all walks of life who have succeeded, Mo Salah used his passion for what he did to fuel the sacrifices that he had to make to reach the top, writes Younger Members London’s Jatinder Singh.

July 2018

Even if you aren’t a football fan, you have probably seen or heard the name Mo Salah mentioned across the media recently. The Egyptian striker plays for Liverpool FC in the Premier League and after an outstanding season, has defied all expectations to win the Golden Boot (an award given to the player who has scored the most number of goals in the season).

One of the biggest similarities in people that have succeeded at a high level in their career is the passion they have for what they do. As Salah said of his passion for football: “I first fell in love with football when I was a kid, around seven or eight years old. I remember watching the Champions League all the time and then trying to be like the Brazilian Ronaldo, Zidane and Totti when playing out in the street with my friends. I loved those kinds of players, players who played with magic.”

Mo Salah also had a powerful vision for his life. Even when he was young he dreamed of being a footballer and thought of nothing else: “...Since I started playing at 14, everything in my mind was about becoming a footballer. It was a question, ‘what will I be?’, but it was difficult to say because I had nothing else in my mind. If I was not a good football player, I am sure my life would be difficult now because I gave everything for football. When I look back, the memories of my time with Arab Contractors (his schoolboy team) are good ones. I was young and I had a dream.”

Like many people from all walks of life who have succeeded, Mo Salah used his passion for what he did to fuel the sacrifices that he had to make to reach the top.

Success requires us to be able to delay gratification in the moment for the things we want now in order to be able to achieve the things that mean the most to us later down the line. Mo Salah clearly represents someone with the strength of character to do this!

Jatinder Singh is member of Younger Members London

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