10 tips for success from Egyptian adventurer Omar Samra
Adventurer, entrepreneur and motivational speaker, Omar Samra is simply one of Egypt’s—and the Middle East’s—most inspirational personalities.
The 37-year-old is the first Egyptian to climb Mount Everest and the Seven Summits (which he completed in 2014) and to ski to the South and North Poles.
Here’s a snapshot of what he gets up to:
Omar also runs two businesses and a charity: Wild Guanabana, Rock 'n' Rope, and Marwa Fayed’s Toy Run. But ask him what he really wants to achieve, and he’ll tell you that it’s to help others. So what better way to spread his message than by offering a few dos and don’ts? He was happy to oblige.
1) It’s okay to be nervous.
Despite having been in the public eye for years, Omar told us that he still gets nervous before public speaking engagements. “I’m a very introverted person,” he said.
2) But it’s crucial to step outside of your comfort zone.
Omar soon realised that to achieve his goals, he had to do things that didn’t come naturally to him. “Back in 2007, when I decided I wanted to climb Mount Everest, I realised that to do it I had to raise a big sum of money. I realised that the only way to finance this and any other future project was to develop a public profile so that sponsors and companies would see value in supporting me, because obviously, it has to be of mutual benefit.”
3) Real success is achieved through hard work.
“I think the best thing that you can do is try and live every day as though it were your last, in the sense of waking up every day and trying to do your best. Work your hardest towards these goals,” he said.
“I think my real success has been my perseverance, because I have failed on many occasions, but I have learnt from these failures. You just sort of pick up the pieces and go at it again.”
4) Don’t be afraid to follow your heart.
“Your mind can only take you to the edge of the cliff, but to get to where you need to go, you need to have the faith to actually take that jump,” Omar said.
5) Life will test you.
“One of my most defining moments was three years ago, when my wife passed away. For me, that was a turning point where I had to make a decision: either crawl away and hide somewhere and remove myself from the world, so to speak, or to go completely the other way and make sure that my life meant something, and that during the time I was here I would make a positive change on society and perhaps even the world.”
“In the last two years, I’ve been to the South Pole, the North Pole, and recently I was appointed as a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, which opens so many possibilities for me to be able to make a change. My company is probably in a better shape than ever, plus I started a charity [Marwa Fayed’s Toy Run] that has now delivered over 100,000 toys to 10 different countries.”
6) Arab parents should look beyond the traditional doctor and engineer career choices.
“My advice,” he said, “is to allow [children] to make their own mistakes. I’ve personally learned more from my mistakes and just trying to figure it out on my own.”
7) Starting a business? Look for a partner.
“It’s a very lonely job as a founder of a company,” Omar said, “and so it’s important to be able to share that responsibility with somebody and have someone who can balance your skill sets.”
8) Don’t just do it for the money.
“I think entrepreneurs should be going into business out of passion and out of the belief that they can make a difference,” Omar said. “If they can make lots of money out of it, that’s great, but the objective needs to be to try and make the world a better place.”
9) It’s okay to have flaws.
Despite working on what seems like 101 projects at a time, Omar admits that he could improve his time management skills. “I always regard myself as being a little bit inefficient with my time. I always feel I could do more.”
10) It’s important to make time for yourself
“There’s one particular computer game that I’ve continued to play over the years called Civilization. It’s interesting—but it’s probably one of the reasons why I could be more efficient with my time.
Rachel McArthur