Q Life Magazine Q Magazine June 2019 | Page 36

| Issue 6 “I feel as though my experiences have really opened the world to me and I have learned how to appreciate the fundamental miracles around us.” Khalifa Al Misnad, Founding Partner at Al Misnad Law | Khalifa overlooks the dramatic canyons on a hike in Utah, United States many hobbies and I love to do it in Qatar, which has some of the best kitesurfing conditions in the world. How has the mix of being an entrepreneur, a creative, and sports fanatic made you into the person you are today? As a teenager, I played basketball for the Qatar National Team. Sports helped me to develop discipline, teamwork, leadership, and good health. I started my entrepreneurial journey while studying mechanical engineering and followed it up with a master’s degree in law, which taught me about perseverance and finding balance. I then worked as an in-house legal counsel for Qatar Petroleum, where I had the opportunity to travel. Through travel I picked up photography, which really taught me how to “frame” the world around me in a different way. 36 Now I’m getting back into competitive sports and have been running around the world – my last race was 190km in Qatar. I feel as though my experiences have really opened the world to me and I have learned how to appreciate the fundamental miracles around us. How can Qatari youth build a successful career, whilst also following their adventurous dreams? I do not believe that a career and an adventure should be looked at in isolation, and I have not followed a stereotypical career path. As humans we tend to follow the path of least resistance and often conform to external pressures. It’s important to challenge our assumptions, and to do so, we need to venture out of our comfort zones to connect with our raw selves. In Qatar today, we live extremely comfortable lives in comparison to our ancestors, and we need to make it a point to venture into the unknown to find the pearls.