|E33| Shuwel talks: Leveraging My Biggest Failure & Family Story To Fuel My Curiosity To Grow

British-born Bangladeshi, Shuwel Ahmed, opens up about the biggest failure in his life, which came when he moved to London for University, and how the disappointment felt worse given the backstory of his grandparents and parents that gave him the fortune of the opportunities he had. In this episode, he talks about how this sparked his determination to always give his full effort and know that whenever he has failed since then, it hasn't been because of his own complacency. Since then, he has gone to work at a global pharmaceutical company, speak at a TEDx, create the Pupils2Professionals initiative and currently has multi-million pound property portfolio.

We discuss:

• The story of how his father was given the opportunity to move from Bangladesh to the UK at the age of 13, where he began schooling while working 2 jobs.
• Planting the seed through Pupils2Professionals through growing up in an underprivileged part of the UK
• The key character traits he sees in his parents that he now sees in himself and his 2 brothers
• Experiencing a significant failure in his life that completely changed his mindset and determination
• How can the younger generation reach their potential without having to go through a significant, humbling failure first?
• Dealing with light-hearted racial prejudice during schooling years
• Learning from his father's regret following a life-threatening medical problem
• Realising the importance of investing time and money in meeting and connecting with people who know more than you do
• Understanding the difference self awareness vs. self belief to help you achieve your goals
• Will we be happier as a population 100 years from now?

Books recommended in this episode

Peak Performance: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31450959-peak-performance

Factfulness: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34890015-factfulness?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=aMzNsGbcNs&rank=1

Quotes

when you're at a period when you're new in a country, and there's not so many of you around, you're much more inclined to help [those] others

when I go to back, there's almost a village of people who are willing to do anything for me, and these are people who don't have a lot.. i see that as now a sense of responsibility to help.

in my school, qualifying for free school meals meant your household income had to be £10,000 or below... my Dad wouldn't allow me to take the free school meals even thought we qualified for it

I think there's ways that you can learn from your parents about the good things, but also some of the traits that you don't necessarily agree with- there's also a lesson in all of that

that year was the most humbling year of my life.. at the end of it i said I am never ever going to put myself in a position where a lack of my effort has put me in this

once you recognise the power of your family, and realise how much luck there is in all of it, you just want to make the most of it

Shuwel's previous podcast appearance (as mentioned in this episode): listen here

Get in contact:

With the guest: www.instagram.com/shuwel1

With the host: www.instagram.com/thejourneyonwardspodcast

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