Letters to My Younger Self with Shamil Thakrar, co-founder of Dishoom

Conversations of Inspiration

Holly Tucker MBE

Education, Business, Society & Culture, Self-improvement, Entrepreneurship, Personal Journals

5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this heartfelt micro-episode, Shamil Thakrar, the visionary founder of Dishoom, pens a poignant letter to his younger self. Sharing his journey with vulnerability and grace, Shamil offers timeless advice on navigating life’s challenges, nurturing curiosity, and embracing the beauty in uncertainty.

Shamil’s reflections on discomfort and resilience are truly transformative. He reminds us that our darkest moments often lead to the brightest opportunities, urging us to sit with discomfort, treat it with curiosity, and trust in our ability to navigate through life’s twists and turns.

Holly reflects on how Shamil’s words resonate deeply with the entrepreneurial journey, where doubt and discomfort often accompany the pursuit of big dreams. She draws attention to his advice about trusting yourself in those “difficult spots” and how setbacks can often become the stepping stones to our happiest achievements. Holly’s takeaway? That resilience is built not despite challenges but because of them—and this is a lesson every founder, creator, and dreamer can benefit from.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking inspiration, whether you’re an entrepreneur striving to build a meaningful business or simply looking for guidance in life’s tougher moments. Shamil’s wisdom is not only a celebration of embracing your uniqueness but also a reminder to savor the richness of life’s small moments.

Join Holly and Shamil as they delve into the transformative power of vision, curiosity, and courage. This episode will leave you feeling inspired to trust yourself, embrace uncertainty, and lead with heart.

Transcript

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0:00.0	nurture your weirdness. Figure out how you see the world differently and do something with that.
0:04.4	Do something about that. Be completely curious and explore. The uncertainty is okay. It's much
0:09.3	less scary than you think. Take more risks and jump. You'll figure it out.
0:17.7	Hello, I'm Holly Tucker and welcome to Letters to My Younger Self, a beloved part of
0:24.0	conversations of inspiration.
0:26.4	I wanted to bring you poignant moments from the many years of recording this podcast, which
0:31.8	has changed my life, drawing on the gracious vulnerability of my guests where we can absorb what I believe
0:39.5	are some of life's biggest learnings. This micro podcast is brought to you by Royal Mail, a business
0:46.8	who understands the power of a simple letter. Well, what can I say? Not only was my conversation with Shemal Thakra, founder of DeSoum,
0:58.3	incredibly soulful and honestly, like poetry emotion, his letter, unsurprisingly, was one that,
1:05.6	well, it truly touched my heart. This was particularly a memorable podcast record. As you'll hear in the clip,
1:12.7	we were nestled in the corner of his restaurant DeSoum in central London, and it was busy and it was
1:18.5	bustling and I was drinking the most beautiful chai, while Shamal shared his spiritual approach to life.
1:26.2	He's a man that has let his vision and curiosity lead the way.
1:30.2	It's a beautiful concept and one that I think we only see in businesses and companies with
1:36.2	inspiring leaders like Shamal that lead with, I suppose, emotion and with big hearts. And what makes Shamal remarkable is not only his ability
1:47.2	to harness his strength and use it as fuel, but to recognise just how valuable it is having a
1:54.4	philosophy like this within your business. It sets you apart. It feeds creativity and changes,
2:09.1	not just the way we do things, but the way that we all think about them too. And I know you're going to love hearing what he has to say.
2:18.1	Dear Shummel, here I am, a 51-year-old man with no hair writing to you as a child. I wonder how you'll receive this missive from the future,
2:22.6	but please don't treat it too seriously. I would say have faith in your own ability to figure things out yourself, more or less. That said, I should warn you. You're going to get quite stuck now and again
2:27.8	in your life, really stuck where you just can't see straight, where things look quite black.
	...

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