Three words that changed everything for me

Three forces. One flow.

Hello fellow traveller,

There are three words that came to me at a very particular moment in my life.

I was still a CEO at the time, but something had shifted. On paper, things looked good. In reality, I felt disconnected from myself.

I didn't sit down and analyse it. I didn't workshop it. The words just arrived — almost out of nowhere.

Purpose. Balance. Joy.

At the time, I didn't fully understand why those words. I just knew they mattered.

They became a quiet compass as I stepped away from that life and into something unknown. And what's been fascinating is this: everything I've done since — every experiment, every insight, every stretch, every outrageous goal — has only reinforced how right those three words were.

Not as ideas. As lived experience.

I felt like Bilbo Baggins — leaving a perfectly comfortable life because something unexpected knocked on the door and said: there's more.

I had no idea where I was going. I just knew that staying wasn't enough.

Conditions, not aspirations

Over time, I've come to see them not as things to chase, but as conditions to cultivate.

When purpose is present, there's orientation. When balance is present, there's capacity. When joy is present, life force is flowing.

That realisation became the triangle at the heart of my work. Purpose, balance and joy at the three points — and at the centre, life force. Aliveness. Energy. Presence.

Not something you earn. Something that emerges when the conditions are right.

Three forces. One flow.

What changes when they're in play

When purpose, balance and joy are all in motion together, effort changes shape. Willpower softens. Ambition becomes cleaner. Movement stops feeling forced.

This has been true for me — and it's consistently true for the founders, CEOs and leaders I work with.

Most people don't lack drive. They lack access to their life force.

And no amount of pushing fixes that.

This framework isn't something I invented in a vacuum. It's something I followed — long before I named it. So much so that, at some point, I even had those three words printed on a t-shirt.

Not as branding. As a reminder.

Here's a way to feel into it.

If your days have momentum but no direction — that's purpose asking for attention. If you know exactly where you're going but you're running on fumes to get there — that's balance. And if everything works on paper but nothing lights you up — that's joy.

Most people know the answer the moment they're asked. They've just never been asked.

If these three words resonate — or if they've been quietly present in your own life — I'd love to know: which of the three is most missing for you right now?

Best,
Hugh

You've lived many versions of yourself in this lifetime. And there are many more still to come.

If you'd like to explore what these three words might mean in your own life, you can book a discovery call at hughwahla.com/appt.

P.S. That’s the t-shirt on tour in Montenegro!