I didn’t understand a word of it at the time. I’ve been watching it play out ever since.
Hello fellow traveller,
A few weeks ago I bumped into my old yoga teacher, Janet. On the Friday. Then again on the Saturday, and this time her husband Jonathan, my old meditation teacher, was with her.
Twice in one weekend. I’ll come back to that.
Gardening leave
After seventeen years at Urban Outfitters, I left and spent a year and a half on gardening leave. Plenty of time with no idea what came next.
I decided to try out some yoga and had some incredible sessions locally with Janet. I was really nervous about my next role and how to approach it. She said: Just trust in the universe.
I had no idea what she really meant. I’d never come across the idea before. It sounded lovely, vague and meant absolutely nothing to me.
The three-month window
When I eventually went back out to look for another role, I decided I no longer wanted to work in fashion. I loved furniture and design, so I wanted to move into that world. The Conran Shop was searching for its first non-Conran in its history to run the business and to reinvent it globally, working directly with a hero of mine, Sir Terence Conran.
There was a window of about three months where I was free and they were looking. That was it. The timing was unbelievable. On top of that, the person that helped me get the Urban Outfitters role was handling the Conran role. What were the chances?
It was the biggest and best job in the world for me at the time.
At our first lunch, I told Terence how much the Conran Shop had shaped me. I lived in Battersea back then, and most Saturday mornings I’d wake up knowing I’d end the afternoon in his Chelsea Flagship. Then for ten or twelve years it dropped off my radar.
I said to him: it’s almost as though I went away and learned how to do it, and now I’m back home again.
So much so that one evening, at a dinner party, we played a game where you answer questions about your partner. One of them was: what’s your partner’s ideal job in a perfect world?
My wife said, “Hugh’s already got his.”
Twice in one weekend
Which brings me back to bumping into Janet and Jonathan.
I told them again how much credit I give them. Janet gave me the idea of trusting the universe. Jonathan introduced me to meditation, something I’d never tried before, and it has transformed my life.
Then Janet said something I loved. She’s still astounded by the power of it. Even now she catches herself thinking: is that really true? How did that happen?
Me too.
So much has opened up since that conversation. Walking away from the CEO seat with three words and no plan. Learning to swim at 53. Breathwork. This work.
What I’ve learned is that trusting the universe is active. I still had to go out and look. What changed was the grip. I stopped trying to force one particular outcome and stayed open to whatever turned up.
For anyone who’s built a career on making things happen, that’s hard. We’re trained to plan, push and control. Trust can feel like doing nothing.
It isn’t. It’s doing the work with your hands open.
Hands open
So what does that look like day to day? For me it comes down to three things.
Aim high. Let yourself want something outrageous, even if you can’t see how you’d get there.
Then set your direction and leave the plan open. You don’t need every step mapped out. You just need to know which way you’re facing. Mine was simply furniture and design.
And make space. This is the part most of us skip. For me it was yoga with Janet, meditation with Jonathan, and a year and a half without a diary. I’m sure that space is what let me see the Conran window when it opened. Three months. Head down and busy, I could easily have missed it.
Trusting the universe means trusting the opportunities are out there. Your part is to be present enough to recognise them when they turn up. It’s worked for me multiple times since. Including in my new best job in the world!
What would you do differently this week if you trusted that the right thing was already on its way?
Best,
Hugh
You’ve lived many versions of yourself in this lifetime. And there are many more still to come.
If you’re between chapters and not sure what comes next, that’s exactly the kind of conversation we’d have together. Let’s talk.
P.S. Janet is a wonderful yoga teacher and Jonathan a wonderful meditation teacher. If you’re anywhere near East Dulwich I’ll happily share their contact details. I can’t recommend them highly enough.
