Last month Along The Purpose Path was about how to identify and stop energy drains that leave you feeling exhausted and out of balance. I outlined how energy is one of your most valuable resources and invited you to start thinking about how to reserve more energy for yourself.

Now, I’d like to offer a suggestion on how to actually build energy and begin to create energy reserves.

One of my favorite ways to recharge my batteries is to take a vacation. Vacations traditionally are defined as a period of time devoted to pleasure, rest, or relaxation especially when there is suspension of school, or business activities. Vacations are usually, unfortunately associated with travel and a commitment of time and money, making them not easily achievable without a lot of planning.

All a vacation is really is a break in your routine with accompanying positive mental shift that helps you fully absorb and receive benefits. The key to success is to be as present as possible and remind yourself to fully soak in what you need whether your vacation is for one hour or three weeks. Begin by making sure you clear your space and maximize your ability to receive.

How can you receive energy building benefit from a vacation without actually taking one? Can you achieve desired result of rest, pleasure and relaxation within day-to-day structure of life?

Here are some delicious suggestions:

Danny believes that from minute you are born your life is controlled by economics and government.

From age of five to fifteen you are forced to go to school and after school you are forced to work from age of 16 to 65. This age may go up to 70 or higher in UK and elsewhere. People are living longer. So economically it is necessary to raise age of retirement. People will have to work till they drop.

Danny worked for computer companies from age of 18 to 35 and then one day realised he was a slave. To show you what he meant by being a slave he gave me a brief description of his daily routine.

He usually had to get up at 7 a.m. to drive to work by 9 a.m. It took him an hour and a half to drive through London traffic. A train would have taken two hours and cost more! He would have had to sniff arm pits of his fellow passengers as well. However, Danny is very tall so situation might have been reversed.

Once he arrived at work he was told what to do by his immediate boss. He was forced to make phone calls; answer emails and get equipment ready. The penalty for not doing these things was unemployment and losing his house and car etc. After his standard 9 hour day he then had another hour and a half fight in traffic getting back home by half seven. He was working basically from 7.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. (a twelve hour day) and sometimes a half day on Saturday. He was working 66 hours a week i.e. 75% of his waking time was spent doing things that he was told to do and forced to do.

Extrapolate above to your life. If you live to 74 that's 55.5 years spent doing things you don't really want to do and being bossed around. Even in your personal time you are dictated to by government as you have to sort out licences; fill in forms etc (sometimes for good reason)

So Danny sat down one day and got very depressed at thought of dying at 75 with two grand in bank. He eventually thought about how to break this vicious circle and decided that there is only one way and that is to earn enough money to pay all bills without worrying.

Once you reach a certain cash level you cannot be dictated to. A certain amount of cash breaks your shackles and sets you free. Working for other people ensures that you will remain downtrodden and poor unless your job is among few jobs that are highly paid.

So you must decide how you are going to earn cash to pay your bills. So you cut out middleman (your employer) and start working for yourself. In end it makes no difference what you decide to do.

But it is going to involve selling something to someone. It doesn't matter what you sell or to whom. although obviously you would prefer to sell a product that you morally agreed with and which serves a useful purpose.

The bottom line is you buy something for a pound and sell it for two pounds. This action will set you free even if it takes years to reach your target. You will still be working towards your freedom from usual rat race.

You may have to keep working at a normal job to support your family in meantime. Even celebrities make much of their money through sales. David Beckham (the English soccer player) can earn a big salary because his employers can sell products through use of his image. He might earn a million a year for playing football but will earn 10 million for sponsorship and advertising.

So principle is; you must sell something and decide what you are comfortable with selling. Preferably you should be running your own business and buying and selling as soon as you leave school. Bill Gates dropped out of university before he finished because he saw opportunity and did not want to miss it. If he had waited till he finished his degree course or got married, opportunity would have passed him by.

Is it risky?

You may think starting your own business is a risky venture and that working for someone else is safe option. This is a fallacy. You might work for an employer for 20 years and then one day you go to work and he fires you and all that 20 years of effort means nothing.

Any way you look at it; it is better to work for yourself. However, if you want an easy life, business is not way to go. It is often easier to work for someone else. If you want an easy life, you will stay a slave. Danny, if he were 17, would leave school and slog his guts out for 15 years working for himself and then retire.

Danny admits that he is not fully following his own rules. He is self employed but he is still selling a service which takes up too much of his time. He is making more money now than when he was employed but he would make much more money if he were selling products rather than a service.

I asked Danny what skills he uses now to make his business a success. He came up with following:

You have to have a product/service to sell in first place

This product or service needs to be both cheaper and better than competition or at least as good.

You have to get advertising right. I'm going to say that again, YOU HAVE TO GET THE ADVERTISING RIGHT.