I recently completed a course for Cheetah Learning called - Capitalize on the Recession. One of the major tenants of the course is teaching people how to create value for others, FAST. The premise is that what people find of value today is different than what they were finding of value yesterday because the rules have changed. And to make a good living, you have to create value for others based on the rules of today (not yesterday).

I was reflecting on how the rules have changed for me over the past 20 years. I lost my job in 2000 and embarked on a path to create a more secure future for myself and my family. Relying on credit cards, bank loans, or investors was not the way for me to create a more secure future. I didn’t want to play by the conventional rules of the day - rules we have now seen have spun the world into an economic crises.

I became interested in being energy self-sufficient as part of what I call the “new rules” - this is the set of rules I’ve been playing by for almost a decade to create a more secure future for me and my family. There are two primary reasons I am becoming energy self-sufficient. The first is to reduce my risk by reducing or eliminating recurring expenses. The second is to make inflation resistant investments - investing in my own energy independence projects are the best investments I can make in these times.

Here are two mind maps that show the old rules and the new rules. Becoming energy self-sufficient is one of the new rules in the game of life.

Old Rules Dictated by Wall Street and the Financial Markets

New Rules Driven by the Desire to Create a More Secure Future