“Danny, please show George rule #1,” she asked. Danny reached into his large file folder sitting on his lap and pulled out a piece of paper that said:

Joy thanked Danny and shared how Danny had been made keeper of the rules. “A year ago he was what I call a Corporate Zombie,” Joy explained. “Walking around with no purpose and no life. You could have hit him over the head with a sledge hammer and I don’t think he would have noticed,” she laughed. “Now he’s keeper of the rules and helping us move the bus forward,” she said proudly.

Taking a big swig from a large bottle of water that sat next to her seat, she turned her attention to George.

“Always remember that you are the driver of your bus. It’s the most important of the rules because if you don’t take responsibility for your life and control of your bus then you can’t take it where you want to go. If you’re not the driver, then you’ll always be at the whim of everyone else’s travel plans.”

“But what about the support of others?” George asked.

“Of course you can seek directions and advice along the way, but remember it’s your bus and your trip. We are all driving on each other’s bus but each one of us has our own bus. The problem today,” Joy continued, “is that people feel like they have no say where their bus is going or how it’s going to get there. Tell them that stat about when the most people die, Marty,” she directed as she looked in the rearview mirror at a young twentysomething man sitting toward the back of the bus.

He was dressed in a polo and khakis and had a young face with blond hair that sat on his head like a mop. As Marty pulled out his laptop and starting key-boarding and clicking looking for the stat, Joy told George how Marty had come to be their research guy. How they would always get into interesting conversations about life, business, success, or whatever and like clockwork Marty would always come in the next day with some important research that shed some light on what they had discussed. They called him the Google Man because he could find the best information on any topic. “Here it is!” he shouted as he lifted up his laptop for everyone to see the screen. The screen read:

“Isn’t that amazing?” Joy asked George, who did not quite understand the significance of this research and just stood silent.

“Hello, George. I’m going to wake you up today like a shot of espresso,” she chuckled. “Monday at 9 A.M. is when people start their workweek,” Joy said passionately. “Think about that, George. People would rather die than go to work,” she said as the passengers on the bus chuckled. “It sounds funny but actually it’s quite sad. People feel like they don’t have a choice. So they give up. But I am here to tell you today that you do have a choice. Right, folks?” she said rallying the passengers on the bus. “You don’t have to sit passively by like so many other unhappy souls who let life create them. You can take the wheel and choose to create your life, one thought, one belief, one action, one choice at a time. It’s your bus and you’re the driver and you choose where you are going and the kind of ride it’s going to be. Don’t you agree, Sugar?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” George answered. “To me it feels like over time everyone in your life including life itself makes more and more decisions for you and before you know it, it’s not even your life anymore. The government tells me what taxes I have to pay. My bosses tell me what to do at work. My wife orders me around at home. I feel imprisoned by my paycheck and responsibilities. So to answer your question, no, I really don’t feel like I have a choice. The real truth is that instead of living, I feel like I’m dying every day. Maybe I’ll be one of those 9 A.M. Monday morning people,” George said.

“There’s no maybe about it,” Joy countered. “If you continue down this poor me road you are well on your way to being a Monday 9 A.M. fatality. So what you got to do now, George, is take the wheel and change direction. You may not have felt like you had a choice in the past, but starting now you will realize it’s your greatest gift. And once you reclaim your power, everything and I mean everything will begin to change. No one can choose your attitude but you, George. No one else can choose your energy George. In fact, smile for me right now, Sugar.” George didn’t budge. “I’m not asking you, George. Now smile.”

So he did, knowing she was one woman he didn’t want to see get mad.

“See, George, you chose to smile and just by doing that one thing, you changed your energy. A smile changes the way you feel, the way you think, and how you interact with others. The energy you fuel the ride of your life with is entirely up to you. And as the driver, you are the one who must also choose your vision of where you want to go. You have the best seat and the best view of your life so it’s up to you. You gotta have vision. So let me ask you, do you know where you want to go, George?”

George sat up straight, looked out the window, and noticed they were about a mile from his office building. He didn’t have a clue where he wanted to go. He just knew he didn’t want to be where he was anymore.

Joy had known it before George even thought it. A man with vision has a certain look in his eye and walk in his step. He walks like he knows where he is going and why he is going there, and George didn’t walk like that. “I know we’re almost at your office,” Joy said, “but I want you to read something before you get off. It’s something that inspired me to call this the Energy Bus. She reached into her bag next to her seat and pulled out a children’s book with a graphical picture of a bus on the cover with the words Energy Bus on it.

“It’s a children’s book,” George said, very frustrated as he wondered why in the world she would want him to read a children’s book right now.

“I know. That’s what I love about it. You see, life is simple. But in all our stuff we make it complicated and become blinded to the simple truths. But it’s the simplest lessons in life that are often the most profound and meaningful. So don’t scoff at a children’s book or the simple rules I share with you because one of the most important things you could ever realize is that the closer you get to truth, the simpler and more powerful the lessons become . Yes, the rules are simple but as you will realize they mean everything. So read, George. Read.”

Feeling a little embarrassed, George started to read nonetheless and at once he was transported in his own mind to his house reading his children the book.

The bus stopped and Joy turned to George. “So where do you desire to go, George? What’s your vision?” she asked as she handed him a piece of paper. “Once you know this, all the other rules will fall into place.”

George sat at his desk looking at the piece of paper Joy had given him.

At the top of the page were instructions from Joy: First, decide what you want, George. Then you can start creating it. Don’t let the world create you. You create your world. Complete these questions and we’ll talk about them on the bus tomorrow.

It had three sections on it with space for him to write and it looked like this.