Never attend a timeshare presentation.
Years ago, my wife and I booked an incredible hotel room for the weekend. With one catch: We had to attend a timeshare presentation.
The moment we walked in, they told us: “This is fun. There’s no pressure.” Then they said it again. “This is fun.”
We looked at each other. This was not going to be fun.
Dave, our host, met us at our table. We didn’t know it at the time, but three hours later, we’d be sending Dave out of the room in tears.
The Magic Trick
Timeshare presentations are one of the most mind-bending magic tricks you’ll ever experience. They make you think you need something. A vacation home. You pay an entrance fee. Then you pay monthly. You don’t own it. You don’t control it. But somehow, by the end, you’re convinced: “I need this now.”
Dave was a nice guy. But Dave really needed us to give in.
He kept adding pressure. “How great would it be to have your own vacation space?” “Imagine the freedom you’ll feel.”
But all we felt was dread.
I was sweating. Champagne was popping at tables around us. “Happy vacation home owners” celebrating everywhere.
My wife was getting pissed. Between Dave’s nervous laughter and my wife’s rising blood pressure, I felt like I was in a vice.
After three pitches for three different purchase options, it happened.
My wife exploded.
She got on her knees in the chair and stared at Dave. “Oh shit,” I thought. I know that look. Dave’s about to get destroyed.
Before I could stop her, she yelled: “We’re NOT buying!”
Dave started to cry.
I’m not kidding. This guy’s life was a wreck, and he was going home without a sale. Honestly, I felt bad for him.
Quickly, we were handed off to a man I would describe as a mob hitman. One last offer, and we were about to be sent down the hallway of shame.
This time, I took the heat. I told Vinny, the mob guy, that we were done, and we’d pay full price for our hotel room if we had to. Short of pulling out a figurative gun, he escorted us out the back door.
We had escaped.
And Then I Realized Something
We walked out of that room realizing we almost bought something we don’t own, don’t control, and that would have drained us for years.
And then years later I realized: most of us are already doing this with our lives.
You Might Be Living Paycheck to Paycheck
Not just financially but energetically.
Every morning, you wake up with a paycheck.
Your energy. Your attention. Your time. And by the end of the day, it’s gone. Spent. Depleted.
The next day? Same thing. You get your paycheck, and you spend it all over again.
Just like that timeshare: You’re paying monthly. You don’t own it. You don’t control it. And you’re too exhausted to realize you’re trapped.
Are You Investing? Or Just Maintaining?
Here’s the real question: Are you investing your energy in things that matter long-term? Or are you just spending it to maintain?
Your relationships
Your health
Your family
Improving yourself
Doing things you actually love
Or are you working just to keep your standard of living going? Working to avoid the guilt and shame of not “doing” what you think you should? Doing the things you’ve been programmed to think make your day “productive”?
Spending hours at work for the sake of being there. Feeling unfulfilled. Having no other goal than to maintain what you think you need.
You think that by spending hours working, you are being productive. But you get home with barely anything left to give.
Spend time with your spouse? Maybe this weekend.
Have meaningful conversations with your kids? Got to pack lunches first.
Go to the gym? No time.
Have fun? What’s fun again? I don’t remember.
Day to day. Hour to hour. Surviving. Maintaining. Spending all your energy. Nothing left at the end of the day.
You can’t change what you can’t see.
Answer these 15 questions. See exactly where you’re stuck. Get the next steps to start investing in what matters.
You’re Not Investing. You’re Renting.
At the timeshare presentation, they sold me on the idea that I was investing in vacation memories. But I wasn’t investing. I was renting. Renting someone else’s property. Renting someone else’s schedule. Renting the idea of a life I thought I wanted.
And that’s what most of us do every day.
We rent our lives. We spend our energy on what we think we’re supposed to do. We maintain. We survive. But we don’t invest in what actually matters.
Sure, maybe you’re investing your money. Maybe you’ve got a 401(k), a savings account, a plan for retirement. But I’m not talking about money.
I’m talking about investing your energy in things that matter to you long-term:
Marriage
Relationships
Health
Fun
Memories
We aren’t investing. Because we’re too busy. We exit each day depleted. Poor. Only to spend all of our energy and attention the next day. Pushing off long-term investments to later. To this weekend. To next year. To “when things settle down.”
The Couples I Counseled Were Living Paycheck to Paycheck (And Didn’t Know It)
I spent 12 years counseling couples. And here’s what I noticed:
Rarely did they come to invest in their relationship. They came because they were in crisis.
And I’d counsel men who came to me looking to reconnect with the family they were losing. Wanting to find a purpose they were lacking after years of working to exhaustion because “that’s what I was supposed to do.”
These people were smart. They could invest their money wisely. They could plan for retirement. But they didn’t invest in themselves and their relationships.
By the time they came into my office, they had a retirement fund full of money. But lacking substance.
Their kids had graduated and left home leaving them and their wives without connection.
Their bodies were aging, becoming a hindrance to their future goals of freedom and vitality.
Where was the investment mindset there?
It wasn’t there. They spent decades paying into the wrong thing. Just like a timeshare. They thought they were investing, but they were just maintaining. Paying the monthly fee. Showing up. Going through the motions.
And by the time they realized it, they were out of energy, out of connection, and wondering where it all went.
They were living paycheck to paycheck. And they didn’t even know it.
So Here’s the Question:
What are you paying into that you don’t actually own?
What are you spending your energy on that’s draining you, but you can’t stop because you think you have to?
What would it look like to stop renting your life and start investing in it?
You’ve been living paycheck to paycheck for years. Not because you don’t have enough energy. But because you’re spending it all on maintenance.
What would life look like if you started investing instead?
Want to See Exactly Where You’re Stuck?
If you’re reading this and thinking, “Yeah, that’s me. But I don’t know where to start”? start here:
Take 5-10 minutes to answer these 15 questions.
They’ll help you see exactly where you’re living paycheck to paycheck with your energy and what needs to change.
Your results will be sent directly to your email, along with the next steps to start investing in what actually matters.
The “15 Questions Every Man Should Answer.”
Designed for men who are successful on paper but exhausted inside. Who are tired of spending all their energy maintaining and ready to start investing in what matters.
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You don’t need more discipline. You need more clarity.
Start there.
I’ll talk to you soon,
John
What are your thoughts?