Love of the Week

You just gotta love love. Except when you hate it, because it’s cruel and unfair. And fickle. And stupid.

Yes, I’m talking about that kind of love – the romantic kind – which is much on my mind this week because I spent an hour with Maria Avgitidis Pyrgiotakis, otherwise known as Matchmaker Maria.

Maria, the progenitor of no fewer than 3,000 marriages in her famous career, invited me on her podcast to discuss The Values Bridge and dating, a topic I know nothing about.

Dating, that is! The Values Bridge, AMA!

And seriously, I do know something about dating. First, I’ve been around this earth a while, and, while I myself dated only a few times in my younger life, I have daughters and friends and colleagues who have shared their many stories with me. Notice I did not say “horror” stories, but I could have. See above about dating being cruel, unfair, fickle, and stupid.

But along with those accounts, I have actually started to use The Values Bridge with couples quite a lot in the past year. In my last newsletter, for instance, I mentioned doing Becoming Us with five couples in Aspen. (I didn’t say it was Chip and Joanna Gaines and their friends, but then they posted about it themselves. I 💗 them.) There was also a Becoming Us intensive with four couples, which I ran with therapist Vienna Pharaon, and too many individual couples sessions to count.

And so it is that I have begun to see the power of The Values Bridge to unlock insight between couples, a phenomenon that definitely intrigued Matchmaker Maria, who, after all, is in the business of getting relationships right as seamlessly as possible.

I’ll alert you when the podcast is coming out. But right now, let me just say, if you haven’t done The Values Bridge with your boo – yes, I said boo – what are you waiting for? The assessment is called The Values BRIDGE for a reason. It’s designed to help you know yourself and plan the bridge to your future, but it’s also meant to help two people meet each other in the middle, and in doing so, journey forward together.

Hate of the Week

What is with my teeth? You would think I grew up eating Laffy Taffy and Sno Balls, which, oops, I did, and the constant Gummy Bears now don’t really help matters.

And thus today a sore molar led to news that I need yet another root canal and possibly another implant. I almost burst into tears on my dentist’s shoulder – we are old friends at this point – to which he said, “Aw, I’m so sorry, sweetie, we’ll get through this again.”

Yes we will, because I want to go through life chewing.

And honestly, because I cannot help myself, while I dread what lies ahead, I am truly grateful my medical crisis is something I can joke about with you. It’s just a tooth. It can be fixed.

Yay root canal!

Hmm of the Week

I am asked all the time for the “right age” to do Becoming You, and more specifically, The Values Bridge. Indeed, Maria asked me that exact question on her podcast.

I gave her my new answer, which I am giving you here too, for your consideration.

➡️ High school is not too early. Yep.

Look, the truth is, I originally created Becoming You for people in college and grad school, but with the Intensives, I soon saw its efficacy with people of all ages, a dynamic confirmed every day all around the world by our 200 certified Becoming You coaches. Some of those same coaches were the first advocates for Becoming You starting in high school. I was a bit of a doubter, but now that its curriculum is written, I’ve become a believer.

And not just a believer, an advocate, especially of an online 1-on-1 Becoming You tutoring program we are developing for release in the fall. (More on that to come!)

Kids start getting familiar with Spanish by 9th or 10th grade in most schools these days. Why not start learning the language of yourself at the same time?

I wish I had; perhaps I would have stumbled upon the words, “Candy causes cavities, which you will regret as an adult, Suzy.”

I did not, so wish me well, as I wish you this week, and with love,

What's coming?

→ Becoming You Certification Program here

No One Can Get a Job Right Now. So Now What?

This week on the podcast, I sit down with two Gen Z-ers from the Becoming You Labs team (hi Jannah and Kevin) to answer their pressing questions about what is actually happening in the job market, why it's happening, and what you do about it. We cover the worst career advice out there today, the red flag no one warns you about in job interviews, and the one thing you can say to a hiring manager that will stop them cold, in the best possible way. And Jannah asks the question underneath it all: how do you plan for a career when you can't see what's coming?

Tune in Here!