How Modern Dating Culture Stops Him from Taking You Seriously

Do you feel like you have “dating burnout”? Like modern single life is a treadmill of flaky guys, false hope and meaningless hookups?

If you’re still interested in finding real, deep, meaningful commitment in modern dating (yes, it does exist), I need you to stop what you’re doing and watch this video now.

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I don’t need to be a mind reader to know that an enormous number of people watching this video right now feel this…

“Dating Sucks…”

Now why do they feel this way?

Because they want to create something real.

Chances are if you’re watching this video, you want to create something real.

You wanna find someone who values you. Find someone who invests in you. Who you can invest in. Someone who you can build something enduring with, but instead here’s what you get…

Casual dating, meaningless hookups, and mixed, confusing-ass signals.

Now this leaves people very frustrated.

It leaves them wondering if what they’re looking for is actually out there.

I recently ran an exclusive closed-door event for my closest clients.

It was invite-only, and I made them one promise:

I am gonna talk all day about how to create a real and lasting relationship, and avoid the casual dating, hookup culture we feel like we’re currently existing in.

What I’m about to show you is a clip from that private event.

A moment that highlights the frustration people are feeling right now that we’re talking about here. And watch all the way to the end, because after that clip, I’m gonna join you back here to show you a strange, counter-intuitive way that that frustration I’m talking about could actually be costing you the real relationship you’re looking for.

Check it out.

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Audience Guest: “Hi Matthew. Good to see you. Welcome back to NYC.”

Matthew: “Thank you for having me.”

Audience Guest: “The content that you have today is really amazing, and I’m really happy to be here. That’s first of all.”

Matthew: “Thank you.”

Audience Guest: “Recently, I had a conversation with a gentleman who said to me, ‘You know, Cecilia? You are intimidating to men. You are too smart. Guys can’t get over on you, and that’s gonna be a problem for you.’ And I thought, ‘I don’t wanna guy in my life that’s gonna be intimidated by my strength. I want someone that’s gonna embrace my strength, and who I am as a human being, and as a woman.’ As I get older I find that it is a little harder, and I ask, how can I allow myself to be open to love, finding a great partner who’s gonna embrace who I am?”

Matthew: “What you’re saying works on the presumption that men inherently find smart women unattractive, or intimidating. Some men are intimidated by smart women. Some men are intimidated by women who have found their purpose, who have found something that they really enjoy doing. Especially if those men haven’t found what they enjoy doing.

“Some men are intimidated by women who go to the gym a lot. [Laughter] Especially if they can’t get themselves to kinda get into a routine with that.

“I mean I just think that the…higher a frequency you’re living on, the less people are gonna be either available to you or desirable to you.”

Audience Guest: “So how do I find love if that’s the case? My pool is getting smaller and smaller. I’m not getting any younger. [Laughter] I’m sorry…”

Matthew: “I just think that it doesn’t help you to think about it in the macro like that. Like you’re thinking about it at this bird’s eye view of, you know, ‘My pool is getting smaller, and men don’t like… They’re intimidated by intelligent women, and this, and that,’ and… I just… I don’t…

“My friend is a doctor, and he told me a phrase once, he said, ‘statistics don’t matter to the individual.’

“In medicine, when someone has a rare disease, the fact that only one in a hundred thousand people get  that disease is irrelevant to the person that got the disease. Right? Statistics don’t matter to the individual. And I would say that on a relationship level, statistics don’t matter to you either, and won’t matter to you when you meet someone special.

“It won’t matter to you what the economics are right now of finding a relationship.

“It only matters to you now because those are the terms that you’re thinking in, and I just don’t think that it serves you to think in those terms. If I had thought in those terms about business, I never would have started a business. The results of businesses succeeding–new businesses–are so low that if you went by that you would never start a business.

“But I didn’t start a business to overcome the odds of business. I started a business because I had something I really wanted to say, and do, and I wanted to live a life where I wasn’t going into a job I hated. So it was a different thing driving me.

“And I understand your point. I’m not minimizing that it’s difficult to find someone special.

“It is.

“It one hundred percent is.

“The good news is that everyone’s feeling the same way.

“Right? Everyone’s feeling that.

“No one is… It’s…

“It’s really hard no matter who you are.

“You could be a person that like a hundred men are throwing themselves at you a day… It still doesn’t mean you’re gonna find anyone you wanna spend your life with.

“It’s just hard for everyone, but again I don’t think that it’s because you’re smart. I just think that the more you achieve in life, and the more you drive yourself, the less people you feel… You could still connect to everybody, ’cause I think there’s something to learn from everyone… but there are less people that will just resonate on that frequency that you’re on, and you know, that’s okay. That just means you have high standards, and you have to keep doing it.

“And if your view is, ‘I can’t keep doing it.’ Then I say, what is the thing that you keep doing that you’re deciding you’re not gonna do anymore? I would like to know Cecilia, if you said to me, ‘Matt, the whole point of me saying this, is because I’m about to give up.’ What are you giving up? That’s what I wanna know. What’s the behavior, what’s the thing that you’re gonna stop doing because you’re sick and tired of not meeting the right man? Tell me that.”

Audience Guest: “I don’t know, because I think I’m doing a lot of different things to try and meet the right guy.”

Matthew: “So what’s the thing that is disrupting your life right now that you don’t wanna do anymore?”

Audience Guest: “I don’t wanna worry about it. I want it to happen organically.”

Matthew: “Okay, but like what does that mean? You want it to happen when you’re laying in bed?”

Audience Guest: “I’m standing at a cafe… I’m gonna use one of your lines. I’m standing at a cafe, and I actually start chatting with someone.”

Matthew: “Okay great, but that’s not organic. That’s you trying.”

Audience Guest: “Well…” [Laughter]

Matthew: “So again, what’s the thing, like…I’m challenging you right now, and I know you can take it, but I… I don’t know what your question is. Is your question, ‘Is it hard to meet someone that you spend the rest of your life with?’ Yes. Is your question, ‘Do I really want this?’ I think, probably the answer is ‘yes.’”

Audience Guest: “Yes.”

Matthew: “Right? ‘Cause it’s an experience of life you wanna have.”

Audience Guest: “Yes.”

Matthew: “Is your question, ‘Should I give up?’ Well, to that I respond, what are you giving up? Leaving the house? What are you giving up? Not doing new things? What are you giving up? Going on dates sometimes? What’s the thing that you would give up?

“I challenge all of you: What’s the thing you would give up?

“Because to me, none of the things that you do to meet someone, apart from spending hours and hours online, which I don’t support anyway. [Laughter] But none of the things that you do to meet someone are things that wouldn’t be good for your life anyway.

“If I took off the table the idea of ever meeting your dream guy. Let’s just remove that. I take it off the table. Never gonna happen. I’ve literally made sure that can’t happen for you. I’ve eliminated every man on earth that could be your perfect man. [Laughter]

“Okay.

“I’m curious as to how many of you would stop having conversations with people in general.

“How many people would say, ‘Well, since I can’t find the one, I’m just gonna stop socializing. I’m just gonna stop going on dates at all. You know? I’m gonna give up the whole sex thing. Like I’m gonna just… I’m not gonna do any of this.’

“I don’t buy it for a second.

“What you would do is you’d say, ‘Okay… Well, I guess I’ll go on some fun dates that won’t turn out to be the one, but you know, I’ll just have some fun times. You know, go out and enjoy meeting new people. Stay curious, get to know people’s stories, and I’ll make the best of it, but I can’t give up this part of me. Cause it’s in me. It is me. It’s part of me being a woman who wants to go out there and explore, and meet people, and connect, and be intimate, and be warm, and be affectionate. I’m not gonna give up all of that.’

“Cecilia, what you have to ask yourself is…

“I get the frustration. I get it. And I’m not minimizing that, and I understand the frustration of searching for someone really special, and right now it’s not happening, that person isn’t there.

“But you have to get back to that question:

“What would I do differently if I decided to give up the search?

“What thing would I give up in my life?

“Because I put to you that it would be very hard for you to name something that you would give up that wouldn’t cost you in other ways.

“That wouldn’t actually hurt your sense of joy, and fun, and fulfillment in other ways by deciding, ‘This isn’t for me.’ I can’t see it. What would you stop? Dating? Dating is fun. Like even if it’s not the love of your life, like going on a date, and sometimes there’s chemistry, or sometimes you get a new friend out of it, or sometimes… Who knows? Like would you really give up any connection to the opposite sex?

“Like, I don’t know… I can’t see it. I can’t see it.

“So I think that there’s so many things we do in pursuit of that person, that are worth doing for their own sake, that it’s almost not even worth worrying about in the way that you’re worrying about it. It’s just like… Just keep taking chances.

“Keep being proactive.

“Keep being the kind of person that steps out of her comfort zone.

“Keep being the kind of person that puts herself around other people.

“Keep being the type of person that is open to experiences in life.

“In that is being open to love, but we don’t even need to call it that. Just be someone who is open to experiences, and should you find yourself in a situation where it seems to be getting intimate or whatever and you like the person, do everything we’ve talked about today to make sure that you give yourself the best possible chance of being taken seriously by that person.

“Let’s keep going. Thank you so much by the way.”

************************************************************************

Look, I wanna make one thing clear. While I believe that there are many things that we do that will bring us a relationship that are good for their own sake, and worth doing even if they don’t bring us the love of our life, I understand and respect how hard it is out there.

You are dealing with so much crap.

People who have just the worst behavior. People who will do anything to use you. People who will string you along even though they have no intention of taking things anywhere meaningful or serious.

The frustration you have with that is one thousand percent understandable, but that frustration has a bad side effect for your love life. That frustration leads to the feeling that there really isn’t anyone out there, or at least the suspicion that that thing you’ve always been looking for might never come.

That leads to a scarcity mindset.

When you have a scarcity mindset it puts you in a dangerous position, because when someone comes along who has even a mild connection with you, someone who shows you a glimpse of what you’re looking for, you latch on.

You get so excited about it.

So grateful for it that you’ll do anything to keep it.

Now that’s very dangerous, because when you’ll do anything to keep something, when you see the potential of it, and you’ll do whatever you can to make sure that goes somewhere you start being more forgiving of bad behavior, and maybe not even bad behavior, but someone not giving you what you want.

Someone treating you worse than you deserve.

Someone not truly investing in you.

We start making excuses for them.

We start justifying it, because god forbid it goes away altogether.

When would you find someone again?

You have a connection. You wanna hold on to it, right?

Now here’s the really dangerous part.

When you start accepting worse behavior this person begins to value you less.

So it looks like this:

Having a scarcity mindset about what’s out there makes us accept worse behavior from the person we’re with. When they see us accepting bad behavior from them, or low investment from them, they stop taking us seriously, because they look at us, and consciously or unconsciously, they think, “What kind of person would allow me to treat them like this? Not someone that I should take seriously. Not someone that I would have a relationship with.” So now, even if that person had the potential to have a relationship with you, they’re starting to see you as lower value.

They’re starting to see you as someone who may not be worthy of a real relationship, because you’re treating yourself like you’re not worthy of a real relationship.

So the irony of all of this is the thing you value the most, which you’re letting get away with murder, because you value it the most now values you less precisely because that’s what you’re doing.

So I’m talking to you right now if you are looking for something real, because let me tell you this, if you wanna attract the real you have to be prepared to sacrifice the bullshit, and when I say the bullshit, I mean the bullshit version of a relationship that you’re currently being offered.

The pseudo relationship.

The halfway house.

The breadcrumbing that you’re sick of.

The people disappearing or ghosting you that you’re sick of.

If you actually want to be taken seriously you have to prepared to sacrifice the bullshit. And by the way, sacrificing the bullshit can mean giving up the guy so that you can go out there and find someone who’s serious, or it could mean sacrificing the current dynamic and taking the risk to graduate it into something more. The death of the bullshit you have with him right now and the birth of a better, new dynamic that you have with this person because they now take you more seriously.

So I’m on a campaign right now for those people who want something real to show you exactly how to create it.

I wanna walk you down the path that you actually want to go down, because this isn’t about an unrealistic level of optimism.

I know how hard it is to meet someone you really like.

How hard it is to meet someone that you actually wanna make it work with.

So when you do meet that person, you wanna do the right things.

Join me next week, ’cause we’re gonna be continuing this conversation, and we’re gonna make some serious progress together.

For now, leave me a comment.

Letting me know, A: If you’ve fallen into this trap before, and you can relate to it. A time when you cared so much that that caring actually lead you to doing some of the wrong things.

And B: If you’re ready to finally create something real.

I can’t wait to read those, and I will see you next week.

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273 Replies to “How Modern Dating Culture Stops Him from Taking You Seriously”

  • Hi Matthew,
    I love this video. I pride myself on having high standards, being fiercely intelligent and independent but have also been accused of being intimidating, cold and not wanting a close relationship.
    I will not tolerate being undervalued, disrespected or someone not being serious. I am confident I will meet the man who can connect with me on levels but until then I refuse to settle or mark time with the wrong one.
    I look forward to your next video.

  • As the lady in video says my pool is getting smaller n smaller n i m.nt getting younger same is my situation.aftr talking to a guy 4 to 5 years i m lik vanish or ghosted from his lif n he is sturbborn,nt willing to change his mind ,even not giving me chance to communicate so i can build foundation of a new n better relationship.this onlin chatting 5 years made me so desperate n i dnt knw how to turn my situation.plz suggest how to get bck n turn this situation

  • I think I was also victim of the scarcity mindset. My last relationship ended two months ago and I feel I have everything to it and he didn’t value it. But I also see how I put up with a lot of BS, made a lot of excuses for him and he started value me less and less. I wish I could somehow reel him back and do better, and at the same time I wonder if that reasoning is also part of the scarcity mindset and I should learn to let go.

  • She wants to give up investing in people for them to let you down and repeat. Cos that’s what modern dating has become. You meet people, you like them and invest in them and they turn out not to be the person they say they are and letting you down. That is tiring.

  • I didn’t pay enough attention and feel into accepting poor behaviour that snowballed. Unfortunately I ended up an emotionally abusive relationship that got worse. So many elaborate lies, confusion and twists and turns. It changed me.
    I’m mending from this, but I can see when I go on dates and things that my mind is confused, my intuition metre is still broken, and my selfworth is low.

    Sacrificing the bullshit version of a relationship resonated w me, because it possibly would have helped me avoid the person I met and henceforth a situation that lead to an evolving deterioration of my self worth, that has changed me as a person in so many ways.

    Working on it but hope to hope with a clearer mindset and improved values again soon. Death of the BS as you say.

  • Omg, i am another stastic. I am doing exactly what you said. I am accepting the bullshit from my ex partner but hoping he will realise what an idiot he is being and go back to how he was when we first met. I totally rely on the online dating thing. I have had a couple of longer lasting relationship but alas no cigar yet! One of my closest friends is going through exact same thing. She has pretty much given up in meeting the man. Im not, i know he is out there somewhere but I also know I need to get out there and do things I enjoy…
    Thank you Matthew, very insightful post. Elissa

  • I have been off an on with the same man for 7 months. In those 7 months a lot has happened. He has lied and hidden things. He got back into drugs and almost died a few times. For any normal person this would be an immediate reason to run, but I continue to stay. I fell in love with this man and the idea of him no longer being in my life is unbearable. I would give anything to not love him anymore but I have no clue how to move forward and not have it completely crush me. I have been seeing a therapist for the past year and I feel like all of the progress I made is gone. I dont know why it was easy to walk away from others for doing far less while walking away from this man is the hardest thing I feel I’ve ever had to do.

  • My friends constantly tell me things like think like a man and act like a lady, that I’m too caring and I shouldn’t be giving a flying pigs arse about some “Boy” who doesn’t deserve my time nor attention. I thought I was being nice by “seeing the good” that I never thought of the scarcity mindset that’s been there all along. The fear of letting a good thing -SMH. To answer the first question about what I would give up if I were to never worry about finding love is CONSTANT WORRYING. When love will happen I will gladly accept it until then I’m going to forget about it and focus on having fun and enjoy getting to know Christine a little better. You and your entire team are changing lives Matt. I really appreciate your efforts and dedication to help those who want to help themselves from all over the world. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. LOVE CHRISTINE <3

  • Brilliant!!! Thank you for this, especially then ending part scarcity etc. this is exactly what I have been doing this past year. Currently been dating a fellow 4 months but he has stopped making time for me on the weekends. When we are together for dinner and visiting I really enjoy him then when he tells me all he is doing over the weekend the emptiness I feel is worse than the pleasure I felt from our night together.

    You’ve made me realize I shouldn’t be accepting of this behaviour.

  • I have fallen into this and was in the relationship for 3 years and now he comes in and out of my life. I am ready to let these bad behaviors go and find someone who respects and values me.

  • Dear Matthew: simply nothing happens in my life. I go out with friends. If I see someone cute I flirt with him but nothing happens,is as if I’m the most invisible person in the whole world. Or either, the worst in getting to know new people.Really just nothing happens!!! and I’m getting older and older!!!
    What thing would I give up, you’ve asked??? Invisibility

  • Hi matt. It’s Kathleen. I seen your video. And yes it sounds alot like me. I was connecting toba guy from the dating app i was previously on. And he asked what my schedule was for this weekend. So we could meet. I told hin. He then told me he got a surprise text that he needs to leave to another country for work. Ok whatever. He never connected back to me. As he said he would. I sent him a text back. That i feel this is a false connection. Once a man tells me he’s leaving for another country. Means to me he will be asking me for money. It happened too me 11 times being on the dating app from men. So i may have got scared and blew him off. I don’t know if i made the right decision. Anyway he was connecting for marriage. I never met him in person. And then i got thid guy that i met off the app from before. Keeps trying so hard to connect back too me. But he likes ro sex text. I told him no sex texting. He’s connecting back normal. What is happening here. I want a real connection. Thanks

  • Hi Matt,
    A couple of years ago, I met a guy whilst I was at the gym, I approached him and started small short conversations with him every now and then, eventually we exchanged digits and started spending g time with o e another.

    I found myself always being the one to initiate conversations and making plans for weekends to see him and started to realize that I was putting in most of the work.

    I told him exactly how I felt and what I wanted and he seemed to pull back from me. So I moved on. We lost contact with one another for about 2 years. Then one day, I’m at work and guess who I run I to? Dave. He stopped and spoke with me and we spent a out an hour talking. He made the comment that he was stupid not to have taken me more seriously and at the time working g so far away it caused our relationship to fail. We wished he had met me years ago.

    He could see I was frustrated by this and I explained ed to him that I made it obvious and I don’t know how much more transparent I could have made it. I explained to him that we were not meant to have met all those years ago because if we were we would have. There was a reason why we were in each others lives now. That I was open to finding out what that was but that I was not I interest in playing his mind games. I was very ho east with him.

    A couple days went by after this and I received a message from him asking me how I was. I replied and after speaking g for a little while we made arrangements to go out. But here is the thing I am so mad with myself about, I four d that once again I was making all the plans to hang out to see him.

    So I decided like most bad habits to just quit. So I decided after weeks of not hearing from him and me no refusing to do any more chasing that I would break free from this stupid cycle. I blocked him on messenger and that was that.

    Until 6 weeks after I had done so I get a text from him. I decided to read his message, delete his message and delete his number and not reply.

    I have not heard from him since. So I can only assume he got the message? I still see his mom as her and I are very close. It still hurts when she talks about him, as all mothers do about their children. But I do t see why our friendship should suffer be cause his and my relationship didn’t work out?

    So after all of this I’ve become quite withdrawn from the dating scene. I’ve started to be one very closed minded person about relationship ships and finding love because I believe that people are selfish and really only in it for themselves. That they don’t care how their actions make others feel.

    In today’s world people have stopped caring about each other. Even if u meet a nice guy, its always great at first but after a while, it all falls apart. People stop caring about the other, fights break out, stress escalates and it all falls to shit.

    I am scared of this dating environment we find ourselves in in 2019.

    Thanks for taking g the time to read this.

    Shade Cole

  • I have not given up dating and I constantly follow your tips to meet guys, but it is exhausting— it either i do not meet guys I like or guys I like do not invest enough on me.. I have fears as you mentioned in this video I would not find love— now I try to take it easy, try to have some fun first before I take everything too serious… it is encouraging video.

  • Hi Matt,

    Interesting share, thank you! A quick comment & question for you below – In the seminar video clip you showed, you ask the audience “what are you giving up [if you decided to stop the search]?” and then later, you state “I can’t see it – would you really give up any connection to the opposite sex? – I can’t see it.” I just wanted to write to you as I am an example of someone who actually has given up all aforementioned search-related activities so that you know these people do exist, even if there are only a few of us :)

    * I don’t leave the house (unless for dinner, yoga, work or hiking)
    * I don’t socialize (unless for work, networking, client events)
    * I don’t go on dates
    * I do not have sex
    * I don’t (and have never) ‘gone online’

    Existential human relationship question for you (agree or disagree): It’s unrealistic that every person on the planet expects they will find or eventually be in a ‘good’ relationship or find the ‘best match/life partner/soulmate’ etc. Is it not true that, looking at the bigger picture, many people will never find this or be in the relationship they desire (whatever that may look like)?

    Any thoughts/counterpoints/questions always welcomed; love your straightforward approach & rational reminders re. how human relationships work!

    Hannah

  • That was awesome Matt, thank you!! I love and respect what you do.

    I made the mistake of striving to make an unhealthy relationship work. I strove to fix it and in the process lost myself for 25 years. Early on I saw red flags, but I decided to ignore them and thought I could help that person grow and change… I accepted unacceptable behavior and treatment against my common sense, which I soon lost.

    I am free of that relationship now!! I’m ready, after three years of healing, to embark in the adventure to find someone wholesome and special to continue growing with – true love.

  • I too am guilty of this pseuo relationship. I have been struggling for two years now with a man i thought i would be with forever. Same thing . I do all the work. I do all the initiating . I know I need to stop but i really fell hard for this man. The first 9 months were awesome. Then between Christmas and New Years 2016 he told me he had to take a break. I panicked. The last two years i have spent in the pseudo relationship. Still seeing him. Making him dinner. Going for walks. I hoped he would see how good I am for him. He just wants to be friends. But i know it is going nowhere. I am not getting any younger and i feel like i finally came to terms with this and i need to move on. You are helping me realize this.

  • Hi Matthew! First off thank you for all you do. This couldn’t have reached me at a more perfect time. Thank you!!!!

    My scarcity mindset allowed me to be sucked into an 8 year relationship with a narcissistic sociopath. A pattern of similar relationships that lead up to it also. I finally woke up after having my children. It’s been two years since my divorce (woohoo) and so far dating has made me feel as though all there is available is bullshit. I’ve set my bar much higher and I am ready! I have learned that my guy will be healthy on all levels, if they eat right and exercise and have things they are creative with that is a good start. Haven’t found that yet. But besides all of the good compatibility questions I don’t know what are the right questions to ask when dating to filter out the bs from a genuine gentleman looking for something healthy and real. I’m looking forward to learning all of the things <3

  • Hi Matthew! First off thank you for all you do. This couldn’t have reached me at a more perfect time. Thank you!!!!

    My scarcity mindset allowed me to be sucked into an 8 year relationship with a narcissistic sociopath. A pattern of similar relationships that lead up to it also. I finally woke up after having my children. It’s been two years since my divorce (woohoo) and so far dating has made me feel as though all there is available is bullshit. I’ve set my bar much higher and I am ready! I have learned that my guy will be healthy on all levels, if they eat right and exercise and have things they are creative with that is a good start. Haven’t found that yet. But besides all of the good compatibility questions I don’t know what are the right questions to ask when dating to filter out the bs from a genuine gentleman looking for something healthy and real. I’m looking forward to learning all of the things <3

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