Why You Keep Falling for the Wrong People | Rewind
16 Oct 2026 · 26 min
In this Love Life Podcast episode, host Matthew Hussey opens with a promotional plug for his upcoming virtual Core Confidence retreat and his weekly "The 3 Relationships" email newsletter. The core conversation, joined by panelists Stephen, Audrey, and Jay, explores why many people repeatedly date the "wrong" partners. They discuss the concept of having a dating "type"— how repeated attraction to similar looks, behaviors, or dynamics creates a self‑reinforcing mold that feels safe but limits growth. The panel likens this to fighting a familiar boxing style or the "better‑the‑devil‑you‑know" mindset, explaining that familiarity offers predictability even if it’s unhealthy. They contrast superficial preferences (e.g., hair color, height) with deeper character traits, noting that many people focus on a hodgepodge of superficial criteria instead of character. Audrey introduces the idea that personality types can be consistent across different outward packages, and the group examines how personal insecurities drive people toward partners who fulfill a need for control, submission, or validation. Matthew uses a pizza analogy to illustrate why over‑reliance on a single “type” becomes unsatisfying, urging listeners to approach dating with curiosity and openness to surprise. A listener comment from "Bibi" is read, showing a real‑world example of feeling calm and authentic with someone outside her usual type, reinforcing the episode’s message. The conversation also touches on self‑hate that can arise when people chase an unattainable ideal, and the value of sensitivity and empathy in partners, which are often undervalued. Throughout, the episode intersperses promotional spots for the Core Confidence retreat, the 3‑Relationships newsletter, and a sponsor read for Google Workspace with Gemini. The episode concludes with repeated calls to action for the retreat and newsletter.
Chapters
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Love Life Podcast. A quick announcement for anyone out there who is struggling with their confidence, either because life isn't the way you thought it would be by now, or you're experiencing an amount of rejection or failure in your life that is making it really hard for you to feel confident. Maybe you feel like time has gotten away from you and you're feeling behind in your life. I have my retreat coming up very shortly this month. This is where I'm going to be teaching my entire system for what I call Core Confidence, so that you can feel the most confident you've ever felt, regardless of what is happening in your life right now. The beauty of this is you can now experience the retreat virtually from the comfort of your own home, and you can experience it at a fraction of the price the retreat used to be. For tickets, go to mhretreat.com, but go and grab your ticket now because It is literally around the corner, and I don't know when I'm going to be doing this event again. I cannot think of a more powerful experience for you going into 2027, and I know by the end of this event, you're going to be telling me, I can't believe I was going to go into the rest of my life without these tools. I will see you on the retreat. mhretreat.com is the link. Thank you so much, and enjoy the episode.
Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet.
Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the Headline Hammer.
With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work.
That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about.
Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle/workspacewithgemini.
That's goo.gle/workspacewithgemini.
Stephen, you found an article on this. What did it have to say?
Well, it said that more than half— they were surveying Brits, and they said more than half of Brits have a type that they prefer to date, but a third are in long-term relationships with someone who doesn't fit the bill. Like, what does it mean to have a type, and is it helpful?
I suppose people, at one stage or another, they don't— it's not like they consciously go out looking for a certain kind of person necessarily. It's more that they come to find that there is something they find themselves attracted to over and over again.
Right.
And that ends up creating a kind of mold. And I, I think probably for a lot of people, that mold becomes sort of self-fulfilling, that if you keep dating within that mold, then you have more and more reference points for a certain kind of person. you have more and more reference points for someone who physically looks like that, or for someone who behaves like that. And that sort of ends up becoming what you know. No doubt for some people there is this sort of early imprint thing. There's some, uh, early attraction, uh, imprint that then dictates some of their early decisions around dating. But I think that There is, there will be some extent to which we keep replaying that scenario over and over again because it starts to just become what we know. And then we think that that's all we are attracted to because we're not actually really deviating from it, which at a certain point takes actually a little bit of effort to step outside what we know and date someone Different.
Yeah. And that's why I think there's a difference between what people are attracted to or what's best for them and what you're used to. And I think sometimes your type comes from what you're used to and what you've had. And type can mean looks, you know, blonde, brunette, tall, short, thin, large, whatever. But it can just mean— it can mean certain behaviours or dynamics. that you're used to, right? It can mean different things, like what your type is. But I think that people do— when they go into dating apps, people often superficially have an idea of, I like sporty type, I like a preppy type of person, I like— I don't like people who went to a posh school and, you know, had a silver spoon in their mouths, you know, all their life. People will have certain ideas that they just, they're just all these different mishmash of preferences, prejudices, habits, things you're used to. And I'm convinced that there's a lot of them that are just a distraction because they're not focused on behavior. They're not focused on character. They're not character-based. They're, they're a hodgepodge of ideas you've got in your head.
But I think you can have a type a personality type as well, right? Meaning, um, you can be attracted to very differently packaged people who have the same core.
Yes.
Right. They look, they look very different, but they have the same kind of confidence, or they have the same kind of humor.
What's interesting is, you know, why we would look to do that. And could it be that we feel safe in those patterns? So when we know People's short— it's a little bit like the better the devil you know. If you know someone's shortcomings, if you know that you're dating somebody who is this way and this way and this way, you, you can predict their behavior in a way where you feel safe, even if it's not conscious.
Mm-hmm.
Whereas if you date someone that's completely different, there's a new set of behavior that you're not used to that, you know, you then— it just sort of irks you a bit because you're not— you just don't feel safe in the same way that you do with someone whose behaviors you predict.
Yeah. In boxing, one of the things I got taught was you're not fighting a person, you're fighting a style. When you fight a style enough times, you get used to dealing with that style. And it might be that you keep changing the person in a relationship, but you keep getting the same style. And the attractive thing about that, even if it's uncomfortable or it comes with Pain is, as you say, better the devil you know is really a way of saying, I know the style that I'm dealing with here. I know how to counterpunch in this situation. I know what to anticipate. I can read the moves.
And even one step even deeper than that, could it be that, you know, you have your, um, your own issues and your own things that you're battling with? And so having someone, for instance, who is really jealous, allows you to step back into a position of submission or calming them down or soothing them where you feel needed, or you feel like you're constantly the evolved one in the relationship. So you get to also serve, you know, one of your own needs through their shortcomings or kind of more toxic traits, so to speak.
Yeah, that's kind of a— the relationship equivalent of the big fish, small pond idea is that you keep dating people where you get to feel like the big fish. You get to feel like the together one. It's a, it's always kind of the same as the Jerry Springer effect, right? I'd rather watch Jerry Springer because it makes me feel good about, it makes me feel together. I don't wanna have to watch a bunch of people who are more evolved than me. That might mean I'd actually have some work to do. That might mean I'd actually have to grow. And I do think that is one of the reasons that people pick a safe type, is that I don't actually have to grow. This is non-threatening. This person does not challenge me. And although I complain to everybody, like, I always think, pay attention to the things that you complain about a lot, but you keep replaying the same dynamic over and over again anyway. Because if that's the case, you're getting something out of it.
And I want to ask you, what do you say to the person who says, well, yes, fine, but I'm just always attracted to this kind of person. I can't help it. Whenever I try and go for something different, it's just not my type. I'm—
Pizza.
What?
That's the sort of stuff you come here for, guys. That's— I think we can wrap this one up there. Go on, Matt. What do you mean?
Think about it for a moment. Well, pizza can't be pizza every morning, lunchtime, and night. If that's what you ate every meal of the day for the rest of your life, It would stop being pizza. It— well, A, we would start to probably not feel our best.
Get hard times belly.
You get what, yeah, Audrey and I call a hard times belly, which is a belly that I sometimes develop in hard times.
Too much information.
Well, you brought it up. I didn't. You can't just make a reference and then I not explain it.
I call it, I call it the cheese ball.
But it would also, if you ate pizza morning, lunch, and dinner, some of the satisfaction of it being pizza would be taken away. It wouldn't, it wouldn't be that treat anymore. And I think that the person who's mysterious and got that, like, you know, that quality that makes them really exciting, it— if you, if you live with that person all day, every day, I guarantee they're not those things.
Right.
They can't be. It, it's a It's a sort of thing. The Friday night pizza effect happens because it feels like a cheat meal, right? But that person, you, in order to actually feel good sustainably, we need to have some kind of sustainable diet, which doesn't mean being with someone who's never pizza. You wanna be with someone who can be pizza sometimes, but that's not something that— that's not like a state that you just live in with someone every second of the day. So I often think that we've mistaken people who have created an artificial sense of how exciting they are with people who are just great people to be with.
Guys, I have a, I have a comment from our YouTube page that is very relevant to this point you're making, Matt.
Okay.
All right. So this comment is from someone who says her name is Bibi. So I want to tell you guys, because I do feel like we're a little community tonight, I was on a 3rd date with a guy whose personality isn't my type, but I feel calm and myself around him. I also didn't feel a lot of chemistry initially, but it's grown because I've always thought of him as handsome and cute. I found myself making a couple little corny jokes, and he seemed to appreciate them. Well, tonight we kissed. I like that he didn't pressure me to kiss him this entire time. Oh my gosh, I lost my balance after our kiss. I know that's just chemistry, but I'm glad it's there. I'm really trying not to overthink things now and spiral off. but enjoy my time with him. Just had to share that.
Wonderful.
I think it's really— it's encouraging, but I also think it's okay to have a type. It's okay to, like, be attracted to things. What I would suggest that people do is ask themselves, is your having a type, is your being attracted to people, is it closing you off from more people, or is it opening you up to more people? Because I think there's a way— we have a lot of people that comment that say, I'm just— I'm never attracted to anybody. Like, those guys could do— they could do well to have a type, to try to figure out, like, what is it I like about other humans, you know? And so I just think—
Do you ever believe anyone though when they say they're not attracted to anyone?
Well, I think it goes back to exactly what you were saying before, was they're playing it safe.
Correct.
They don't want to put themselves out there. But I think that it takes— I guess there's two sides of it. I do think sometimes we get— you know, I always joke that humans are my favorite animals. I really like people. You got to start to really try to like people a little bit. And I just think a lot of people find it safe to just be very critical. Not my type. Not my thing. I don't like that he does that. I don't like that she looks like this. And, uh, I think humans are pretty awesome.
Well, I, I think that when we get too far into our type, it becomes a form of, um, it almost becomes a form of self-hatred that we, we start looking for a specific magical kind of person, often that is very different from how we see ourselves. who we in some ways see as kind of aspirational. And anyone who shows the kind of human qualities that, that we have is kind of icky and gross. Mm-hmm. Because you're like, I, I'm trying to get away from me. And your type becomes the kind of unobtainable, the unattainable, I should say. And, and you're right, Jay. I mean, it becomes safe. becomes safe to say, that's my type, especially when your type is someone that is ever elusive. It's— to me, it's no different when I meet gay men who are like, I only ever like straight men. I'm like, what kind of self-hating bullshit is this?
Like, I only like people who don't like me.
I— well, it's so— firstly, it's so safe.
Yeah.
Because it removes me from the game.
I would argue they were probably in the game in that moment with you. That's a possibility.
No, no.
They're just testing the waters to see how far they can get.
I also think you'd be surprised at the amount of straight men who just kind of go for it.
Yeah, but you know, I think that there is something— look, again, it's like people who say, I It's, it's like people who find themselves going after married people. There is something safe about this. I'm, in a way, I'm removing myself from the game. I don't have to actually compete. If I'm competing in the single market, then I have competition, right? Whereas if you are just off the market, but I like you, then there's no real competition. And I think that's a big reason why people end up continuously chasing after things that feel elusive. I think there's an interesting kind of gray area that people may relate to, which is when they find themselves really enjoying being around someone who isn't their type or isn't typical for them, and they're drawn to that person, but they find themselves questioning themselves because they've created this very specific blueprint, and they're like, oh, but this isn't my type. Oh, this isn't what I normally go for. And that's playing into their decisions right now on a kind of On an analytical level, they're putting up a barrier when actually what they're experiencing and what they're feeling. And BB, who left that comment, what she kind of described is, oh, I felt drawn to this person. Had I allowed my kind of logical mind to put up a barrier, it could have, it could have said, this person isn't the kind of guy that I normally go for. But instead she said, I'm feeling something, so let me explore that. My friends, I have big news. Not only is my retreat around the corner, but you can also now get a ticket to the retreat that is virtual, meaning you can do it from wherever you are in the world. You do not have to be with me in Miami to do this. And even if you're not available on the weekend it's taking place, which by the way is October the 24th and the 25th this month, you still get 2 whole weeks with the recordings, so you can watch it all in your own time. I'm gonna be giving you my entire system for core confidence, which is the unlock, not only for your peace and your happiness in life, but also for your potential in attracting everything you want in 2027. You're gonna get to the end of this event, And say to me, I cannot believe I almost went into 2027 without these tools. So, no excuses. You can now do this from anywhere in the world. Come and join us. The link to go and get your ticket is mhretreat.com. That is mhretreat.com. And by the way, when you get to that page, I have a special surprise for you. So, please go and take advantage of it. And I will see you on the retreat. Okay, back to the episode.
Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet.
Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the Headline Hammer.
With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, Just personalized AI for the way we work.
That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about.
Get AI tools for work.
Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle/workspacewithgemini. That's goo.gle/workspacewithgemini.
And that to me is where there's a lot of potential outside of your type. It's not by finding someone that you don't find attractive at all in any way, shape, or form. And saying, let me just stick it out and see what happens. It's more about paying attention to feelings you have in directions you don't normally go in.
Yes.
And seeing where those feelings take you.
Yeah. And that can be someone's character. It can be a certain way they behave with you, a dynamic. But that's why I think, yes, it can be super helpful, right? If you are like, You're a sporty hiking, mountain climbing, you know, gym junkie, whatever. It totally makes sense if you are like, I'm gonna go to physical things where I'm gonna meet people there because I would love someone who can share that with me. That, that totally makes sense. And it's great to think about your pool and to put yourself in those scenarios. I really, really agree with that. I think it's just that it It shouldn't— A, it shouldn't be a restriction, and B, it's like, you would be surprised how many things that might be peripheral, even outside of the thing you thought was so crucial. But I think like you're saying, Matt, some openness to like, I might be surprised by someone here. It might be more about our dynamic that's unique and special than it is about they checked these 10 things I thought I needed in a partner.
And I think this may be potentially off topic, but I think this is such a good point that I want to just shine a light on it. Because sometimes we forget that the things that we resent our partners the most for, or the things that we don't like in people, can be the sort of flip side of the coin for the things that's going to make that are going to make your life much better. And a lot of the times we undervalue or even resent certain characteristics. But what we do not realize is whilst discarding those, we are discarding all of the great things we are actually looking for in people.
Yes.
And I think that is a really important thing to remember whenever somebody does something and you go, oh, God, they got a bit annoyed about this. They are a bit sensitive. They are a bit sad. Tie it to all of the ways that they're sensitive. Are they sensitive to your feelings as well as their own feelings? Are they sensitive to other people in the world, and do they care about things? Is them being sensitive actually them being empathetic and therefore having that in abundance in all areas of life? And does that make your life better?
Right. And that, and that's, that's, it's really, that's a great point because then what you can find is you might date someone where you initially see their sensitivity as not sexy. Right? And you go, oh God, they're so sensitive, and
blah, blah, blah. And that part of you, it's like the teenager on the playground at school is like, where's the Danny Zuko in all of this? Where's the bold, slicked-back, struts in in his leather jacket? That guy, that guy's sexy. And
I love Matt's interpretation of what women's types are actually like.
That's what Audrey was talking about in high school. Not the Japanese child hair. You
know, I think of Danny Zuko as just having that incredible, like, put-on swagger, you know. But the— but you then have to run that experiment. You have to go, okay, like Audrey said, what actually do I get with this sensitivity? that makes my life so much better and makes for a much better relationship? And what did the opposite of this look like in my last 5 relationships? What did the people who had no sensitivity, how did that play out for me?
Hmm.
The last 5 times. So you have to run the experiment all the way through. That thing that I keep going for, what happens? And even if my initial response to this is not as exciting, how does that play out?
Yeah.
If I actually give it more thought and let it run to its natural kind of terminal velocity. Now I wanna, I wanna just take a step back for a moment because I, I just want to put a bow on this and say this, that I don't want this conversation to be construed as us saying, I don't want it to be construed as kind of some sort of preachy, go for better human beings and stop going for people that you're attracted to. Firstly, it would be incredibly sad if you couldn't find a marriage between the two. And if you can't find a marriage between the two, that is suggestive of some kind of being led by some kind of trauma as opposed to something that's actually good for you long-term. But it's not saying go for people that you are not in any way attracted to. It's be very wary of, A, the instinct to keep going for the same thing. Because half the time, the reason we think we're attracted to the same thing over and over is because that's the thing we keep doing. We keep reinforcing that pattern over and over. And so you've just convinced yourself
that that's the only reality that's available to you. And attraction is so weird, and it's so complex, and it's so, in many ways, sort of unknowable that the idea that you have figured out the only kind of person that you can be attracted to is It's so, it's so ridiculous. It's nonsense.
You have a bias from your ex sometimes as well, right? Like, you're trying to either rewrite that relationship, or you think, I really love them, so I— that's the kind of person I'm into.
Of course. And if you had a very emotional experience with someone of that kind, and that your brain links up— we know that the brain creates long-term memories out of the most emotionally heightened experiences. So when you have a relationship that there were massive spikes of emotion, then your brain wires that up as important. That was important.
Remember that it was important. And we're just not aware of how many other experiences are available to us in the realms of infinite possibility of relationships we could have and types of people we could be attracted to, and the types of people, the vast array, the diversity of people that could Wow us. We cannot give ourselves too much credit that we have just figured out exactly what it is we want and need.
So that's the first thing, and the second thing is knowing that go into your dating life with a sense of curiosity, with a sense of openness to being surprised.
Hmm, this is interesting. This person's actually. I feel really good around this person. Now I'm telling myself they're not my normal type, and therefore they must be a friend, not something more. But why am I telling myself that?
What, what's that based on? Is it really based on the fact that I couldn't be attracted to this person, or that I'm just not letting myself be attracted to this person, or I'm just not giving this person the time of day? What, what is hold— where am I holding myself back as opposed to I couldn't be attracted? And some of the Some of the time, the only way to know that is to actually give something more of a chance that you wouldn't normally give a chance. Not because you feel
nothing and you're just having wild stabs in the dark, but because you actually do feel something, a little flame that might actually be worth breathing some oxygen into, that might actually be worth giving a little more time to catch. fire.
Like Bibi.
Like Bibi. She didn't— she wasn't there because she felt nothing. She was there because she felt something curious, and she followed that
curiosity.
And importantly, she, she said, but I feel calm in myself around him. Bibi really— what Bibi's really been watching a lot of our videos.
Well, that's a great sign of a healthy relationship, right? You feel calm, and you feel yourself around them, and you feel like you can be yourself. The reason Bibi feels like herself around him is because Along the way, he's made her feel that she can be. He's made her feel accepted in that way. So she's not trying to pretend to be something else to get his attraction, and that's a sign of a really healthy relationship, and I honestly think as well, the more you— the more we grow, the more we realize what happiness actually looks like, the more healthy relationships start to look really attractive. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Before you go, make sure that you do this one thing today. I promise you that every week you are missing out by not doing what I'm about to say. I send a private email to a group of people who have registered for it every single Friday. The email is called The 3 Relationships, and every email is packed with advice on how you can improve in the 3 core areas of life: your relationship with other people, your relationship with yourself, and your relationship with life itself. People really look forward to this email. It's not the kind of email people skip. People look forward to it in their inbox every Friday. Go over to the3relationships.com to sign up for that email for free. By the way, the 3 in that domain is the number 3, not the word three. So the3relationships.com, and I will see you in your inbox this Friday. Thank you for listening, everyone. I'll see you in the next episode. Be well and love life. Thanks for listening to the episode, everybody. Before you go, don't forget to grab your retreat ticket while there's still time. I literally cannot think of a more important thing for you to do before you go into 2027. Too many of us repeat the same year over and over again, making new resolutions and then living the same life. Please come join me because I will show you how to change that once and for all by developing true Core Confidence. This isn't a program. It's a system, and it's one you'll use for the rest of your life. To get tickets, go to mhretreat.com. Thank you so much for listening to this episode, and I will see you next time.
Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet.
Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc. The headline hammer.
With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work.
That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about.
Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle/workspacewithgemini.
That's goo.gle/workspacewithgemini.
