📋 Episode Summary
Emily and Marc start where they always do, with what's on their minds. For Marc, it's the systems we live in and the stories he was told about them. For Emily, it's a Leuchtturm1917 journal with six pages left in the middle, a brand-new one waiting on her desk, and the surprisingly big question of how to begin it.

From there they return to values, picking up a thread from Season 1, Episode 11. They talk about renaming budget categories so they reflect what you care about, the credentials that act as signals for ourselves more than for anyone else, and what a calendar reveals. Marc realizes his calendar is already full of values placeholders: working the polls on election days and blocking monthly reading days. Emily names those reading days for what they are, a Sabbath pace with an intentional learning bent.

The conversation is reflective and gently playful. They share their personal values lists and end on an idea that stops them both: abundance isn't somewhere we're going. It's where we are.

🔑 Key Takeaways
• Labeling budget categories with your actual values (like "hobbies") makes the numbers more meaningful and more likely to get attention.
• Some credentials and signals are mainly for ourselves; they help us show up with more confidence and authenticity.
• You can see your real values by looking at where your money and your time actually go.
• For self-employed people, time is the inventory on the shelves, so how you spend it is a values decision.
• Rest, reading days, and "artist dates" aren't indulgences that need justifying; they refill you, and often everything else improves.
• Abundance can be a present reality to live from, even in seasons of scarcity.

🗣 Quote Highlights
• "This wasn't just an inevitable maturation of human society. This is a confluence of very specific choices and events." – Marc
• "When I have an idea, it could be an idea that doesn't need any action really for two years, but it's still more important than the thing that's on my list, like make a dentist appointment." – Emily
• "I don't think people really care that I have an ACC. What I think they care about is that I'm a really good coach, and they will become more themselves after working with me." – Emily
• "Our inventory is our time. The shelves of our store is time." – Marc
• "It's a Sabbath pace, even though it's a very intentional learning pace." – Emily
• "I'm not doing this to be productive. I'm doing this because I'm a human and I'm refilling myself." – Marc
• "If I really believe abundance exists and is where I'm operating from, it's where I am. It's not where I'm going." – Marc

🧰 Tools & Mentions
• Still Figuring It Out, Season 1, Episode 11 — the values episode that inspired this conversation. https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/35d59fa5-fffe-4892-9f2e-24382bb92ee3/id/35462985
• Leuchtturm1917 dotted journals — Emily's notebook of choice for keeping her life and ideas in order. https://www.leuchtturm1917.com/
• The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron — the source of the "artist date," time set aside to do something that makes your heart sing. https://juliacameronlive.com/
• B Corp certification — a business structure Emily and Marc have considered for Concord Leadership Group as a signal of their values. https://www.bcorporation.net/
• International Coaching Federation (ICF) — the professional body behind Emily's ACC credential and the regional gathering Marc describes. https://coachingfederation.org/
• Dirty Laundry on Dropout — the show Marc hears every time Emily asks, "What's on your mind?" https://www.dropout.tv/

👥 Who Should Listen
• Coaches and solopreneurs who find business numbers uninspiring and want them to connect to what matters
• Married couples who work together and want their budget and calendar to reflect shared values
• Self-employed professionals who feel guilty taking time for rest, reading, or civic commitments
• Paper planner and bullet journal people facing the blank first page
• Leaders weighing whether credentials and certifications are worth it, and who they're really for
• Anyone trying to live from abundance instead of scarcity

🎺 That Music!
Special thanks to Lexi Moreno, Caleb Pitman, and Zoe Czarnecki for the original music.
Lexi Moreno – composing / mixing / mastering / guitar
Caleb Pitman – composing / mixing / trumpet
Zoe Czarnecki – bass

📋 Episode Summary

Twenty-seven windows turn out to be a good starting point for talking about partnership. Emily shares how asking everyone at home to take nine meant questioning the voice that said she should do it all herself. From there, she and Marc revisit "Side-by-Side Life," exploring their habit of tending to the things nobody sees: drainage, windows, household systems, and the foundations of a shared life.

But togetherness needs room for individual lives, too. Marc admits that spending time or money on his own interests can still feel like taking something away from the family. Emily offers a different picture: a French braid, growing fuller as new strands are brought in. Perhaps hobbies, friendships, and outside commitments can bring more into a relationship.

It's a playful, candid conversation about asking for help, trusting each other, and learning to make room for personal interests without keeping a running tally of what they cost the "us." And yes, there's one piece of cherry pie left.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• The expectation to do everything yourself may come from inside your own head. Emily's family readily shared the window cleaning once she asked.
• Fixing a root problem can matter more than making a visible improvement. Marc and Emily connect their approach to home repairs with the less visible work they do in organizations.
• Shared priorities don't mean identical roles or timing. Emily often gets a decision moving, while their conversations give them space to hear each other and sometimes set an idea aside.
• Adding a budget line for hobbies gave personal interests an explicit place in their shared priorities, alongside education and entertainment.
• A partner's encouragement can help challenge guilt about taking time for yourself. Marc describes how Emily's reminders to have fun help him question his assumption that he's taking away from the family.
• Emily's French-braid image offers a way to think about outside interests: each person can bring experiences, relationships, and energy back into their life together.

🗣 Quote Highlights

• "It was just the voices in my head that were telling me that I should do everything. And I didn't listen to those voices." – Emily

• "Not just looking at what's in the stream here, but looking upstream, what's causing that." – Marc

• "I think we still treat our home as making it better for the next person." – Emily

• "Like when watercolors bleed together, there's the us." – Emily

• "That negative voice in my head isn't necessarily reflecting reality. It's a perception that I can let go of." – Marc

• "That's what I feel like our hobbies and our outside commitments are, is that bring more into our togetherness and our side-by-sideness." – Emily

🧰 Tools & Mentions

• Side-by-Side Life — Season 3, Episode 3 of Still Figuring It Out, the starting point for this conversation.
• Working Genius — Emily and Marc refer to their shared strengths of Invention and Discernment while considering how they make decisions together.
• A values-based budget — naming spending categories for what matters to them, including a dedicated line for hobbies.
• Dr. Sarah Glova's newsletter — Emily shares its reminder that life isn't pizza: one person receiving something doesn't automatically leave less for someone else.

👥 Who Should Listen

• Partners who enjoy sharing life closely but are learning to make room for individual interests.
• Anyone who feels guilty spending time or money on a hobby.
• People who take on household responsibilities without asking whether others could share them.
• Couples navigating changing routines as their children become more independent.
• People who put effort into necessary, unseen improvements—and sometimes wish they could have the lovely kitchen, too.

🎺 That Music!
Special thanks to Lexi Moreno, Caleb Pitman, and Zoe Czarnecki for the original music.
Lexi Moreno – composing / mixing / mastering / guitar
Caleb Pitman – composing / mixing / trumpet
Zoe Czarnecki – bass