Tag: priority

There's no scoreboard when it comes to marriage, making it difficult to know if you or your spouse are acting appropriately and if your situation is normal—not that there's a particular standard for normal. Wouldn't it be nice to know what others get or receive in their marriage? Wouldn't it be helpful if others pulled open the curtain on their expectations so you can adjust your barometer? Here are four secrets I’ve found from other married women who share their thought on what Mr. Right means to them.

Why is it that we don't do what we know we should do? We've heard it before, time and again: itemize tasks by priority, then work on our projects in that order. And yet, even if we've made the list, we tend to focus on the most familiar endeavors first, and then we run out of time and energy for the most important ones.

Procrastination is a sly devil that convinces you to put off what you know is crucial, and instead fill your day with busy tasks that do little to contribute to your overall success and happiness. If you feel stuck on a treadmill of missed deadlines and opportunities, these four habits will launch you into a new mindset of timely action:

Nearly everyone in a marriage would admit that their relationship could be better. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are unhappy, it just means they know there is always another level that can be reached in a relationship. No matter where you are on the satisfaction scale in your marriage, here are four powerful questions to ask yourself that will keep the two of you growing together and deepening your connection.

Anything of value grows slowly over time. It's the small, sometimes seemingly insignificant, things that turn out to have the most profound effects over the long term. The same is true for your marriage. Ask these questions of yourself on a daily basis.

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. ~ Bill Vaughan

It is the time of year when many of us make New Year's resolutions. The most popular include things like losing weight or getting fit, getting the finances in order, organizing our life, an effort to quit smoking and reduce or stop drinking and even try to have more fun. I even read that fifty-percent of Americans say their New Year's resolution is to spend more time with family and friends.

You have probably heard the phrase "leave and cleave." Most of us agree that the cleaving part is pretty fun, but the process of leaving often presents a challenge. Becoming truly independent from our parents is one of the best gifts we can give our spouse. That doesn’t mean we should cut off contact with our parents or start being hateful toward them. It just means that pleasing our spouse should take priority over pleasing our parents.

Does your wife get upset when your parents drop by uninvited? Is your husband bothered by the fact that your mother calls constantly at all hours, day and night? Do you pressure your wife to spend vacations with your folks because that’s what they expect?

After years of being a divorce lawyer and watching couples grow apart and divorce, I became frustrated watching couples lose their dreams of a permanent marriage due to their lack of basic skills that we should have learned in kindergarten. Over the last 35 years, the statistics remain the same: 50 percent of all marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. Many of these marriages are good people who have grown apart and look across the dining room table (if they even eat together) and do not recognize the person who sits in the other seat. How does this happen and what can we do about it?

Over the next number of months, we’re going to make some suggestions for avoiding my office and staying "hitched." Try these, and you may put me out of business!