I remember when I was single and in my mid twenties I would stay up at night and attempt to figure out what qualities I would need for a lifelong partner. I remember coming up with a decent game plan, and then going onto okcupid and searching vigorously for the girl. I would go on some dates and eventually find a girl worth pursuing. After a few dates or sometimes months I would realize that the girl was not right for me.
Looking back, there was a few things that were apparent.
1. I didn't totally know what I needed in a partner
2. I consistently and constantly would change my game plan on what qualities I needed in a woman
3. My list of must haves were things I wanted NOT needed
So what should you do to make sure you focus on the right men and don't waste time?
Build Your Perfect Man List:
1. List every quality and characteristic you want in a man
2. Rank Your Top 5
Moving forward, if a man has your top 5, keeping dating him. If he doesn't, dump him immediately. One caveat, if you are dating a guy and he makes you realize you need X, add X to the list and remove one of your other qualities.
Why is this list SO IMPORTANT?
Online dating has given all of us the ability to go on countless dates. I know when I processed each date I would determine if a 2nd date was happening purely on chemistry. That method does NOT work. Chemistry does not equate to a lifetime partnership.
So I beg of you, build this list, stop making willy-nilly dating decision, and treat finding love seriously. If finding a soul mate is important, only date people that have potential to obtain that elite status. So congatulations! You just made dating at least 10X more efficient. Go You!
I remember growing up believing once I fell in love, that would be it for me. No more dating around. I found her, time to get married and spend our lives together. However, at some point to my chagrin I realized love is not enough. Keeping a significant other involves a lot more than just love.
However, in this article I am going to tell you the 2 principles that will make it almost impossible to mess up a relationship that has love.
Without further ado:
1. Accept him for who he is
2. Appreciate him for what he does
Yes, these concepts are VERY SIMPLE. But, they are amazingly hard to execute. So I am going to dive a lot deeper on how to implement.
1. Let's start with accepting him. This means actually liking all his weird idiosyncrasies. This means making him feel good about his insecurities.
For example, I quit my stable corporate america job with a stable paycheck to start this business. My income is very varied and sporadic, which makes for not the most stable of boyfriends to eventually start a family with. However, my girlfriend admires my ability to face risk and everyday she pushes me to get small wins. She makes me feel confident in my decisions and even lifts me up on days where I think I should throw in the towel.
In turn, I feel that she completely accepts me for who I am and is not trying to change me.
2. Let's move onto appreciating him.
The male ego is fragile and needs to be bolstered constantly especially by the person who is supposed to lift it up.
In order to make my point clear I want to visit my friend Ryan and Noelle's marriage and eventually divorce. Background: College educated, great jobs, mid 30's, wonderful home, dog, and white picket fence. From the outside looks like the perfect marriage.
As homeowners, things would occasionally need to be fixed or renovated. Ryan would perform the tasks, the best he could. However, Noelle came from a family of carpenters. Thus, no matter how hard Ryan tried, his work was never sufficient. Instead of receiving appreciation for his efforts, Noelle would compare it to professionals, put Ryan down, complain, and then fix it herself.
Ryan was a confident strong man but eventually without recieving apperciation and encouragement from his wife he could no longer be loving and the great husband he usually is. Once, he stopped being a great husband, you can only imagine how the relationship snowballed and eventually ended in divorce.
Obviously, I over generalized all the causes of this divorce but the point still remains that a man needs to feel appreciated.
No matter what he is doing, you have an opportunity to make him feel like a million bucks if you want him to feel that way.
Examples: Takes garbage out, grab his arms and say, "You are so strong, thank you"
Does the dishes, "You are so sexy when you do the dishes"
Calls you on the phone, "Thanks for calling, it makes me so happy to hear from you"
Not only will these words of encouragement make him feel great but if you continue your positive reinforcement you can train him to repeat good behaviors. And guess what, he is going to be happy as can be to do these chores as long as you over appreciate him for it!
Want to learn how to train your man without changing him in more detail? Read this article.
In the meantime, remember to appreciate and accept him and you will never ever lose a man you love ever again!
Have you ever said "I Love You" to your new significant other and in return heard crickets? If you have, you know this might be one of the worst feelings. It leaves you insecure, worried, and also puts a lot of pressure/strain on the relationship.
If you are feeling love for your partner should you blurt it out immediately?
Unlike almost every other blog post, I am NOT going to give you a definitive answer. I am simply going to tell you what happens in both instances and let you decide which scenario works better for you.
First, let's discuss saying "I Love You" as soon as you are feeling it.
Positives:
1. No secrets, open lines of communication (Very Healthy Trait to have in a relationship)
2. YOU feel stress relieved by getting it off your chest (I bolded YOU because sometimes speaking is purely for the benefit of the person speaking, not the listener)
3. Saying "I Love You" is one of the best compliments you can give a person
Negatives:
1. The person does not feel the same way
2. When you say "I love you", you don't want to say it once. You want to shout it from the rooftops. If he/she doesn't say it back, you must likely are not going to be saying it again for awhile.
3. If the person is not ready to say it back and doesn't, for the next few weeks/months there could be immense pressure to say it or end the relationship.
I know many men/including myself that have had a woman say "I Love You" first have seen strain put on the relationship. The lack of the term of endearment being reciprocated caused conversations like "Where is this relationship headed and so forth" (Although a great conversation to have, imagine what you will feel when he says, "I want to get married one day but I am not there yet". Coupled with not saying "I love you", the average person would feel pretty insecure in the relationship and it could bubble over to questioning the stability of the partnership. Do YOU want to add this pressure?
Second, lets visit holding "I Love You" in to wait for your partner to catch up.
Positives:
1. No pain, insecurity from potentially not hearing the words back
2. Zero Risk
3. Keeping the relationship light and airy so the guy can eventually on his own terms get to feelings of love and more importantly wanting to spend the rest of his life with you. (Note: It is not easy to find love, but based on the divorce right and the amount of monogamous relationships that end it is clearly way harder to find and make a life partnership work)
Negatives:
1. Suppressing your feelings
2. Maybe he loves you too and his scared to say it too (stalemate)
3. If you are dying to tell someone how you feel, it is really hard to keep it a secret.
4. If you love him and he doesn't love you back, it may end a relationship that was never going to work anyway
Alright ladies and gentleman, that is the breakdown of telling your significant other, "I Love You" first. I hope you can weigh the pros and cons and make a decision that is right for you. I know after re-reading my pros and cons I am certainly leaning towards one direction being the correct approach.
Which approach do you think is better?
