Toward a Smarter Romance

Over the next several weeks I'll pose some practical questions. The questions are general, overlapping, and don't necessarily have a rank or chronological order to them--although you'll observe that some do. How you answer each one may prove to be intensely practical for you. Each question will be accompanied with a brief discussion.

Every person looking for a life's partner needs to know how and/or where to get the answers to these questions. The answers will fit generally one person--you. (The "how and/or where" is the stuff or Smarter Romance.) Every person in a serious courtship should be actively involved in the process of answering them. How and where a person gets the answers will inform his or her dating and courtship experiences with the person he or she is with. It's the active, intentional effort a person commits to answering these questions that will fuel one's courtship down the super highway of Smarter Romance.

Here's a helpful suggestion: If you are presently involved in a relationship, it may help if you edit the questions (I'll be posing) by inserting your name--or the personal pronoun "I"--and your partner's name into it. Consider this example:
Q: What are you doing to prepare for the time-management challenges you are likely to encounter working with your business partner?
Edited: What am I doing (right now) to prepare myself for the time-management challenges I expect to face working with Steven Johnson-Smith?

So, here we go. Enjoy.

Question No. 1
What are you doing (right now) or what have you already done (in the recent past) to assure yourself that you will have a durable and satisfying marital relationship? Record your answer and be very specific.