The Secret to a successful marriage is...
If you're married, your primary relationship in life is with your spouse. And of course, the strength of that relationship will go a long way to determine your happiness in life.
Vic Conant, the president of Nightingale Conant, has been a good friend for over twenty years. Not long ago he wrote an article called, The Keys to Successful Living that focused on things we can do to improve our marriages. It was terrific!
Vic acknowledged that a few years ago, he had some problems with his marriage to the point where he was considering other alternatives. But he wanted it to work and decided to try what he called "the 100% commitment experiment," (not 99%, but 100%). He said in doing so, something magical happened. He began to look for the positives and began to enjoy his wife more each day. She naturally responded by being much nicer to him. He said it began an amazing transformation; and today, after 36 years of marriage, they've never been happier.
As Vic discovered, there is a remarkable difference between a commitment of 99% and 100%. At 100%, you are seeing your problems all the way through to their solutions. At 99% we can still find a way to take the path of least resistance...and usually do.
And guess what? "The 100% commitment experiment" not only works for marriage...it also works for life.
This is one of 50 ideas to motivate yourself in my book Charging the Human Battery. So many times, it's not what you say, but how you say it that turns the switch from "off" to "on." And that's what happened to me when I first read Vic Conant's story about the remarkable difference between a commitment of 99% versus 100%. The light bulb went on!
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