ADLW Day #7: Take the Challenge

[image error]I am married to a wonderful woman. Our relationship is nearly perfect. But, we’ve been married for 20 years; the fizzle is bound to subside a bit. That’s why a few Januaries back I created a challenge for myself. I’d read somewhere that if you can do anything for a year, you make it habit. So, I created the “52-Week Challenge.”

It’s a simple concept: I create, find, or steal a list of 60 or more romantic ideas and implement one a week for a year (I chose more than 52 in so I could have options at the end).

First, I needed to create the list. I came up with ideas on my own. Then I started Googling romantic ideas and adding some of what I found to my list, easy stuff as well as things that take more work (wash her car, give her a surprise party, back massage, go out dancing, sunset walk on the beach, weekend trip to Vegas, etc…). Let me tell you now, the more expansive the list, the easier the challenge is.

Weeks one through 15 went smoothly, but that’s because I’d chosen all of the “easy” things from my list. When I got to the middle of the year, it got harder, because the items took more work and because the novelty was wearing thin (my wife was loving it, by the way), but I knew if I kept at it, it would become habit.

Sure enough, by week 40 I really didn’t even need to use the list. Ideas were popping into my head and it was becoming second-nature for me to do something special for my wife each week. And, by year’s end it was habitual.

Take the “52-Week Challenge” yourself and there’s no way you’ll be visiting a divorce lawyer in the near future..

If you want more on the 52-Week challenge, check out this four-minute video.