10 Ways to Be a Better Husband Today

By recognizing that marriages lasting and happy do not just happen, we can acknowledge the divorce statistics.

Strong marriages are characterized by each spouse making an effort, instead of settling into complacency and indifference, to make their partner feel enamoured and appreciated.

Kate and other married women told me what their husbands did on a daily basis to make them feel this way. What I learned from these women and the relationship experts that I interviewed for the AoM Podcast is below.

These suggestions will help you strengthen your relationship with her and make it even more happy.

These behaviors can help you change the trajectory of your marriage if it is struggling. In these situations, it's easy to feel like "why should I bother if she doesn't?" However, sometimes all that is needed to bring a relationship back to life is one person taking the initiative and acting differently. When one person begins to plant positive seeds of behavior, the other person will become less defensive and start acting accordingly. The relationship is able to move forward as a result of a positive cycle. If your wife does not reciprocate and up her relationship game, it is likely that your marriage requires a professional intervention.

Why not start by trying the below simple behaviors?

Ten Ways to be a Better Husband Today

1. Make your conversation interesting.

Marriage is basically one long conversation. When the quality of that conversation between spouses declines, the quality of their relationship also suffers.

Don't say "Fine" when your wife asks you how your day went. If not much has happened, find a few details to share.

During the day, collect interesting conversational topics to bring up with your spouse when you catch up. Recall some interesting office gossip that you heard at the water cooler. You can also read interesting articles and save some of the details so you can discuss them later. You should be mulling ideas that you have heard, so you can have something to share with your wife when she asks you "What are you thinking about?"

In the best relationships, conversing is so enjoyable that you don't want to stop.

2. Send love notes

James Sexton, a divorce lawyer who has spent years watching marriages break down, knows a few things about how to keep relationships together. He shared this tip on the AoM Podcast (listen to his episode, it's great): "Leave your spouse a note each morning for two weeks to avoid ever having to visit him in his office."

Just leave her a small note. "Hey Babe, thank you for watching TV on the couch last night. It was nice. The smell of you makes me happy. You looked beautiful when I woke this morning. I am so happy to have you in my life. It takes 30 seconds to say 'I love you'.

You can challenge yourself by leaving your wife a note of love every week for an entire year. This guy did it.

3. Plan ahead and be a man of action.

One woman told me that she appreciates when her husband plans a family or date night and executes the plan without her having any worries.

She declared, "Plans are really my thing!"

Do not wait for your wife or girlfriend to plan the next family outing, date or adventure. Don't wait for your wife to plan your next date or family microadventure.

4. Small acts of service are important.

AoM used to have a "Library of Random Man Knowledge", where readers could browse and submit articles.