25 Examples Of Healthy Relationship Goals For Couples

Being in a relationship without having some set goals compares to setting out on a journey without having any destination in mind; it's not only freaky but also unwise. You can't really know if you're making any progress or not and you are an easy target for all sorts of distractions. If we compare marriage to a company, your relationship goals would be your mission, the thing you wish to become both in the short and the long-term. Just as it is freaky to have a company running without a purpose or vision, so also it is with couples without relationship goals. Relationship goals are needed to keep couples focused. Goals make the relationships lively because you are always working towards achieving something. This hope makes partners work hard and as that is done, the relationship becomes stronger and healthier. Not all goals set by some couples are healthy actually. For your relationship goals to be healthy, they have to put the two of you into consideration and must not lead to rivalry. In this piece, we shall consider 25 examples of healthy relationship goals that you and your partner may want to adopt. They are presented in the form of advice which makes their acceptance by you a choice you want to make. Some of them are long-term goals whereas others are short term. Before we consider the 25 examples, it would be nice to remind you that no relationship works just by itself without couples involved putting in some effort. In fact, the effort must be mutual and single-focused so as to achieve a worthwhile and healthy relationship. What this means is that you are ready to give everything that is within your ability to your relationship so it can work out. Setting goals after goals would amount to nothing if you are not willing to make those goals achievable. So, building on the assumption that you and your partner are willing to make things work, here are 25 examples of healthy relationship goals to pursue as a couple.

If you decide to follow the examples of relationship goals suggested here, you can rest assured that your relationship will not only be healthy but fulfilling too. Here are the examples.

No matter how intuitive the rest of your goals may be, if honesty is wanting, everything would eventually amount to nothing. Honesty in your relationship would mean that you say what you mean and mean what you say. It equally means that you're not going to have another eye outside on another man or woman. Couples that stay honest with one another have greater chances of having a healthy relationship than those who are pretty dishonest. As an advice, you may have to train yourself to tell the truth at all times and encourage your partner to do so as well. Talk about this goal together and jointly determine how it would be achieved. If you can identify reasons any of you may become dishonest or unfaithful, you can jointly find a way to prevent it. Honesty is among the long-term goals you would have to set for your relationship. There is no time when it is not needed. When you both discover that your partner is honest with you, you can better put all of your energies into achieving your other goals and making your relationship healthy. Honesty does not mean that you would always agree on issues but even where disagreement ensues, partners are not likely to blow issues out of proportion because they can sense you're telling them the truth. Your children are also going to benefit from this virtue as they too would grow up seeing honesty as a rule and not an exception.

At the heart of a healthy relationship is an unrestricted flow of communication among couples. Talking alone does not make healthy or good communication except if it is backed up by a good listening skill. As much as you can also listen well to your partner's advice or discussion, you also need to be able to speak when necessary too. In other words, communication can only be said to be complete if it combines good oratory prowess with sound listening skills. Just like honesty, effective communication is also one of the long-term goals you should set and work towards as couples. It helps to guide against needless misunderstandings that can tear your relationship apart. Just like other goals too, this has to be mutual. You may have to assure your partner that they're free to approach you anytime on any issue. They may not be good with words or rich in advice as yourself but you must also create time to listen to them too. One thing about healthy communication is that it is a give-and-take thing. If I'm sure you are free and open with me, I'm likely to be the same with you too, especially if we are a couple. And once there is a healthy flow of communication, many of the obstacles against other goals would be reduced to nothing.

Couples who spend quality time together stay together. It should be among your goals to have time for reflection every day. That means spending time together can be both short and long-term goals at the same time. As partners, you need each other physically. Although the demands of your job may want to pose a big challenge to having time together with your partner, you would have to sit down with them to plan things out. Spending quality time in close intimacy with your spouse is among the relationship goals you don't want to brush aside. If you do so, that can give room for infidelity occasioned by loneliness. Both of you must work together by a way of compromise to meet this goal. As an advice, you shouldn't think of living apart from your partner. The farther the distance between you and your spouse, the higher the possibility of falling apart. It's better to settle for a lesser paid job and stay close to your partner than go after money and lose your relationship. This, of course, would require some levels of compromise.

Before you met, it's most likely you both had a career that you were working towards. Marriage should not be allowed to crush your career just like you should not also allow your career to crush your marriage. A balance must be reached. As part of your goals, you'll want to see yourself and your spouse be the best you can possibly be because that's one way your relationship too can be healthy. That would mean that you'll have to support each other both in advice and action. When each person is happy, they can extend the joy to the relationship, but where someone feels their life's goals have been suppressed because of a relationship, resentment can arise which can lead to tension in the union. You can get clues and advice from other couples who have been able to combine their career goals with their relationship. It would guide you on how to go about yours too.

Most couples would have to invest in one thing or the other to be able to cater to their needs and also help others. Even if you feel you're not the business type, you will have to include a savings plan in your list or relationship goals. Everyone knows there is always a rainy day when you cannot go to work and you would have to fall back on your savings. Your goals should include how much you project to save in a month and how such monies would be saved; that is, whether in each person's bank account or an agreed joint account. This savings or investment plan must be reviewed yearly and in fact, you may have to set goals for it too. Such goals would keep you focused and when you meet them, you'll get motivated. An advice on investment is that you should not go into one without the knowledge of your partner. Both of you should jointly consider the pros and cons of a business before venturing into it. It gives everyone a sense of belonging and you can be sure you'll hardly fall into an error that way. In setting investment goals for your relationship, you would have to ensure that it doesn't affect your disposable income. While you plan for the long-term investment, your short-term needs equally have to be taken care of.

Marriage requires money, perhaps a lot of it. You have many bills to pay especially when you have children. So, one intricate part of your relationship goals would have to include how you hope to meet all the financial responsibilities attached to being in a relationship. After infidelity, one issue that often puts couples at loggerheads is finance. Several freaky things such as unwarranted resentment and fights happen in relationships where couples live from hand to mouth. To this extent, therefore, you want to ensure that in your relationship goals, your expenditure does not exceed your income. You even want to ensure that you get a better job that attracts a handsome pay so you can meet your family's basic needs. All of the strategies you hope to employ in meeting this goal have to be made if possible before marriage with your partner. Financial goals can never be complete without transparency. Each person's income has to be honestly declared and accounted for. It should be among couples' goals not to indulge in a freaky spending that could spell a financial doom for their relationship later on.

For a healthy marriage, intending couples must agree on a number of things pertaining to children and childbirth. To be frank, relationship goals without discussion on this matter is a mere formality. You need to agree with your partner if you wish to have children of your own or to adopt one. This may actually sound freaky but it's true. Some couples prefer adopting a child to giving birth to their own. Even when you have agreed to give birth to children, part of your goals here should include the number as well as the mode of delivery. Would you be hiring a surrogate or settling for a caesarian section? Again, how long do you hope to stay after your marriage before having your first child? And how do you hope to space your children? These are serious goals that should be clearly defined and agreed upon before you and your partner walk down the aisle. They are no little goals as many marriages have gone into disarray because of disagreements on these issues.

Your relationship goals should include how you hope to manage your sexual life with your partner. It may not be possible for you to come up with a timetable for sex, especially before you get married, but your goals must contain a blueprint on how often you think sex should take place between you. It is not a freaky idea for intending couples to discuss sex; after all, it is one regular activity you would engage in when you're married. Individual expectations and threshold with regard to sex should be laid on the table for partners to see. This would guide against most disaffections that usually arise in homes as a result of unmet sexual expectations. As it goes, couples that find their sexual life interesting normally have a better chance of leading a healthy marriage.

Your respect goals should include recognizing and maintaining individual boundaries. It must also take into consideration the fact that for a long-term sustenance of respect, it has to be mutual. Men would naturally want respect from their wives and their expectations in this regard too have to be communicated and mutually agreed upon. Women are no less in need of respect too and that's why your goals in this regard should be encompassing. You should agree on the names or titles you'll be addressing yourselves with when married. As a matter of fact, your goals should itemize (if possible) the things each person considers disrespectful and insulting to them. This way, you can avoid stepping on each other’s toes. Respect is both a short and long-term goal of a healthy relationship. Goals on giving and receiving respect are important because, with time, you may start taking each other for granted purposely because of familiarity. However, once you set your goals and are working towards it, you can keep that relationship killer (disrespect) in check.

As you set your relationship goals, one thing you don't want to leave out is achieving some degree of spiritual development together. We, humans, are spiritual beings even though some philosophers would want to make us believe otherwise. As an advice, you should endeavor to join your life with someone of the same religion as yours. Most religions differ sharply on what is morally and socially acceptable and if you make your marital choice from a religion which has a set of standards that differs from yours, your relationship may end up being unhealthy. That's because our religious orientations dictate to a large extent how we perceive things in general. Where you are both of the same religion, you would also want to set goals that would put the two of you at a similar level of spirituality. These goals can include the number of times you hope to pray for a day, church/mosque attendance, and commitment to spiritual exercises like fasting. All these would no doubt, ensure you're running a healthy relationship.

Recreation is among the things that make a relationship healthy. You cannot always be at your workplace. You'll need some moments to unwind and relax. It should be among your relationship goals to ascertain what would constitute your recreation. Will it always be a vacation or a visit to a museum? Also, you'll want to determine how often such recreational activities should take place in your relationship. Truth be told, unless you set the right goals on this issue, you may find no time to relax outside your home with your spouse. The demands of your job and other responsibilities may make recreation a no-go area. However, you need it to maintain a healthy relationship.

It won't be freaky to say that your relationship may experience conflict at some point. It's a normal thing that most relationships cannot avoid. However, you may want to spell it out in your goals how you hope to address any conflict that may arise. You may want to decide whether a third party should be involved where there's a misunderstanding between the two of you or not. Goals relating to conflict management have to stipulate which behavior is acceptable or not when expressing anger. For instance, you may want to agree with your partner that no degree of anger should make anyone destroy your collective properties. As you both work towards this, your relationship becomes great and you each know your limits, no matter how annoyed you may be at any given time. If you set other goals and fail to address this one, you're not being truthful with yourself. Marriage is not a bed of roses and no matter how much you love your spouse, sometimes, certain conflicts may arise and unless you have agreed earlier on how to handle issues when it gets to this stage, your relationship may just be torn apart.

You should not trust yourself so much as to say that you cannot at any time become abusive. Those who now abuse their spouses probably once thought they too could never do such a thing. The best thing is to set precautionary guidelines to guard against it. You may both agree on a set of things you would not do to each other no matter how much they offend you. To guide against substance abuse in your relationship, you may also have to have an agreed list of do's and don'ts in regards to drugs and substances. Each partner would have to watch the back of another to ensure they don't slip off into drugs and substance abuse. This is among the long-term goals you should have to keep your relationship alive and healthy.

A relationship without trust is only sitting on a time bomb. Couples need to trust one another to guide against jealousy and unnecessary bitterness. As it is, trust is built and not inherited. Partners would have to demonstrate that they can be trusted. That means trust can also be categorized as part of the long-term relationship goals. Trust can also be an individual relationship goal. Each partner should make up their minds to be trustworthy so that even if they're in the midst of opposite sexes, their partners can rest assured that there's no problem.

Don't be surprised that issues such as who is to do this and that can tear your relationship apart if you fail to define each person's roles from the outset of your relationship. Here, you're guiding against role overlap or confusion which may arise because someone does not know what is expected of them. There are some roles that seem to be gender-selective. For instance, everyone would agree that home-keeping and making are generally reserved for females whereas the tough and difficult roles are meant for men. However, some roles are not clearly defined. For instance, you may have to collectively decide on who washes the car, who takes the kids to school and who does the mowing. Undefined roles like this can take different forms and it would be up to you to agree what would be a person's duty in your marriage. You may even want to discard the traditional order of roles and set one that you think is most suitable for you; the decision is all yours. The ultimate aim is that each person knows what is expected of them and are working towards achieving them.

Everyone has parents or at least a guardian. And to have a healthy relationship, these have to be included in your plans. It should be among your goals to define what your responsibilities to these would be. It is also good to state clearly what their limits are also. Of course, you may need them to mediate a crisis but you both need to agree what their limits are even in these situations. The way you relate to your parents can tell in the long run whether you'll have a healthy relationship or not. If one partner feels that their parents are not properly taken care of from your joint income, resentment can set in and that can affect the overall health of your marriage. As an advice, you should come up with a yearly plan on how to take care of parents from both sides based on the income that accrues to you annually. You would also have to agree early enough on issues such as parents visiting you or staying with you for whatever purpose so that you don't get to disagree on these things later on. In short, the well-being of your parents and how it relates to your relationship should be part of your relationship goals.

Knowing and speaking your partner's love languages should be among your relationship's goals, regardless of how little or much the goals may be. Love languages according to Dr. Gary Chapman is our individual's unique way of experiencing love. Your partner has a particular way they feel loved the most. Chapman has posited five of such possible ways which are: Affirmation, acts of service, physical contact, spending quality time with your partner, and receiving of gifts. You should include it among your relationship goals how to determine which of these five love languages is your partner's. That may take a while to ascertain but with time and careful attention to your partner's complaints, you can know what their primary love language is. The discovery of this fact would help you communicate love to them in a language they appreciate.

Of course, it would be part of your goals to stay committed to your partner. You want to ensure that come what may, you're still working to ensure that the relationship does not fail. This is among the goals you cannot see happen by just mere wish; you have to work towards it. Sometimes, it may require sacrifices from you but then you won't mind because goals like this make relationships solid against all odds. Commitment goals can include regular call and messages to your spouse, making sure you don't sleep with an unresolved issue, meeting the emotional and physical needs of your spouse as much as you have the power to and so on. This example of healthy relationship goals takes discipline because you may lose focus along the way if you're not disciplined.

The best way to avoid divorce is to prepare for it. Right from the first day you meet, it should be among your relationship goals to work against it. Don't consider it freaky to talk and plan against divorce even before marriage; it's good to discuss it. You should ask your partner what thing(s) you can do that can make them want a divorce. You too should state yours and collectively you can keep working to ensure that you don't do those things. While pursuing your other relationship goals, you can keep checking that you have not slipped away from this one.

You can set goals after goals for your relationship but if you're not healthy, all of those goals would amount to nothing. For this reason, you should set out to follow some healthy lifestyle with your partner that would enable you to stay fit and healthy. Such healthy plans may include a set time for exercise, avoidance of certain foods and drinks, and a routine plan for a medical checkup. If you're physically fit, your relationship stands a high chance of succeeding and all your life's goals too stand the chance of being met.

Both physical and inner beauty are indispensable to a healthy relationship. Physical beauty ensures that your spouse doesn't get swayed off their feet when they come across another person outside. As such, you would want to include it in your relationship goals to take care of yourself at all times both in what you eat and wear so that you keep attracting your spouse.

No one prays for a disaster to befall them but that's one of the sad realities of life. The things we don't like or pray for, sometimes happen to us. You should plan for the unplanned so it doesn't become a reason your relationship would become messy. Many couples are caught off-guard by the freaky happenings of life. They never imagined that robbers would come to their homes and cart away their properties; they never thought a hurricane could happen and they'll be displaced from their homes. As such, they've got no plan B. Don't be one of those couples. While you don't pray for disasters to befall you, you should include in your goals the possibility of such and plan for it. That's how your relationship can remain strong even when the going gets tough.

Marriage is mainly the coming together of two individuals with perhaps different traits. More so, you probably didn't grow up in the same neighborhood and as such, your character may be slightly different. So, you would want to include in your relationship goals plans to understand your partner's temperament and character so that you can know how best to relate to them. You can achieve this by presenting some issues to your partner and asking their opinion about it. Again, you should watch closely how they relate to their friends and family.

You and your spouse do not exist in the space; you probably hope to live amidst people some of whom may be less-privileged. Your goals should include how to ameliorate sufferings and be your brother's keeper. Love increases when shared and you want to be sure you're not wrapped up in your own world while you neglect others. Your relationship goals should be set with your neighbor in view.

Love can grow cold if not flamed continuously. It's not surprising seeing couples with so much love and respect for one another at the beginning, and then acting freaky and cold to one another later in the marriage. The fact is that the initial love between them is gone. So, your long-term goals would have to include how you hope to keep the love fire burning. Other goals highlighted before now can only find relevance when the initial love is sustained and even improved.

Relationship goals are necessary to keep couples in focus. Goals ensure that you have something you're fighting for and when you work hard enough to meet the goals, you become motivated. The 25 relationship goals discussed in this article, if pursued are capable of making your relationship healthy. The goals are achievable and probably cost you nothing more than just a willingness to work towards them.