20 Marriage Goals Every Couple Should Work Towards

Do you know that marriage can either make you very happy or depressed? Marriage is the easiest way to find satisfaction in life. The good news is that there is something you can do to achieve happiness in a marriage. The bad news is that you cannot achieve this alone; you need the input of your spouse. 

Like in any worthwhile undertaking, you need to set milestones for marriage. You both need to know where you are coming from, where you are, and where you expect to be in the next five or ten years. It is imperative for every spouse to know this so that you can both move in the same direction. Setting goals are also an easy way to gauge the health of your marriage.

The old saying that it takes two to tango is very true in a marriage setting than in any other relationship. You cannot make marriage to be successful alone. However, you can break your relationship single-handedly. It is, therefore, vital to let your partner know of your intentions of improving your marriage so that your actions can be appreciated.

All successful marriages have something in common; the spouses are best friends. In fact, they were friends for years before the romance started. In such an ideal scenario, it is easy to sit down and discuss how to make the marriage work. However, if there is a communication problem, it is impossible to improve any marriage.

So, what are these marriage goals? Are they as boring as the company's goals? Goals are the milestones which you must both bring aboard to ensure that your relationship is growing. Remember that your understanding of this term may be different from how your spouse’s.  Thus, it is vital to have a common understanding of the expression.

A marriage goal is the aim of the marriage. It is what you expect to achieve in the marriage. It is, therefore, obvious that you should have similar goals before you enter into the marriage.  There is nothing as imprudent as starting the marriage life without goals or aspirations. Actually, one of the compatibility factors during courtship should be the marriage goals.

Living in a marriage without well-defined goals is like cruising without radar. Your marriage can move in any direction. One obvious result is that it will crash. With the high rate of divorce seen nowadays, you should do anything possible to make your marriage work or to salvage your once thriving relationship.

It is not hard to make marriage goals if you have common values with your spouse. On the other hand, if you have nothing in common with your mate, it will be a daunting task to make realistic goals. Therefore, the implementation of marriage goals depends on how you relate to each other.

To make goals with a high chance of been fulfilled, you should let your spouse be as free as possible and come up with a list of aspirations and dreams expected in the relationship. You should also genuinely make your list. However, you should both give in areas where there is a contrast or when where priorities differ.

If your values are grossly different, it is hard to make and achieve marriage goals. In fact, it will be hard to work out your marriage. This is because you might injure your marriage without realizing it. During making these goals, you must be ready to give in. However, there are some values you cannot compromise. The same case happens to your spouse. This controversy does not mean there is no love but that you are different. A mature couple will tolerate each other and move on.

From the revised lists of the marriage goals, you should then proceed and separate those goals which you expect to achieve within the next five years as short term goals and those which will go beyond five years as long term goals.

Below are twenty marriage goals which have been found to make mutually satisfying marriages. Some may not apply to your case but the majority will.

1. Deciding that the In-laws should come second always.

2. When to have kids, decide how many you’d like.

3. Following one religious belief.

4. Attaining the ideal fitness and being healthy.

5. Deciding to learn how to communicate effectively always.

6. Consolidating all the properties into one account.

7. Mutually disciplining the kids.

8. Communicating more with actions than words.

9. Listening more and talking less.

10. Not being offended by the hard-to-quit habits of your significant other.

11. Being affirmative that you won’t break up even when all the reasons are there.

12. Accepting that it is okay at times to be angry, sulky and moody.

13. Acknowledging that love is not all about feelings.

14. Being hurt when someone says something bad about your spouse.

15. Accepting each other’s shortcomings humbly even when it looks weird to do so.

16. Developing other bonding activities apart from sex and enjoying doing this.

17. Preferring spending time with your partner than with your family and the closest friends.

18. Preferring being poor together than being rich apart.

19. Discovering that you can safely disagree with each other without affecting your marriage negatively.

20. Hoping to grow old together. 

The above goals can be broadly divided into short term and long term. There are things which should be done for any relationship to thrive. For example, if your partner is very controlling, the first goal should be to address the insecurity.

All goals which are achievable immediately or within the first five years are broadly classified as short term. It is vital to ensure that the short goals are realistic because if you push yourselves too much, you will not help the marriage to thrive. Keep in mind that you are supposed to enjoy the marriage especially when you are working to realize the short term goals.

If you fail to realize the short term goals, you should candidly enquire why you failed. You should then decide whether you will put off the goal or you can give it another shot. Some of the short term goals can be pushed to long term especially when they require finances which can be unavailable. The key here is to try as much as possible to achieve the goals.

Some goals can take more than five years to achieve. They are, therefore, classified as long term goals. For example, if you have plans of buying a home in the next ten years, this is a long term goal. Long term goals are critical because it is prudent to acquire properties and develop relationships when young. As old age catches up with you, achieving the marriage dreams will be hard. For a long term goal to be achieved, your marriage should be stable. It is very hard to work towards realizing a long term goal if at the back of your mind you feel that the marriage is not on the right track.

Marriage is like a living thing; it is never static. If you have been in a relationship for a long time, you must agree that either you are growing together or apart. The power to make or break your relationship is in your hands.

Many marriages break because there were no agreed goals during the time it started. Everyone has clear expectations from the marriage. The problem arises where you fail to let your spouse know of your aspirations. It is easy to assume that your spouse has the same values as you in the heat of romance. However, the romance phase lasts for a short time. The truth of the matter is that there are no two individuals with the same goals no matter how emotionally connected they are.

If you want your marriage to thrive, you have to set realistic goals. You should not do this alone. Consultation is a must when making goals so that both of you can move in the same direction. The above 20 goals can help your marriage thrive if both of you are determined to implement them.