How will you measure your life

Developing and maintaining vibrant personal relationships requires concerted effort across five key areas. First, express positivity by adopting an attitude of cheerfulness, playfulness and appreciation in your interactions. Look for opportunities to give genuine praise and validation. Second, practice open and honest communication about both the good and the challenging aspects of your relationship. Be willing to listen without judgment and share your own thoughts and feelings.

Third, provide regular verbal assurances and demonstrations of your love, care and commitment to the relationship. Actions that reinforce bonds of affection and loyalty can go a long way. Fourth, consciously divide relationship tasks fairly and take initiative to lighten your partner's load. Sharing duties and responsibilities demonstrates equality, teamwork and support.

Finally, utilize your mutual friendships and community connections to strengthen social bonds and support networks. Shared fun experiences and interactions with those whose company you enjoy can energize your relationship.

Make a habit of regularly assessing these five components of your close relationships. Look for small ways to invest in each domain every day. With consistent effort, you can continually renew the vitality at the heart of your most cherished bonds.

Manage your time

The relationships we share with family and close friends are among the greatest sources of happiness in life. However, it's easy to neglect investing in these bonds when other demands compete for our time and attention. Careers can be all-consuming, while nurturing connections with loved ones often requires patient, unglamorous work whose returns aren't always immediate.

Nevertheless, relationships must be tended to long before crises emerge. By the time serious problems arise, it's usually too late to repair the damage. This means paradoxically that when family life seems tranquil and relationships stable, that's precisely when we must guard against complacency and continue strengthening ties. The temptation will be to focus energies elsewhere, on pursuits offering quicker rewards. But if we defer relationship investments until they visibly fray, we'll end up with regrets rather than life's greatest joys.

Just as wise corporate managers fund long-term growth initiatives during profitable times, we must devote resources to loved ones before needing to draw on those reserves. The child who feels neglected while a parent climbs the career ladder won't appreciate lavish attention later as compensation. Each child needs engagement during formative years, not after immediate demands become pressing.

In both business and family life, patient capital that fuels growth and relationships, not impatient capital seeking quick returns, constitutes wise investment. Shortchanging personal connections now to chase achievement promises hollow victories. A thriving career means little without loved ones to share it. The forces working against nurturing bonds with family and friends are considerable - the lure of stimulating projects on the job, the modest voice with which loved ones make their needs felt. But regularly giving them our time and presence will yield relationships to see us through life's blessings and trials alike. The clock is always ticking where the heart is concerned. Small, steady actions now will repay tenfold down the road.

Empathy at the center

Successful products fill a need that customers already have. Companies often try to sell what they want to make rather than what buyers actually need. The most successful companies deeply understand their customers' needs and desires. They develop products that fit seamlessly into customers' lives and fulfill those needs perfectly. When a product does a job extremely well, customers instinctively incorporate it into their routines. But generic, mediocre products that don't stand out in any specific area rarely engender loyalty or enthusiasm. Customers don't hesitate to switch to alternatives when they go on sale or are more convenient.

Customers buy products to fulfill needs and complete tasks in their lives. They have a "job" they want the product to do. The key to success is positioning your offering as the best and most reliable way to complete that job. If your product reliably does that job better than any alternative, customers will consistently choose it over other options. The same principle applies in personal relationships. Understanding what your spouse or partner hopes to achieve in your relationship enables you to support them better. If you make the other person's happiness and fulfillment the priority, great things can happen.

Despite the fact that more high-profile executives than ever are serving prison sentences, living an ethical life is surprisingly straightforward. Morality does not have to be complicated. You only need one basic principle: treat others the way you wish to be treated. If you follow the golden rule in your business dealings and personal relationships, you will steer clear of legal troubles and sleep soundly.

Of course, there may be situations that test your integrity. When faced with ethical dilemmas, pause and reflect on how your actions will impact those around you. Strive to make decisions that are honest, compassionate and socially responsible. Although laws and customs vary across cultures, the golden rule transcends borders. It provides a moral compass that points true north. If widely embraced, this timeless concept could transform society.

"full" not "marginal" thinking

In the late 1990s, blockbuster dominated the movie rental industry. A startup called netflix had a business model of mailing dvds to customers instead of making them visit stores, charging a monthly fee instead of per-rental fees and late charges. Blockbuster could have easily competed with netflix, but its management concluded the lower profit margins of netflix's model meant, "why should we bother?" by 2011, netflix had almost 24 million subscribers while blockbuster was bankrupt.

What happened? First, blockbuster dismissed netflix's niche market as unappealing due to lower margins compared to its existing business. Blockbuster failed to realize this niche would become the whole market. Second, blockbuster evaluated the new opportunity only in context of its current business. Besides reluctance to undermine its own sales, blockbuster assumed it could continue unchanged. It asked, "how can we protect our existing business?" rather than "if we had no existing business, how could we best serve customers?" This pattern of startups toppling market leaders has repeated across industries and is an established business reality. Large, established companies struggle with rapid change whereas new entrants will do anything to gain customers.