Before moving a woman up to the next level of importance in your life, it's important to make sure they aren't fairweather friends.

She was probably dazzled by charm, sex, ambition, but you're gonna want to make sure she's willing to stick with you through thick and thin.

Here's some recommendations, and I'm curious to hear yours:

  • Be ill. Have a major illness and see what her response is. Does she enter a nurturing mode, and try to get you back on your feet? Or does she disengage and start to seem aloof now that you're not at your best?

  • Be broke, even if you have to fake it. Tell her you are short on money and can't afford anything for a while. Does she offer to cook for you, or offer to treat you until you get back on your feet? Or does she disengage?

  • Be openly interested in another woman. The proper response to this is to redouble her efforts to attract you through increased fitness, charm, and sex. She gets mad bonus points if she smugly acts like she knows you aren't going anywhere (it shows she knows her own value). A poor response would be to go psycho / controlling, or to simply disengage.

I wouldn't recommend stacking all three of these tests at once, because everyone has their limits.

Nevertheless, over a six month to one year time span you need to put a woman through the paces to make sure she is willing to support you across the spectrum before you promote her to a girlfriend (or better).