When you decide to get into a serious relationship with a woman, never "settle down"... "establish the relationship"

Think of it in these two ways:

When you're energetic, and can't sit still, your parents will tell you to settle down. Settling down has a "resting" mentality. This is why when people settle down, they get lazy in the relationship.

Think of a very successful business that's been around for hundreds of years. If you look up the history of this business, it will say "Established in [YEAR]". This business had to work smart and hard to last for so long.

So when it comes to your relationships, be established, don't settle down.

This starts in the "honeymoon phase" of the relationship. Instead of falling in love, build a nice foundation of mutual respect. This means when she tests you by throwing a fit to see your reaction, let her know immediately that you don't accept bratty behavior. If she flirts with other guys, let her know that you don't get into serious relationships with women who need the attention of other men. You have to let her decide what's more important to her in order to be part of the "establishment".

As far as you go, maintain your edge and sex appeal. As a matter of fact, fine-tune your personality and sex appeal. Instead of gaining weight because you're in a serious relationship, maintain the eating habits and workout regimen that kept you lean for all those years when you were single. Even though you're in a relationship with this woman, allow her to chase you. This doesn't mean cheat, it means give some time and space away from her and let her miss you a little bit.

We've been taught that love is the foundation of all good relationships. No, love confuses and blinds you. Love weakens you when you need to take a decisive action like breakup with a cheating wife or girlfriend. A woman shouldn't do things because she loves you. She should do things because she admires and respects you. So this means even though she is truly angry with you for whatever reason, she's still gonna make sure to do the duties that the both of you agreed upon. When she loves you, she'll just do these things with love behind it.

This is why you want to be yourself with women. You'll know what about you that keeps women around and what repels them. Keep that traits that keeps women attracted to you and work on the traits that repel women. If you make small daily improvements, you'll see small daily improvements in your relationship. These daily improvements can be small like remembering to put the toilet seat up (Edit: I meant remember to leave the toilet seat down) or clean up after yourself when you make a mess. It could mean making a phone call to the plumber or fixing that leaky faucet yourself.

One day you'll be old as fuck, and you look to your side, this woman will ask you, "do you remember how long we've been together?", you can tell her "we've been established since..."

That same look she gave you when you first met her could be the same look she gives you when the both of you have been together for 20+ years.