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Grinch Day: The Key to Stress-Proofing Your Relationship During the Holidays

 

Next week marks the 20th anniversary of our engagement.

And if there's one thing we've learned from two full decades of navigating the holidays as a couple, it's this:

If you stay connected and in sync, you can manage even the most bat-shit-crazy emotional drama that comes your way.

If you don't, the stress of the holidays will land on your life like an atomic bomb.

So today, we want to give you a single practice for staying connected during the holidays.

Take a Grinch Day.

What's...

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Why You Should be Failing More at Life

habits priorities stress Oct 29, 2024

 

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently issued an advisory warning that couples with kids now face a mental health crisis.

Why?

We're trying to succeed at everything and burning ourselves out in the process.

In Murthy's words, "compared with just a few decades ago, mothers and fathers spend more time working and more time caring for their children, leaving them less time for rest, leisure and relationships."

Murthy's point is that success used to mean becoming excellent at one...

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4 Ways to Escape The Inferno of Busyness

habits space stress Oct 10, 2024

 

 

We have a question for you.

Why do you feel so busy?

At this point, you're probably thinking, "Is that a real question? I'm busy because I'm busy, because there's just so much shit to do."

Good answer. And it's true. We live in a unique period of human history, a time when all of us face an increasingly long list of stuff to do: pet dentist appointments, parent-Uber-ing kids to all manner of extracurricular activities, and thrice-weekly zone-two cardio workouts (thanks...

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Master The Relationship Superpower of Role Shifting in Marriage

habits roles sex Oct 01, 2024

 

Have you ever noticed that being in an intimate relationship is a lot like competing in a decathlon?

A winning decathlete can’t just be good at throwing a javelin. She must also excel at the high jump, running the 1600 meters, pole vaulting and a bunch of other seemingly unrelated events.

Likewise, in intimate relationships, you can’t just excel in one relationship role. You can’t just be amazing at sex or a wildly entertaining conversationalist or a superbly...

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4 Lessons From Our 10-Week Family Sabbatical

habits space vacation Sep 17, 2024

 

Over the summer, we did something crazy.

For the first time in over 20 years, we took 10 weeks off from our work, left our home, and traveled to France. We went on Family Sabbatical.

We first came across this idea five years ago during our interviews for The 80/80 Marriage. Several couples told us, "The best decision we ever made was to take our kids on a Family Sabbatical."

We were persuaded.

So we spent a year and a half preparing for the trip. We learned French, a new language for...

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Press Pause When Things Get Crazy (Here's How)

communication habits stress Sep 04, 2024

 

Think about how most conflicts go down.

Your partner says something that triggers you, something like, “Why do you keep putting the bowls in the dishwasher the wrong way?”

You hear this as an attack, an affront to your self-image as a fully competent adult, capable of loading dishes without supervision. 

Your mind starts to flood with thoughts, “What! Are you my boss now? Who cares if the bowls are facing the 'wrong' way?”

That's when it...

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How Much Slack Do You Have in Your System of Marriage?

habits priorities space stress Aug 21, 2024

 

The management scientist Edward Deming once said, "Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets."

Now, Deming was talking about large organizations and companies. But his insight applies perfectly to relationships for two reasons.

First, his words offer an important reminder. The results you and your partner are getting -- both good and bad -- aren't happening by random chance. They're created by an underlying system of habits, perfectly designed to give you those...

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Marriage is Like a Boat - What Do You Need to Throw Off It?

 Imagine your relationship as a boat.

In this boat, you've got you and your partner. You might also have a kid or three. And then you've got parents, in-laws, friends, and extended family hanging off the stern.

Oh, and don't forget about things like careers, financial planning, daily logistics, shopping, Instagram and TikTok time, house repairs, laundry, cleaning, school events, and the thousand or so other things that take up space on this boat of marriage and life.

Now imagine what...

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Why Speed Is the Enemy of Understanding in Relationships

communication habits space Jul 10, 2024

 

When you and your partner start fighting, all sorts of things happen.

Your heart rate increases.

Stress hormones pulse through your body.

Your muscles clench.

You become more defensive, less curious.

But there's something else that changes, something so subtle that it often flies under the radar of our awareness: everything speeds up.

The conversation shifts from a meandering 40 mph drive through the countryside to a 120 mph drag race.

And, just like driving, having contentious...

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These Outsiders Can Make Marriage Impossible

 

One of the most profound marriage insights comes down to some simple math.

There’s the two of you: you and your partner.

And then there are your “thirds.”

Now, this idea alone isn’t groundbreaking. It’s not going to radically change your life.

But here’s something that might. Marriage therapist and author Stan Takin argues that these “thirds” pose one of the greatest threats to the health of a marriage.

A third could be your friend or...

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