Uganda, Sept. 17 -- Many of us come to our day or night jobs with a lot of seriousness. We wake up early to prepare. We dress well and make sure we are alert and prepared for meetings. We bring a lot of respect to the workplace and watch how we speak to our colleagues and superiors. However, when it comes to relationships, we sometimes imagine that these values are optional. But they are not. Your relationship should have its own to-do list, where you mark off the important days to remember and take off time to do evaluations as well as finding ways to motivate your partner to keep them performing at their best.

No one starts out hoping for a short-lived relationship. When we meet someone new, we hope our contract will be extended for many...