We all want to experience the perfect date, and feel the sparks of chemistry fly as we become swept away with the passion play of an exciting new encounter with someone special.
Personal boundaries are important for keeping things in perspective and allowing our personalities to assert themselves in a sexy, balanced, confident way, and so are personal plans and strategies.
Consider it a romantic investment: the energy you put into planning your evening will come back to you many times over, in the form of a rewarding and fun experience.
Cupid is clever, but sometimes we need to encourage Cupid with a little foresight and a practical plan.
There is a popular phrase – referred to as “the four P’s – taught by management workshop experts, and it applies to micromanaging your romantic life, as well: Prior Planning Prevents Problems.
And, of course, we’ve all been taught that first impressions make the most lasting ones. But then somebody asks us out on a date and it has been so long since that happened that we go into a panic and all we can think about is shopping for something to wear, or at least doing laundry so we have something clean to wear.
Get a Plan
What we need to start thinking about is planning the meeting place and the agenda, to increase the chances of having another date in the not so distant future. Cupid is clever, but sometimes we need to encourage Cupid with a little foresight and a practical plan.
First rule: just because it is considered the ideal date according to conventional wisdom, think again, because you don’t just want to have an ordinary and conventional date. You want to have an extraordinary and unique date, and that requires a little creative thinking.
Dinner and a Movie?
For instance, meeting someone special for dinner followed by a movie is considered the ideal date, by most people, and is such a standard date theme that “dinner and a movie” has become almost synonymous – practically a modern euphemism – for the perfect date.
But too many things can go wrong with the traditional dinner and a movie date, and we have heard dozens of stories from those people who tried and failed to make this the ideal first outing.
For instance, any number of problems can come up by putting dinner in front of a deadline, and movie starting times, whether we like to think of them that way or not, are deadlines. No theatre is going to hold the curtain or reserve a good seat for two, just because you and your honey decided to linger over dessert, or because the service at the restaurant or the waiting time in the cue outside to get into it was slow.
What is more important, learning what the person you're dating is all about, and what your interpersonal chemistry involves, or making it to the movie on time?
What if you finally hit it off in – things are rolling right along, when suddenly you realize that film down the street is also rolling, and you’re both missing the most important scene of the movie – the one where you learn who the characters are and what the plot involves?
Don't Impose a Deadline
What is more important, learning what the person you're dating is all about, and what your interpersonal chemistry involves, or making it to the movie on time? The movie could end up being a dud, after all, whereas your connection to the person across the table could lead to an award-winning relationship.
Interrupting a delightful and intimate chat over chocolate mousse to venture into the unknown realm of a crowded theater is not always a good idea, so we suggest not imposing this kind of deadline and limitation on your evening.
