Between long office days, late dinners and endless to-dos, many working couples slip into a routine of coexisting instead of really connecting. The excuses feel valid: “We’re exhausted,” or, “We’ll catch up this weekend.” The problem is that they both end up missing the everyday moments that keep a relationship alive.

As a psychologist who studies couples and as a husband, I’ve found that people in the happiest, most resilient relationships treat their weeknights as opportunities that don’t go wasted.

Here are the seven things these couples consistently do before bedtime.

You can’t always expect your partner to walk through the door ready to cook, talk, or be cheerful. Healthy couples build in 15 to 30 minutes of guilt-free alone time for each partner — one decompresses while the other handles a light task, then they switch.

It’s not glamorous, but it’s a huge kindness. By protecting each other’s battery early in the evening, they preserve the bandwidth they’ll need to connect later on.

Some nights, even after a decompression session, you may still feel drained. Happy couples don’t force it. They start their evening together, but quietly: sitting on the balcony, lying side by side, taking a slow walk.

In psychological research, this is a form of co-regulation: the process of two people syncing up emotionally, allowing the emotions of the day to rise and fall until they feel like themselves again. A few minutes of shared quiet can reset your rhythm better than a forced conversation.

Not every weeknight has room for deep emotional check-ins. So the happiest couples keep it simple: each person shares one thing about their day, good or bad.

It could be venting some frustration, sharing a little win they had at the office or even just something funny that happened. No advice. No solutions. Just listening. This light, consistent sharing keeps them emotionally updated without draining what’s left of their workweek energy.

Even on nights when both partners want to zone out, they stick to one small shared ritual they never skip.

For most, it’s something ridiculously simple: eating dinner together without their phones, making a nightly cup of tea, or doing a word game together. The ritual becomes a daily anchor — something predictable, comforting, and theirs alone.

If I had to choose just one nightly habit to keep, this would be it. Research shows that partners who cuddle regularly report higher relationship satisfaction and commitment, even compared with couples who emphasize “quality time” together.

Cuddling triggers oxytocin (the bonding hormone) and lowers cortisol (the stress hormone). It’s the easiest, fastest biological boost your relationship can get.

Even the happiest couples feel the low-level resentment of uneven household work. That’s why they end the evening with 5 to 10 minutes of shared tidying, wiping counters, packing tomorrow’s lunches, loading the dishwasher.

The point isn’t actually about cleaning, but rather to prove that they’re committed to keeping things fair.

Instead of rehashing the day, heathy and happy couples look ahead. They share one small thing they’re looking forward to tomorrow, or even one small thing they’re dreading.

This is a brief, gentle way for working couples to stay in sync without needing to fully rehash the emotional weight of their day. You get a sense of what your partner might need tomorrow, whether it’s encouragement, space, or just a little extra support. And they get the same from you.

Mark Travers, PhD, is a psychologist who specializes in relationships. He holds degrees from Cornell University and the University of Colorado Boulder. He is the lead psychologist at Awake Therapy, a telehealth company that provides online psychotherapy, counseling, and coaching. He is also the curator of the popular mental health and wellness website, Therapytips.org.

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Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has unveiled the final tally for her 2025 charitable donations, which totaled $7.17 billion in gifts to roughly 225 organizations, she wrote in a blog post published on Tuesday.

“This dollar total will likely be reported in the news, but any dollar amount is a vanishingly tiny fraction of the personal expressions of care being shared into communities this year,” Scott wrote.

Scott’s 2025 giving brings her total donation amount since 2019 to $26.3 billion, based on her past public announcements of her charitable giving. This year’s donations went to a wide range of nonprofits including several historically Black colleges and universities, and organizations focused on issues including poverty, social injustice and climate change.

Scott’s updated philanthropic tally puts her behind only fellow billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in terms of lifetime giving, according to Forbes. Forbes still estimates a $29.9 billion net worth for Scott, who became one of the world’s wealthiest women following her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

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Following her divorce, Scott signed The Giving Pledge, committing to giving away the bulk of her wealth in her lifetime. She tasked a team of advisors with helping her step up her philanthropic giving by identifying “organizations with strong leadership teams and results” across a wide range of areas of societal need, she wrote in a 2020 blog post.

Specifically, she wanted to pay “special attention to those operating in communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates and low access to philanthropic capital,” she wrote.

In her Tuesday essay, Scott wrote about putting her giving into perspective, citing data from Giving USA, which reported in June that Americans donated more than $590 billion in charitable giving in 2024. Much of the country’s philanthropy — whether monetary or otherwise — happens on a relatively small scale, Scott wrote.

“Over 70% of Americans reported giving both labor and money to people they know, and half reported doing the same for strangers,” wrote Scott, adding: “It’s easy to focus on the methods of civic participation that make news, and hard to imagine the importance of the things we do each day with our own minds and hearts.”

Scott mentioned multiple examples of generosity she received before she became wealthy, helping inspire her more recent philanthropy. She wrote about a “local dentist who offered me free dental work when he saw me securing a broken tooth with denture glue in college,” and her college roommate at Princeton University “who found me crying, and acted on her urge to loan me a thousand dollars to keep me from having to drop out in my sophomore year.”

That roommate, Jeannie Ringo Tarkenton, went on to found Funding U, a student lender that offers loans to low-income students without requiring a co-signer, Scott noted.

Scott highlighted those examples while encouraging civic participation in myriad forms, from financial gifts to random acts of kindness: “Respect, understanding, insight, empathy, forgiveness, inspiration – all of these are meaningful contributions to others.”

Scott’s blog post did not break down how or why she chose any of the hundreds of organizations she supported in 2025. A long-standing aspect of her giving does stand out in contrast to many other billionaire philanthropists: Her donations typically come without any strings, meaning organizations are free to use the money however they see fit.

Her goal has been to “de-emphasize privileged voices” like her own, “and cede focus to others,” she wrote in a 2021 blog post.

“People struggling against inequities deserve center stage in stories about change they are creating,” Scott wrote in that post. “This is equally — perhaps especially — true when their work is funded by wealth.”

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Garry Ridge had already been a CEO for two years when he enrolled at the University of San Diego in 1999 for a master’s degree in executive leadership.

Ridge, who helmed the multi-use product company WD-40 from 1997 until he retired in 2022, thought at the time that he needed to change himself to make the company and its workforce more successful, he told Simon Sinek’s “A Bit Of Optimism” podcast in a Nov. 25 episode.

Ridge had recently moved from Australia and wanted to expand WD-40 around the world, he said. Prior to going back to school, he was a “be brief, be bright, be gone” type of leader, he added: “I really thought that I had to be command and control. And I pretty soon learned [in school] that my job was not to command and control.”

Instead of running his company with an iron fist, Ridge took a more personable approach to leadership — which he credited to guidance from a professor at the time, Ken Blanchard — aiming to help employees feel more belonging and empowerment, he said.

“Our purpose was to create positive lasting memories …  So what changed in my mind was I couldn’t do this alone,” said Ridge, now a Poway, California-based leadership coach for other CEOs. “If we were going to expand to 176 countries around the world, which we did, and if the sun was never going to set on the people in the organization, I had to make sure that in an environment where they felt safe enough to make decisions and be brave.”

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As a coach, he’s seen other CEOs struggle with the same control-forward leadership style he once had, he said. “They’re looking at successful people who have huge egos, little empathy, want to micromanage, think they have all the answers, don’t really value learning. And they think that’s the way to go,” said Ridge.

To build his capacity for so-called “servant leadership,” Ridge tried to constantly remind himself to challenge his own thinking and put other people first, he said. He walked around with “praise somebody” written on his hand for “months” as a reminder that his job wasn’t about him, and opted against a private parking space and an office “four times bigger” than his employees’ workspaces, he said.

“The will of the people times the strategy equals the outcome,” said Ridge. “If you spend a good time on people, purpose, values and learning … you have more people enthusiastically, passionately, getting up every day, executing your strategic plan … It’s that freaking simple.”

For workers, a boss who supports their employees and leads with empathy, flexibility, transparency and accountability is a green flag, Deepali Vyas, the global head of fintech, payments and crypto practice at Korn Ferry, told CNBC Make It in October 2024.

To determine during a job interview if your prospective boss has these traits, Vyas said, you can ask them: “How would your current team describe you and your leadership style?” A response like, “I give them enough leash to let them run with an idea, and I help them when they are actually in need,” instead of something like, “People do what I say,” can show that they’re flexible and trusting, she said.

“Managers that master the balance of emotional intelligence and not being so rigid — that’s a good boss,” said Vyas.

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As the founder and CEO of Boll & Branch, Scott Tannen oversees the work of some 275 employees — most of whom he’s personally interviewed.

He estimates he’s interviewed upwards of 1,000 people and hired 400 to 500 over the course of his career.

Whether he’s interviewing a prospective intern or someone joining the C-suite, Tannen tells CNBC Make It he always asks one question first: What do you know about Boll & Branch?

It’s a straightforward question that sets the tone quickly and can help him uncover a big warning sign.

“I think when people have not done their homework, that is the biggest red flag,” Tannen says. “You don’t have to know every answer, but you have to have done your homework.”

Tannen says he can tell when a candidate has taken the opportunity to interview seriously and has spent a few hours reading and researching about the business.

“I’m looking for them to at least say, ‘I’ve learned this,’ or ‘I’ve been on your website, and I know you do business this way,’” Tannen says. “If they can’t at least give me back what’s on our Wikipedia page, we probably are not starting off on the best foot.”

The CEO is looking for something beyond the superficial.

“I’ve had people that don’t even know what products we make, within reason,” he says. “They’re like, ‘Oh, you make bedding.’”

A more researched answer might include mention that the company, which Tannen launched with his wife over a decade ago, makes luxury organic bedding as well as linens, sleepwear, furniture and home goods.

Tannen adds that good preparation means coming with questions for the interviewer, as well as confidence, enthusiasm for the role and curiosity about what you’ll accomplish by taking it.

“Tell me what you’re excited about that you think we can teach you, and vice versa, how you can contribute,” he says.

He recalls one memorable interview for a recent intern who applied to a role with the company as a merchandiser. The student didn’t have any merchandising experience, but discussed in her interview how she created her own brand while in college and wanted to learn how Boll & Branch works overall.

“It’s one of the best interviews I’ve ever done,” Tannen says, “because I just felt that she had this incredible desire to learn and this admiration for, at least from her view, how we had built our business.”

That intern is expected to return to the company for a full-time job once she graduates, Tannen says.

Ultimately, he says, showing up and demonstrating that you’re prepared for an interview is “really not a very hard thing to do, but it truly distances the great applicants from everybody else.”

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Today, Dick Van Dyke is officially 100 years old. Born on Dec. 13, 1925, the “Mary Poppins” actor took Hollywood by storm with his singing and dancing, and became an Emmy, Grammy and Tony award-winning legend.

Now, Van Dyke has earned a new title: centenarian. Over the course of his life, the performer has shared the practices he follows to stay in the best of health.

“When you reach 100, a lot of things don’t work too well,” Van Dyke told The New York Times last month. But “sometimes I feel like I’m 15 again.”

In his recent book, “100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life,” published last month, Van Dyke explores his secrets for longevity even further.

Here are three research-backed staples in his routine that he credits for his 100 years of life.

1. He moves his body often

Even at 100, Van Dyke goes to the gym three times a week, he told the New York Times. When he makes his way to each machine, sometimes he dances as he walks, he said.

On his off days from the gym, he practices yoga and stretches. Van Dyke said his doctors are amazed at how he’s still able to touch his toes.

Similar to Van Dyke, many Japanese centenarians — particularly in the blue zone, Okinawa, Japan — start their mornings with exercise. Typically they do a low-intensity workout that airs on the radio, called radio taiso, which is about three minutes long.

The exercise also promotes a sense of community because participants tend to practice it alongside friends, colleagues or family.

2. He has an optimistic outlook and doesn’t turn down opportunities that excite him

“I’ve decided people are born with a certain personality and a certain outlook, a certain perspective,” Van Dyke said in a sit-down interview with Al Roker for the TODAY show this November. “I tend to look on the good side of things.”

Keeping a sense of playfulness in his life helps him experience a lot more fun, he said in his interview with The New York Times. Just last year, Van Dyke starred in Coldplay’s music video for the song “All My Love.”

In the Directors’ Cut version of the video, Van Dyke spoke about how his career aligned with his desire to remain a kid at heart. He said he’s “one of those lucky people who got to do for a living what I would have done anyway.”

Often, the happiest centenarians pursue jobs that are fulfilling to them and don’t retire. “Think how lucky I am,” he said. “I got to do what I do — play and act silly.”

3. He values quality time with loved ones

Towards the end of the “All My Love” music video, Van Dyke welcomes his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren into frame to dance with him. The scene is a symbol of just how much he treasures spending time with his loved ones.

Van Dyke is always looking for ways to get his grandchildren and great-grandchildren to enjoy their time at his house, so they want to come back and visit, he told The New York Times. He wants his backyard to resemble a theme park, and mentioned that he’s planning to add a zip line next.

“Just hearing them all out there squealing gives me such joy,” Van Dyke said.

A decades-long study conducted by researchers at Harvard found that the key to happiness and longevity is social fitness, or maintaining healthy, long-lasting interpersonal connections.

As far as his plans for his birthday today, Van Dyke’s itinerary is very relaxed when squared with the major accomplishment of turning 100. Still, it aligns with spending quality time.

“He doesn’t want to do anything,” his wife Arlene Silver told People last week. “He wants to be in his room watching Jeopardy! reruns with me.”

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