As your New Year begins, its time to focus on what's most important: your health, family & friends and - of course - your love life! If you're single to start the New Year, here's how dating will be different in 2017: less dating apps, more real connections. But how can you stand out from the crowd and meet your true match? By doing this one simple thing:

• "Be Truly Engaged On Your Date."
• Why?:  over the past 5 years, far too much of the dating scene has been focused on QUANTITY of dates. This is largely due to free online dating and dating apps - which have grown exponentially in popularity in recent years.
  • This sounds like a good thing, and in some ways it is - more people online means more profiles to search. But here's the problem - as the number of online profiles has grown, so has the effort required to actually meet matches that are right for you. If you're a busy single or professional, this means that finding your special someone without spending all of your time online has become HARDER, NOT EASIER.
• So, what to do?:  the key to successful dating in 2017 is less focus on QUANTITY of dates, and more focus on QUALITY of dates.
• Sounds great, but how?:  here's a few simple steps:
  • Avoid dating exclusively on dating apps (or, ideally, delete your dating apps - at least for a few months), or at least be more selective with who you meet.
  • Prioritize dating methods that will allow you to meet people in person - in addition to being a better way to tell if someone's right for you, it's also a lot more fun & will expand your social circle.
  • Most importantly, when you've met someone new and you're on a first date - be truly engaged on your date.  Forget about your last date (or relationship), your job stress, your next date (in fact, avoid setting up anymore dates until you've made every effort to make the date you're on successful). Be interested, ask engaging questions, share interesting stories - be fun! Commit to seeing someone a 2nd or 3rd time - make time and follow through. Plan for dating success, and dating success will soon follow.