According to new research from Florida State University, your decision-making style (whether you're a maximizer or a "satisficer") determines how content (or not content) you will be with your spouse or long-term partner.

“Maximizing people are constantly trying to obtain the very best outcomes in life,” says lead author Juliana French.

“In the context of romantic relationships, maximizers are those who seek the best possible partner and who, over the course of their relationships continue to compare their partners to other potential partners. This could lead to overall lower satisfaction in maximizers’ long-term relationships if their partners do not compare favorably to those alternatives on qualities that are important to them.”

Or to put in another way: Some people are never satisfied.

This is especially true for women. Men may be harder to get to the altar, but once they’re there they are pretty much settled. Women, on the other hand, tend to compare their spouse to their friends’ spouses, or their lives to other people’s lives.

Helping them right along is the culture, which encourages women to look elsewhere when and if they become dissatisfied.

It's known as "green grass syndrome," or the idea that there’s a person or a life “out there” that’s better for you than the one you already have — and it’s toxic. If you don’t fall victim to it, you’re significantly ahead of the game.

One of single best ways to fortify your marriage is to know and accept (the acceptance part is key) that the grass is never greener on the other side of the fence. Nothing “out there” is better for you than what you have now — different, yes, but not better.

This is unquestionably harder to do in the modern world, yet another reason relationships are so tenuous today. Temptations abound in our techno-savvy world. We have people and images and ideas in our view every single day as a result of the way we live.

Just imagine how much easier it would be to stay married if we lived in the days without cable and the internet.

Of course, we can’t go back, so the best thing you can do for yourself and for your marriage is to become a "satisficer."

A satisficer concentrates on the reasons why the choice of partner was made and practices gratitude for the wisdom of that choice. If your choice was wildly stupid, that’s one thing. But assuming it wasn’t, assuming you made a good choice, focus on why you made it in the first place. Focus on what he or she brings to the table and be done with it. Don’t look for more.

Leaving one relationship for another is no guarantee for a better life. More often than not, the spouse who ends his or her marriage to escape the problems in the current marriage ends up with problems of a different sort in the new marriage. That’s one of the reasons the divorce rate for second marriages is astronomically high. People get caught up in the moment and forget that over time, every new relationship will at some point no longer feel new. Eventually, that grass will show its brown spots, too.

“The ‘in-love’ experience has a limited and predictable life span,” writes Gary Chapman in his wildly successful book The 5 Love Languages. “Eventually, we all descend from the clouds and plant our feet on earth again. Our eyes are opened, and we see the warts of the other person. Welcome to the real world of marriage.”

This is an immutable truth that, once accepted, makes contentment within marriage entirely possible. If you want to be happily married, do yourself a favor and don’t be a maximizer. Be a satisficer.

Suzanne Venker (@SuzanneVenker) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is an author, columnist, and relationship coach known as “The Feminist Fixer.” Her newest book, "WOMEN WHO WIN at Love: How to Build a Relationship That Lasts," will be published in October 2019. Suzanne’s website is www.suzannevenker.com.