Jessica Alba Shares Her Secret to a Happy Marriage: ‘It’s Something You Have to Make a Choice to Do’ (Exclusive)

After 16 years of marriage, Jessica Alba has learned a thing or two about keeping things harmonious with husband Cash Warren.

The actress and business mogul, 43, admits she and Warren, 45, an entrepreneur, try to always make each other a priority. “It’s something you really have to make a choice to do,” she tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “You have to really find time to make time for each other.”

Even when their schedules are crazy, they still pause for one another. “Going through the motions of the day to day is what it is, but it’s important to just know that we have to be a priority, and taking those moments to see each other and have a giggle and not be on the phone and just actually connect.”

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For Alba, it’s also important in her marriage to keep things in perspective. “Anytime we ebb or flow, we just look around and it’s like, ‘Actually, at my worst, I’m still better off with you,'” she allows. “You have to look up and say, ‘Would my life be better if we weren’t together?’ And every time, it’s, ‘No.’ We’re friends, you know?”

With three kids together, Honor, 16, Haven, 12, and Hayes, 6, spending time as a family is also key. “We went to Monster Jam, and the girls and I were out of our element, but Hayes was so excited to show us everything. He knew all the cars and drivers and stats,” Alba adds. “To have this 6-year-old dude, who we pretty much always bring into our environment, feel so confident was the cutest thing ever.”

Now starring in the new Netflix action movie, Trigger Warning, as a knife-wielding Special Forces commando with impressive fighting skills, Alba, who stepped down as chief creative officer of the Honest Company in April, is looking forward to focusing on entertainment “and other industries that excite me,” she says.

“Honest [Company] is like my fourth baby; I feel like I sent it to college. So right now, I’m just absorbing what brings me joy and putting my energy into things that make me happy — and feeding my soul.”

Trigger Warning premieres on Netflix on June 21.

For more on Jessica Alba, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, June 14