Is your career putting your relationship at risk? When you were younger, you may have dreamed of having a successful career, a comfortable home and a loving partner. In a young mind it may seem easy to obtain. What the young mind doesn't see, is that there is considerable work behind the scenes to achieve this. Just like a car needs regular maintenance and cleaning to operate optimally, so too, does our relationship with our partner. So, how do we get the balance right? Below are four steps you can take to create balance between your career and your relationship.
Establish Priorities
In order to get the balance right, you must understand what your priorities are. If you truly want to succeed at anything in life, you must give it priority. Whether you are learning a new language, developing a new skill or wanting to improve your relationship. All require time and dedication. To improve your relationship, you must give it priority.
Communicate expectations
Once you've established your priorities, you need to communicate with your partner to determine your and their expectations of the relationship and how they can be fulfilled. This is a time to discuss the needs of each partner. Be open and honest with each other. Learning what they need to be fulfilled in the relationship. It might be a matter of spending quality time together, using words of affirmation or giving thoughtful gifts. This will help you to action the next two steps.
Set limits
Setting limits on what you constitute as “work time” will help to create a clear distinction between work and personal life. This is particularly important when we are working from home. It can be easy to justify that because you don't have to spend a few extra hours commuting, you can work extra. Using this extra time to spend some quality time with your partner will go a long way to improving your communication and connection. Additionally, it is important to set limits on your work related technology use. Do you really need to be contactable after hours? If you do, try to keep it to a minimum and let your partner know when you are on call.
Create time together
When you have an important client at work, you do your best to maintain a good relationship with them, do you not? You set regular meetings to ensure consistent communication. The same should go for your relationships. Do you set aside time to spend together? Be proactive and book time in your calendar. You can take it a step further. Set reminders in your calendar to send your partner a gift or to simply call them during the day to see how they are going. The key is to lock it in, not leaving your relationship with the leftover time in your schedule.
Applying these tips can assist you to create a nice balance between your career and your relationship. If you feel you need assistance in this area, please feel free to reach out and discuss.