PlanJam!From your screen to the scene

Do you know even one professional person who feels completely fulfilled by his or her career, and doesn't feel the need for anything more? Probably not. Because no matter how busy, how successful, or how ambitious you might be, it doesn't mean that you don't care about finding love. Most of the time, anyway.

It's sort of a Catch 22. Just because you're busy doesn't mean you're not lonely. But just because you're lonely, it doesn't mean that you have time for a relationship.

If all of this sounds familiar, it's probably time for you to find some balance in your life. But how?

Examine Your Priorities

If people you know would describe you as a workaholic…if you have a super-busy schedule full of work and meetings and errands and "I've got to get this done!" tasks, it might be time for you to give some thought to the other priorities in your life. Because chances are, the right man or woman for you isn't going to just show up on your doorstep one day and wait around until you have time to talk to them. You're going to need to set aside time to look for them…and to build a relationship.

When you're busy and career-focused, your work can be very rewarding. You might do very well financially, and have plenty of security, and the reward of a job that you love. But there's a whole area of your life that you're neglecting…and you have to decide whether or not you need to make room in your life to focus on it.

Take a good look at your dreams for the future and your real, long-term priorities. It's perfectly possible that, when you objectively evaluate your life, you come to the conclusion that the most important thing for you to focus on at this moment is your career. If that's the case, my advice is to give it all you've got…and forget about dating for awhile. Why? Because if you do find somebody you're crazy about, you're going to have to neglect something you love: either your new partner or your career. And neglecting the one will create a lot of resentment towards the other - not a good way to start off a new relationship. Or a new career, for that matter.

Schedule Your Available Time

Sometimes you look at your life and see your career and other responsibilities taking more priority than they should. Sure, what you do is important and you're not going to quit your job just to find a boyfriend or girlfriend…but you do need to find a way to properly prioritize the rest of your free time. Start setting limits on the amount of time you spend running errands or working around the house or putting in overtime at your job. If you want to find a relationship and make it work, you've got to start making room in your life where a relationship would fit in.

You'll find that once you set up your priorities and open up yourself and your schedule to the possibility of a new relationship, it will be a lot easier to actually find one. And you won't have to find yourself juggling your schedule to make it happen.