Recently, on the Dating and Relationship show, I spoke with Richard Robbins, the co-founder and CEO of Richard Robbins International, a global sales and business coaching organization. He shared insights on how he helps successful entrepreneurs attain work-life balance, fostering healthy relationships and happy home lives.
As a dedicated business professional, in the beginning you have to put almost 100% of your time and energy into professional growth. But you can quickly lose control of your work life balance if you put all of your focus on work. That’s why I asked Richard why it’s so important for work life balance in our lives between love and career. He cited a great finding from Shawn Achor’s book The Happiness Advantage, which stresses; ‘happiness does not come from success, rather success comes from happiness.’ Richard assures us that this is why we need to put our time and energy into balancing both, since healthy, happy relationships will be a catalyst for success rather than hinder it. No one lies on their death bed saying ‘god I wish I had worked more’. This simple fact proves that our relationships are what matter in the long run and finding a way to put emphasis on both will ultimately help our bottom line career-wise too.
So how does Richard recommend people prioritize? He says to start with a simple commitment to routines. He believes setting a date and time to spend time together every week face to face will really make a difference. It’s easy to get caught up in the cycle of managing our careers and brush off spending genuine quality time together. Then before you know it, three weeks have gone by and you haven’t had a date night and don’t know what’s really going on with your partner. That’s why simply sticking to a routine can help you manage your time. Set a date and time – like Friday night at 6:00pm or Sunday afternoon at 12:00pm – to stick to every week and take turns planning it. This will allow you to end the week or start the week off right and still fit in that quality time you need with your partner amongst your business schedule.
Richard himself has been married to his wife for 26 years and runs a successful company so clearly he’s doing something right! So once we get into a routine we’ll start to see our relationships improving. So how does a better love life enhance your career? Well it’s said that ‘the secret to a successful person is a 
supportive partner.’ And recently I came across a Harvard Business Study that showed married men were reported to work 400 more hours per year than single men of the same background. This is because with the stability and happy home-life they had, they were able to be more focused and productive at work. Richard elaborated on this information saying that if you think about it, anything you associate negative or stressful emotions to will affect your overall ability. If someone is affected by trying to lose a certain amount of weight or by not being able to find a relationship or going through a bad one at home – these negative emotions are going to consume them on a daily basis and affect their overall productivity. Therefore, with a stable and happy home life, working more is no big deal because not only do you feel better, but you also don’t have to worry about outside factors affecting your work.
Though it takes two people to be in any sort of relationship, sometimes we see one partner’s career taking off while the other remains stagnant. Richard shared with us that he went through a similar experience with his wife when his business started to flourish. His wife said ‘you’re starting to see a lot of success, I’m worried about us growing apart.’ Richard’s simple response to this was ‘let’s grow together.’ This situation can be common if one partner sees more career success than the other. But Richard’s answer sums up a manageable solution. While he is an entrepreneur and he brought his wife on board to help manage the company so they could grow together, other business professionals can do something s
imilar in their own relationships. The point of growing together is not only working together, but having something you both are excited and passionate about that you can grow separately while you are together. For example, Sandra’s friend’s husband was doing well in his career and all she felt she had was the kids and the house and thought they were growing apart in their relationship. Her husband suggested she start following her passions (like opening a yoga studio) so that while he was investing in his career success she could do the same with hers and they could grow together through sharing the experiences with each other. As long as both partners are moving forward in a relationship – even if that is through separate endeavours while together – then there will always seem to be balance and happiness since you are growing together.
It’s so important to balance a healthy love life with a successful career life, since it’s common for one to outweigh the other. Richard has some amazing insights from his business but also his personal life that he was able to share with us and show us that it is possible to have both! To listen to the full show and hear more tips and stories from Richard visit www.640toronto.com. Are you having trouble balancing your love life with other aspects of your life and career? Let’s talk about it, book a date coaching session with me today!
