How Do Professional People Find Time to Date?

If you're committed to meeting new people then time needs to be set aside for this however busy your work schedule. After all who wants to be left on the shelf?

It’s highly unlikely though not impossible that you'll meet the man or woman of your dreams in the course of a hectic daily routine but don't give up hope - there is a realistic alternative. Don’t make excuses and say you haven’t got time for a love life right now – life’s too short.

The beauty of the Internet is that you can advertise for virtually anything. If you have a spare room to let, you can find a lodger; if you want to sell a boat, you can find a buyer and if you want a date, there are a rich variety of sites whether you're straight, gay or undecided. For those at a loss for words, you can even hire companies who will compile an online dating profile on your behalf.

It’s far easier to meet people over the Internet nowadays than the usual dating strategies of several decades ago when apart from introductions via friends, going to pubs and clubs was perhaps the only practical way of ever finding a date. Since then the stigma of the proverbial ‘lonely hearts’ column has long been dispelled. A whole generation has grown up since then knowing that at the touch of a button they can find someone online who'll be their best possible match out of thousands of candidates. This cuts down on so much time wasted on first dates with someone you find you have little in common with. Sorting the ‘wheat from the chaff’ thus saves a huge amount of time.

It’s hard to keep a fine balance between your personal life and your work commitments as a busy professional but you must ultimately ask yourself one question: If I don’t even have the time to set aside for dating then how will I ever find time for a committed relationship?

People’s lives run at a faster pace nowadays and if one area in your life is put on hold or neglected completely it might leave you feeling resentful at a later date or you could even suffer from ‘emotional burnout’ as the old saying goes: ‘all work and no play...’

If you live in the UK take the e Harmony compatibility survey - you never know there may be a suitable match for you:

And for those elsewhere in the world, why not try Oceans of People - a totally free site.

For wealthy singles, it can be useful to sign up with a professional matchmaking company which will help cut down considerably in time and effort to find that special person. Try this site for busy professionals - It’s just lunch! - see video below.

There are dozens of Internet sites for certain categories of people. Sites for the wealthy and there are even sites for the unhappily married who find themselves in an impossible relationship that they can’t get out of for whatever reason. Everyone has the right to romance and hopefully a love life so sites of this nature are beneficial in bringing together people who under normal circumstances would never have met.

Once you've found someone you like and who hopefully likes you then time has to be found when you can share quality time with each other. This is never going to be easy if your match is as busy as you are. Lunch dates can be fairly straightforward if you live in the same area but the further away, your date lives, the more complicated things will get purely from the point of finding time to meet and deducting time spent on travel too. This is why it might be best to concentrate on finding someone who lives nearby so you know you can meet on a regular basis and get to know each other within a reasonable time scale.

If you're interested in dating someone in a similar professional field to your own, this might provide a basis for mutual understanding as they will appreciate just how busy you are and you could develop a fulfilling relationship on this common ground alone. But try to arrange days off at the same time so that you don't begin to resent your work commitments.

If you and your date fall in love at some point then you'll doubtless want to spend every waking moment together but from a practical point of view, you can’t put business interests on the back burner unless you're lucky enough to delegate the tasks you normally carry out, to someone else.

Book a short break together to see if you really do get along and that yours is truly a match made in heaven. Forget the workplace for a few days and take the time to relax, wind down and enjoy each other's company.