All Work and No Dating?
Find Time to Find a Relationship

By Karen Card

You love your new job and you are working 60 hours a week. After work, you head to the gym for an hour of exercise, and then drag yourself home for dinner and sleep. You spend your weekends doing laundry, grocery shopping, visiting friends and trying to squeeze in a favorite activity like biking or sailing. You lead a very full and exciting life, but something is missing. You would love to have a special someone to share it with, but you have no time to date, or even meet someone. What can you do?

With schedules getting fuller and work hours getting longer, who has time to meet that special someone, let alone go out on dates and build a relationship. Never fear, with today’s dating climate changing, there are always ways to get things done faster – including meeting someone special. Here are 6 ways for busy people to meet that special someone:

1. Online: Do not dismiss online dating – even if you have heard horror stories, or have had your own bad experience. Online dating is a great way to meet a lot of people at your convenience. You can email in your pajamas at 2:00 a.m. if that is what your schedule allows. Online dating gives you the best chance to meet many people you would never have the chance to meet in your daily life. Just be sure to be truthful, be safe, and do not base your choices on the pictures alone. To increase your chances of success, you may want to hire a professional relationship coach to help you write your profile and teach you who to talk to and what to say.

2. Speed Dating Events: To reach your goal of finding someone special, you may need to go out of your comfort zone and travel to venues where available singles are gathering. At a speed-dating event, you can meet up to 30 people in one evening. You will meet them, talk to them for several minutes, and decide if you are interested in having a date and getting to know them better. This process is definitely faster than meeting people at a nightclub.

3. Singles Events: Check out your local singles clubs. Singles Events are increasing in popularity in many cities. If you have never been to one, check it out. Try to be open-minded for your first visit. You may find that you really enjoy meeting people from a variety of backgrounds and in a safe environment. On the other hand, you may decide you do not care for the atmosphere of a particular event and you may want to visit another event. Chances are you can even host an event while doing an activity you already have on your schedule, like bowling or dance lessons.

4. Dating Service: Larger cities have a variety of professional dating services. You pay them a fee upfront and they set you up on dates (usually one date per month). It is a very efficient way to meet the kind of people that interest you. It saves time because the dating service does all the work for you – they gather your personal information and your dating criteria, then they match you up and even find a location for you to meet. You just have to show up.

5. Get the Word Out: Get as many people working for you as possible. Tell all your friends, family and coworkers that you are looking to meet someone special and that you are now available for blind dates with their friends. It is no longer taboo to tell people you are single and looking, because the number of single professionals is growing rapidly. Let your friends and family know what days and times you are available, and that you are willing to meet anyone they think might be of interest to you. It is like having a dating service working for you for no charge.

6. Keep your Options Open: To increase your chances of meeting someone special you may need to adjust your criteria. If it has been a while since you had a relationship, it might be a good idea to try a different “type” of person. If in the past, you only liked to date brunettes, why not try blondes. If you tend to only date someone of a certain height or weight, why not try a different size. Their inside package may be a perfect match for you, even when their outside package is not what you had in mind. After all, your perfect match may not be exactly who you think it is. Keeping your options open will increase your chances of meeting someone.

Just remember, dating is a numbers game and you have to play the odds. The more people you meet, the greater the chance that you will find that one special someone. Busy people need to use a variety of options – all at the same time – to increase their odds of meeting someone. So open your mind, try new venues, and most of all relax and enjoy the process. Your special someone may be just one event or mouse click away.\

Karen Card, a certified relationship coach, has helped clients all over the country get engaged, get married, stop divorces, and find happiness through love. She is a workshop facilitator and holds a degree from Colorado State University and certification from Dr. John Gray’s Mars/Venus Institute. Karen is the author of the book, “How to Get More Love – 40 Tips to Make Love Work.”  For more information about the book or individual coaching, please call 727-535-8393 or visit  www.coachingforlove.net.

[Contact the author for permission to republish or reuse this article.]