In the morning, you take the train to separate offices. At night, you check work emails at dinner. Evenings are spent juggling networking events.

You and your girlfriend are excelling at your careers, but your relationship is suffering – how can you fix that?

Have a No-Work Zone.

If possible, making your whole apartment a No-Work zone and leave your work worries at the office. (As an added bonus, you’ll be more productive during the day if you know you won’t be able to catch up on work when you get home.) If that’s not possible, then turn off your phones during dinner, in bed and after 8 p.m.

Pencil each other in during the day.

When your schedules line up, meet your partner for lunch or coffee during the day. Even a twenty-minute coffee break will do wonders – suddenly, your girlfriend is part of your work day, even if it’s just for one day.

Eat breakfast or dinner together.

Preferably both. Grabbing breakfast together – even if it’s just a bagel and instant coffee – means that you start your day together, while sharing dinner is a nice time to connect over conversation each day.

But don’t let a single day go by when you eat all of your meals at the office or on the subway. You and your girlfriend can spare at least fifteen minutes for a meal together.

Sweat together.

Not just during sex, but also at the gym. Exercise increases your energy level throughout the day, and you should be exercising regularly anyway. Convince your girlfriend to pick up a gym membership too and you can start a new morning routine.

You don’t have to do the same activities at the gym – you can watch her do dumbbells while you hit the treadmill – but the fact that you’re there together gives you something else to bond over.

Go to events together twice a week.

I know, I know, you’re tired enough already without adding extra activities to your schedule, but hear me out. What does your typical workday look like? You wake up early, toil in an office, stagger home so tired you can barely stand, fall straight into bed, lather, rinse, repeat. If you add an event to your schedule – a salsa class, for example, or a movie screening or an art show – then you both have something to look forward to. Your workday doesn’t have to be your whole day.

Go to work events together.

I don’t mean staff meetings – no one wants to go to those. But if your office is having a Christmas party or your boss is throwing a casual mixer, then ask if you can bring your girlfriend as a plus one. She’ll feel more involved in your work life once she meets your coworkers, and it’s a great way to appease both your company and your girlfriend.

Life is hectic, but don’t let your relationship suffer for it. The more you and your girlfriend build a routine that doesn’t revolve around work – such as hitting the gym or cooking dinner – the closer you’ll become, despite your busy schedules.

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