My Top 5 Tips for Working With Your Spouse
Being able to work daily with Cameron I feel is one of the greatest blessings in my life so I wanted to share 5 tips with you that we have learned to make working with your spouse as enjoyable as possible. Working with anyone every day can be a challenge and many people have said to us that they could never work with their spouse. However, I think if they could give these few tricks a try, they would be surprised at the blessings it would bring to their days and their marriage. Honestly, the days Cameron and I work separately are the hardest and least enjoyable days on the ranch.
- Communication is key
Now this is not new advice when it comes to working with someone. However, when you work with your spouse there is even more expectation that the other one should know what your thinking. Just a little extra communication makes daily life so much easier, makes sure going to open “that gate” does not turn into a frustrated yelling match by adding open “the green gate in the barn”.
- Be Appreciative
It is extremely easy to overlook all that your spouse does every day as simply “their job” but it is important to appreciate all the small things. Let them know you see them and would not want to do it without them. Take one day to not look at everything your doing and see all the things your spouse is doing for your business/family.
- Defined Roles
For us this means finding your strengths, and your spouses and each of you focus on those things. Then the things that maybe neither are great at you work on together or take turns. Or in the case of housework whoever has a spare moment and sees that is needs done jumps in and does it. Knowing who oversees bills or chores is important though, animals need fed and bills need paid and without defined roles you might end up thinking the other took care of it and it would not get done.
- Mutual Respect
This is a big one. When you have mutual respect, you naturally treat each other better and not question the other actions or speak rudely to each other. The reason I say this is a big one is because without it, it would be easy to yell, cuss, and talk derogatory towards each other. That would be horrible for both your marriage and your children if they are around like ours. The way you treat your spouse is a model for how your children will treat their future spouse and other people.
- Focus on the Good
I have always liked the saying “when you focus on the good, the good gets better”. This is so true, not only when working with a spouse but in life in general. For some reason it is much easier to see the faults in others, especially your spouse when you spend all your time together. However, if you make the effort to see the good you soon stop looking for the bad and your days become much happier and enjoyable. There is a lot of good that comes with spending your days with your spouse, not only for your marriage but for your children as well.
Even if you do not work with your spouse, I feel these are good tips for working with people in general. Writing them has definitely served as a good reminder for me as we start our day moving and working cattle. I would love to hear your thoughts on working with your spouse, do you think you could do it? Or do you already?