12 Signs You and Your Partner Are a Total Power Couple

You'll know it immediately when you see them. Their relationship seems perfect — both partners are thriving in their own respective professional and social lives but somehow still manage to make enough time for each other. They inspire envy; they can seem almost regal, with their documented coffee dates and their fancy apartment downtown. Instead of impeding one another’s productivity, they seem to compel one another to become better versions of themselves. It’s unmistakable — they’re a power couple.

What makes a power couple? 

A power couple is created when two powerful people — people who care about succeeding in their respective careers — come together in a relationship and manage to empower one another instead of dragging one another down. A big part of being a power couple is public perception. Even if you and your partner have a significant spark, you’re not elevated to power couple status unless your friends (and internet stalkers) agree on it. Read on for signs that you and your partner are viewed as a power couple by the masses.

12 signs you and your partner are a power couple.

1. They bring out the best in you.

If your partner makes you feel great about yourself, that is powerful in its own right. Simply supporting you is not the same thing as empowering you — it’s the difference between joining a gym together and letting the membership lie dormant, and taking an early morning run together thrice a week. Your other half in a power couple will push you to achieve your goals, not just assure you that you can do it by yourself. 

2. People like seeing you together.

“Get married already,” a friend comments on your Instagram pic. Later, someone else comments, “Perfect!!!” followed by an inane amount of emojis. If the likes flow in whenever you post about your partner, that’s a clear indication that people like seeing you guys together. Although it may seem shallow, being in the public eye is important for a power couple, since your followers are the ones who give you the title. So keep giving the public what it wants and sharing those sweet shots. 

3. You preserve some mystery.

With that said, although fans want evidence that you and your partner are together, you still shouldn't be sharing every element of your relationship with your followers. Truly classy power couples maintain an air of mystery, never posting too much about their private lives. Minute-to-minute updates of you and your bae kissing aren’t necessary. Plus, if you’re sharing so much information about your partner, people might just think you’re boasting — which is not a power couple move.

4. You can collaborate well… 

A power couple is great at collaboration. Maybe you’re a coder and your partner is a designer, so you can literally collaborate on fun web-based projects; but more likely, you guys share a living space and must collaborate on cleaning, cooking, parenting and whatever else is necessary to maintain your lifestyle. It’s difficult to find someone with whom you can live and collaborate easily, so if you and your partner excel at working together, you’re probably a power couple.

5. …But you also have separate spaces.

Even though collaboration is a big part of being in a power couple (or a plain ol’ healthy relationship), having separate projects is even more essential to your power couple status. A power couple is defined by both partners thriving in their own respective fields, so both members of your partnership should always have enough space to work on themselves.

6. You don’t feel jealous.

There is always danger that your ambition could come across as a lack of care for your partner, or that an attractive new hire at your partner’s office could send you in a tailspin of fear about the long hours your partner spends there. Power couples deal with jealousy by creating an implicit contract of trust. They are blatant about their commitment to one another so that problems like jealousy do not threaten their relationship status.

7. You communicate.

Communication is key in any relationship, but power couples especially excel at it. Since busy schedules can easily cause conflicts, members of a power couple train themselves well to communicate their desires to their partner so that work does not interfere with the relationship and the time spent together can be spent peacefully.

8. You’ve been together FOREVER.

Everyone loves rooting for a couple that has been together forever. Chances are that if you’ve been dating for a while, a fan could scroll back through your social media, all the way to the year when you had side bangs and stuck your tongue out in every picture and find evidence of your relationship. This is proof to the public that not only are you and your partner powerful and successful on the outside, but your relationship is strong on the inside as well.

9. Your fam approves of them.

It can’t just be your friends — in a power couple, your family’s approval is just as important. If you were lucky enough to grow up in a supportive family, odds are that your parents have always dreamed about you finding a partner that is your equal in wits and ambition. They’ll obviously be thrilled when you introduce them to the other half of your power couple. 

10. They empower you to succeed.

Although guides to romance tend to ignore finances, your job is actually a huge part of your dating life. It takes up your days, and depending on the gig, it can also consume a large part of the time that you could be spending with your partner. Power couples understand one another’s goals and are willing to make personal sacrifices for the sake of success. If your partner doesn’t push you to go for that big promotion, then they’re not empowering you. 

11. People ask you for relationship advice.

Once friends start asking you for relationship advice, you’ve officially reached peak power couple status. This signifies that the public not only acknowledges your relationship but also holds it up as a paragon for romance everywhere. When you’re part of a power couple, people want what you have, because they think you’ve found a secret key to success — and while that may not be true when the doors are closed, you might as well impart your wisdom.

12. You know how to make them happy.

In order to maintain a power couple relationship, you need to know your partner really well. This means understanding what upsets them and knowing how to make them happy. At the end of the day, you and your partner should not aim to be a perfect power couple, since that’s just a facade — instead, you should aim to be happy in your relationship, and if the public naturally begins idolizing your relationship, so be it. 

Other power couples to emulate

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