If you're fighting that much with your girlfriend a better hack is knowing when to walk away. A relationship like that just isn't worth the energy, especially with work as demanding as ours.
You shouldn't have to reach into your bag of tricks until things get real, i.e. marriage + kids + money problems, etc.
What a presumptuous post. You're assuming OP doesn't have kids, or money problems or any other issue that would make it hard to walk away from just because he used the term girlfriend (rather than wife). With no information other than the word girlfriend, you made a series of assumptions and ended up implying OP's relationship wasn't 'real' cause it isn't a marriage.
I respect your opinion. However, I'm the type of person that fuels from relationships. Regardless of the complications, the added motivation and state of mind in general I get is well worth the cost.