{"id":96467,"date":"2018-09-25T11:29:36","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T16:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=96467"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:53:15","slug":"the-7-habits-synergize-beyond-the-eye-rolling-buzzword","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/the-7-habits-synergize-beyond-the-eye-rolling-buzzword\/","title":{"rendered":"The 7 Habits: Synergy (Beyond the Eye-Rolling Buzzword)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Poster<\/p>\n

Welcome back to our monthly series that summarizes, expands, and riffs on each of the seven habits laid out in <\/em>The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People<\/a> by Stephen Covey.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Synergy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a word that\u2019s apt to induce an eye-roll these days.<\/p>\n

For the past few decades, synergy has been a banal business buzzword \u2014 a clich\u00e9 term used to describe some splashy new initiative that really doesn\u2019t amount to anything more than some corporate merging or bureaucratic reshuffling. Sometimes it\u2019s even code for \u201cWe\u2019re about to lay people off, but we\u2019ll be able to get more done because . . . synergy<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not as if the term was originally more meaningful and simply became diluted over time. While Steven Covey helped popularize the buzzword in the mid-90s by making Synergy one of the habits in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective<\/em> People<\/em><\/a>, it\u2019s arguably the weakest chapter in the book. While Covey describes Synergy in a way that transcends corporate strategy \u2014 as embracing differences between people as a spur to creative collaboration — the tips he gives to implement it are largely a vague rehashing of the previous habits, particularly \u201cThink Win\/Win.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Covey even admitted as much in his 2011 book The 3rd Alternative<\/em><\/a>, in which he revisits the concept of synergy, and tries to flesh out the details and concrete steps that were previously lacking in The 7 Habits<\/em>. Even here though, synergy doesn\u2019t emerge as a very distinct and compelling practice.<\/p>\n

Perhaps there is just something about the idea of synergy that lends itself to being described in generalities, and which has made it the perfect rationale for pitching new business strategies that otherwise lack supporting evidence!<\/p>\n

But, overused and ambiguous as it often can be, I don\u2019t think synergy should be written off altogether. It can<\/em> be a graspable, actionable habit, and a fruitful, effective one at that.<\/p>\n

Synergy may not be redeemable as corporate lingo, but it\u2019s a valuable strategy to implement in one\u2019s personal life \u2014 allowing you to do more and be more than you otherwise could.<\/p>\n

What Is Synergy?<\/h3>\n

Synergy comes from the Greek word for \u201cworking together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Synergy happens when two or more independent things combine into a whole that\u2019s greater than the sum of its parts. The combination creates a power or effect that surpasses what the individual elements could achieve separately. In a simple win-win situation, each party gets their own benefit; in a synergy situation, a shared benefit is created that encompasses and transcends the two entities. If 1 + 1 normally equals 2, 1 + 1 + a syngeristic effect = 3.<\/p>\n

Synergy can create a tangible effect\/output and\/or something new\/different that didn\u2019t exist when certain elements were kept separate. Hydrogen plus oxygen makes water. If one person who is too short to pick apples off a tree stands on the shoulders of someone else who is too short, the result is enough height to successfully pick fruit. Drums, vocal singing, and guitars can all make music separately; together they can create rock \u2018n roll. Even simply using any kind of tool produces synergy; you + a computer can create things that a human and a laptop cannot create as independent elements.<\/p>\n

Synergy also occurs when you complete two tasks with one action. The value created from the combination is the time saved over what would have been required in doing each task separately. If I fold laundry while listening to a podcast, I create more time for myself than if I had done each activity on its own.<\/p>\n

Synergy and Your Roles in Life <\/strong><\/h3>\n

In his book, First Things First<\/a><\/em> (dude wrote a lot of books), Covey made an almost throwaway reference to synergy that I think is actually his most valuable insight about it: you should seek synergy between your different roles in life.<\/p>\n

In the habit \u201cBegin With the End in Mind,\u201d<\/a> one of your tasks is to uncover all the different roles you embody. So you might be a dad, a husband, an employee, a friend, a volunteer, a weightlifter, etc.<\/p>\n

This is a really useful exercise because it gives you a big picture view of your responsibilities. But looking at that list can also give you the false and detrimental idea that each role is discrete and disconnected from the others.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s really how most of us live our lives, isn\u2019t it? We have our work life, our social life, our gym life, our family life . . . and they\u2019re all fairly separate and isolated from each other.<\/p>\n

In some ways, that\u2019s healthy; e.g., you don\u2019t want to bring your work home with you all the time.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s also a downside to failing to see each role as an interconnected part of a single system: it can make your life feel fractured and splintered and prevent you from being as happy and effective, in each role as well as in general, as you could be.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re having family problems which are exacerbated by your working long hours and not spending enough time at home, but you don\u2019t feel like you can talk about personal problems at work, and don\u2019t explain what\u2019s going on to your boss or ask for time off. As a result, your home life continues to suffer, and, because you\u2019re distracted, so does your work, though your boss doesn\u2019t know why.<\/p>\n

Or maybe you have a goal to start exercising and lose some weight, but you feel guilty about spending more time away from your family. So you don\u2019t start that fitness program. But since you\u2019re not exercising and taking care of yourself, you don\u2019t have the energy and pep you need to make that time you spend with your family actually enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Or perhaps you volunteer for a community organization, but the time and mental bandwidth it requires is taking time and mental bandwidth away from your girlfriend and work. So you resign.<\/p>\n

Some amount of conflict will always exist between the different roles you inhabit in life. But with some thought and intentionality, you can not only reduce this tension, you can actually create healthy synergy between your roles and their attendant tasks.<\/p>\n

How to Create Synergistic Effects in Your Life <\/u><\/h3>\n

There are two primary ways to create more synergy in your life: 1) complete two roles\/tasks with one action, and 2) treat your life as an interconnected system.<\/p>\n

Complete 2 Roles\/Tasks Together<\/h3>\n

Synergy is created in your personal life when you combine two roles\/tasks\/activities together in a way that creates a power\/effect\/value that\u2019s greater than doing them separately. Sometimes this value is simply in the time saved. But oftentimes there\u2019s also a special effect created above and beyond this benefit in efficiency.<\/p>\n

Multitasking has gotten a bad rap these days, but it shouldn\u2019t always be thought of as verboten; there are in fact some activities that pair and layer so well together, that not only does the quality of each respective component not suffer, it actually improves.<\/p>\n

Here are some examples of how to build this kind of synergy between your life\u2019s roles and tasks:<\/p>\n