Synergize

“I’m not so sure about this whole Synergize thing,” I said. “It seems like a lot of work.”

“It can be,” said Iman, “but the work can be quite joyful when you see it as it truly is.”

“So many of you have developed this mindset that sees work as  nothing more than laborious drudgery,” added Yewell. “However, considering that it allows you to reach the pinnacle of your creativity and gives such an accomplishment of purpose, it seems that it would be more difficult to not go about it in the most effective way possible.”

“And that would be synergy?” I said

“Think of it this way,” said Iman. “The six habits we’ve discussed so far comprise the two essential habits of Private victory and Public Victory. Yet they are really just mirror images of one another. They are not the same. They are simply similar dynamics affecting two dimensions of reality.”

“The internal and the external,” Yewell offered.

“What are the first three habits?” Iman asked.

As I mentioned them they were magically written in space before me.

Be Proactive

Begin with the End in Mind

Put First Things First

“And what are the next three?”

As I said them they seemed to emerge out of the first three and align themselves next to them.

“Now, Iman continued “look at the first two. Do you see how they mirror one another?”

“Well,” I said, “Being Proactive is taking responsibility for my own actions and outcomes while Thinking Win/Win is assuring a positive outcome not only for myself, but for whomever I’m dealing with as well.”

“There you go,” said Yewell. “How about the next two?”

“Let’s see,” I continued. “If I Begin with the End in Mind, I visualize the goal I am trying to reach, but by taking the premise into a relationship, the End we’re both really seeking is to understand one another. By my taking the initiative and Seeking to Understand him first…”

“Or her,” Iman interrupted.

“…Or her first, I’ll be mush more capable of being Understood myself.”

“Two for two,” said Iman. “Want to try for the third?”

“Well,” I said, “by Putting First Things First, I make sure to schedule my priorities and attend to the things that are important but not urgent first. And when we Synergize, we realize that the whole is greater than the parts. But I’m not sure I see the mirror image.”

“Putting First Things First when you Synergize means realizing that you are not the first thing,” Iman explained. “You humans have an expression that denotes the urgency of self preservation. You say you are ‘looking out for number one.’ When you Put First Things First and you Synergize, you stop looking out for number one and realize that you both are One.

“As you achieve your Private Victory by finding your independence, the challenges you face can be achieved, must be achieved, by you and you alone,” said Yewell. “But as you progress toward your Public Victory to achieve interdependence, the solutions to your challenges will only, can only, be found through your connection and cooperation with others.”

“That’s why we need to Synergize,” I said.

“And Put First Things First,” Iman added. “Your relationships are not urgent, but to achieve interdependence and full effectiveness, they are of absolute importance.”

Tags: relationships, synergize