When I look at married couples, part of me wants to get married again so I can apply all that I'm learning from observing them.

I'm convinced happily-ever-after is not only achievable, but pretty well bankable if — having chosen your beloved carefully — you let synergy do its thing.

The principle of synergy — two people working together to create more than two people could achieve working independently — applies perfectly to coupledom.

Yet I see so few couples actually benefiting from it, as they mostly don't seem to work together.

I see tremendous opportunity for couples to make plans for themselves and to achieve great things together financially, socially, career-wise, as parents and friends. They could so easily decide between them how they want to live their lives and talk about how they will make their dreams come true together.

But they don't. Most couples I encounter are dissatisfied with their lot as individuals and as members of a married couple. They concentrate on the things that niggle them and tend not to stand back and look at what they have together and appreciate it.

I have yet to meet a couple who could say how they were doing according to their plans, dreams, and aspirations as they've never spoken to each other to establish what they are, much less talked about how and when they expected to reach them.

OK, so maybe that's not the best reason to get married, but if I do ever marry again, I expect synergy will play a role in its success.