What college student has not padded their essays with triple spacing and long bullshit sentences? If you have not, you have not spent enough time in the classroom or you enjoy the smell of your own farts. Teachers futilely teach students the need for brevity in essays.  In the workplace your boss will use this technique called ‘active listening.’ Active listening, a novice might wonder what that is, it is a human trick used to dupe the unsuspecting speaker. This helpful ploy involves nodding your head and giving a temporary solution that may stall the complainer for a few merciful hours. I suspect if you gave the chronic complainers a time limit, you might keep your sanity. Run on sentences with triple spaced paragraphs and complaint mongers are the enemy of every teacher and manager. 

Some essays require an outline. The outline is a tool for planning out structure. Managers are optimally organizational pros and if they are lousy at the skill, it will negatively affect the company. Most managers are of average intelligence, so if you were inclined to become self-managed, you might very well be free of oversight.  The downsides are many while the upside is particularly helpful if you enjoy freedom.  The managers become afraid of communication if you have previously outwitted them. They might employ a bodyguard for protection. A witness for every encounter in case he or she is outsmarted again.  This person will help the poor manager figure out how it all happened and prevent future embarrassment.  

Bias comes into play in the grading cycle as it does in managing employees with performance reviews. Managers have favorites (people with special privileges) that most will not receive due to perceived disobedience.  My teachers have always allowed me to wiggle in my essays without too much pushback while my bosses were strict. 

I am a big fan of cohesion. It’s what you want in work and essays. Each paragraph has a message to impart. Work…each shift works on providing the next shift with the ability to succeed in their goals for the day. In retail, you want a well-stocked and neat store before it opens. Too often, there is blame shifting and one or all the shifts fail their tasks, which leads to chaos. Disorder leads to lost opportunities for growth within the organization. Discussion of solving problems is shut down and buzz words are employed. This leaves the average person frustrated and a company unable to fix existing problems.  Of course, in confusion there can be clarity and unexpected solutions.  

As a student, you are tasked with finding the link between ideas or objects. The more abstract the better. For example, Skinning Cats is about dating. It’s funny, yet true. Several months ago, I had this random thought that men were difficult to understand, and skinning cats is laborious work too. You generate ideas by talking and through experience. So, when you have random thoughts such as these, you try to draw parallels. Examining dead things is not enticing, and what if I threw up or cried? None of those things happened (happy to report). My first dissection was a worm which was easy.  The frog upset me. I had feelings for this random frog. I try not to think about him too often.   

Managing people and essays is tough. It requires cohesion, psychology, drawing conclusions, observation, and communication.  One thing not discussed is time. It requires timing. Knowing placement of the right word is important for structure and organization. Ignoring the obvious is detrimental.