Excel’s hiding secrets from you 🤫

Plus: The *real* reason why you’re anxious at work

June 19, 2025

Hey there! Imagine a world where you’re an Excel pro: Boss needs you to run a macro? No problem. Co-worker wants you to delete duplicates in a spreadsheet? Done in two minutes. 😎 

Excel is no longer a headache. Instead, it’s a powerful tool that makes your life easier, helps you save tons of time, and makes your resume stand out.

This doesn’t have to be make-believe: It can be your reality after attending my FREE Excel class on Data Cleaning and VBA! After just 1 hour, you’ll walk away knowing how to clean messy spreadsheets, automate repetitive tasks, and more.

Save your spot before this class is gone. See you soon!

Spreadsheet Privacy 101 🔐

Accidentally hitting “Reply All” when you meant to hit “Reply.” Getting a spicy text from your BFF mid-presentation. Leaving that very personal conversation with ChatGPT open while sharing your screen. 😳

Digital mishaps happen to the best of us, but there is one snafu you can prevent: sharing sensitive Excel data with the wrong people. 

Whether you’re in HR handling employee SSNs, in finance juggling salary data, or on the sales team tracking confidential deal sizes, this is a useful Excel skill for any and everyone. 

Here’s an example: Say your boss asks you to hide everyone’s ID number. 

Step 1) Type in the LEFT function and insert the cell with the data you’d like to hide. For us, that’s B2. 

Step 2) Add a comma and how many characters you want visible at the beginning of the cell. We want the first six characters visible, so we now have =LEFT(B2,6) 

Step 3) Add &” and asterisks (asterisks represent the hidden characters). Close with “&. Our updated formula is =LEFT(B2,6)&”****”&

Step 4) Insert the Right function. Then select the same cell (B2), add a comma, and how many characters you want visible at the end of the cell (I want two!). 

Our final formula is =LEFT(B2,6)&”****”&RIGHT(B2,2) 

Voila! And if you’d like to go one step further with keeping things under wraps on your workbooks? Here’s how to put a password on your spreadsheet. 

Ready to Jumpstart Your Data Skills?

Don’t forget to join my free Excel class on Data Cleaning and VBA! In just 60 minutes, you’ll get:

  • Beginner-friendly VBA tricks that clean up even the messiest of spreadsheets in seconds

  • Excel tools that help you save at least three hours a week. That’s 156 hours—or about 6 days—a year!

  • The confidence to use Excel and impress your boss (just in time for your quarterly reports 😉)

Save your spot today and you’ll learn as much as these previous attendees have!

How to Deal with Anxiety at Work  😵‍💫

You’re constantly rereading your coworker’s Slack messages just in case they’re mad at you. You triple-check every spreadsheet, terrified you missed an error. Your heart pounds when your boss’s name pops up in your inbox. 

This is workplace anxiety, and it can be brutal. 🫠

Career coach Erin Foley says we tend to blame our anxiety on two factors: our environment (demanding boss, rude coworkers) and personal shortcomings (“I’m not smart enough,” “I’m too slow”). 

The problem is that both explanations make our anxiety worse: 

  • Blame external factors ➜ We feel powerless because we can't control everything. 

  • Blame ourselves ➜ We create a shame spiral that intensifies our anxiety. 

The real culprit for our anxiety, according to Erin? It isn't always our boss or performance. It’s our biology. We navigate our 9-5s with brains that were wired for a very different world (one where tribal acceptance and status were the difference between life or death). 

Today, that same primitive wiring misreads everyday work moments as threats: A curt Slack message is rejection and a #REF error is a status threat. 😵‍💫 

Luckily, Erin says there are three ways to rewire our brains: 

  1. Awareness: Notice when the fears kick in. 

  2. Distance: Write down the anxious thoughts. 

  3. Question: Ask, “Is this actually a threat?” 

Your brain means well, but it’s operating with outdated software. The good news is we have the power to give it an upgrade. 🌿

Thanks for reading! Did you know Excel’s development team likes to hide Easter eggs in the software? One of the most popular was the flight simulator in Excel ’97, where you could pilot a virtual plane within your spreadsheet. 

Makes you wonder what’s hidden in your current version of Excel. 👀

Stay Exceling, 

Kat