Know this new function?

And what to do if you feel behind in life

Hey, you! It’s the end of January, and I’m almost done reading Close Your Eyes, Get Free by Grace Smith. It’s a book about self-hypnosis (very on-brand for me) and I’ve learned a ton—including that some hypnotists charge $1 million for their services. Now that’s mesmerizing!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Her (The Textsplit Function)

I’m so thrilled to introduce a relatively new function that’s giving the iconic Text to Columns tool a run for its money. Once you learn it, you’ll never handle text in Excel the same way. 👀

Say your company has a spreadsheet with everyone’s full names. Your boss just asked you to split everyone’s first, middle, and last names before your afternoon meeting.

In the olden days, you’d default to using Excel’s Text to Columns tool. But it’s 2023 now, so we’re leveling up and using the =TEXTSPLIT function. 😎

This function splits text into rows and columns using delimiters (a fancy word for characters such as commas, spaces, quotes, etc. that separate text strings).

If you’re a Microsoft 365 subscriber, this function is available to you. Here’s how to master it!

Step 1: Select the cell in which you’d like your split to start and type in =TEXTSPLIT

Step 2: Choose the text you want to split. For our example, let’s insert A2,

Step 3: Next, type in the quotations “ ” and close your formula. We inserted a space into the quotations because that is the delimiter we are eliminating and using to split our text.

Another example: If the names showed up as “Eric, Jeremiah, Thomas” you’d write “, ” to ensure each item separated by a comma and space goes into its own column.

Step 4: Now for the most satisfying part: enter and copy down!

Don’t be surprised when this function works on the first try. It’s got your back. 😎

What to Do If You Feel Behind

If you Google “I feel behind in life” you'll get nearly 1.5 billion results. 🤯 It’s clear that the feeling of not having achieved enough is common—and it’s not hard to understand why.

A quick social media scroll and you’ll see tons of people—oftentimes your age or younger—sharing major accomplishments. Buying a house, making Forbes 30 Under 30, selling their fourth company in three years—you get the gist.

The self-comparison is hard to avoid. It makes you feel like you’re somehow “behind” or “failing” by not aligning with other people’s timelines.

Most advice columnists (and tbh, probably your parents) would tell you not to sweat it. “Plenty of people make it big later in life,” they might say. “Vera Wang designed her first dress at 40 and Henry Ford launched the Model T car at 45!”

But this motivational advice is still a little problematic because it suggests you have to do something big.

If I’ve learned one thing recently, it’s that although those “I’ve made it!” moments are important, they’re not a prerequisite for a fulfilled life.

In reality, our lives are the culmination of our day-to-day activities—which is why how you feel on a daily basis is so much more valuable than whether you’ve hit [insert major milestone here] by [insert age here].

When I find myself feeling “behind,” I try to reflect on these questions instead:

  • Do I enjoy how I’m spending my time?

  • How do I feel on most days?

  • Am I hanging out with friends and family?

  • Am I being creative and paying attention to my health?

These simple questions help define what success means to me—which, in this case, is living a life where I can find joy, excitement, self-care, and loving relationships daily.

There’s a saying: “You can never be late to your own life.” And it’s true—you’re not behind in life because it's yours to define.

  • If you’re considering a career change, you’ll dig this podcast about finding your purpose with career coach Ashley Stahl!

  • CNBC released a clip on what a brain expert eats in a day to stay sharp and focused.

  • My simple tips for building an at-home video recording studio!

  • How to use Einstein’s Law of Focus to be more productive.

  • Here’s today’s Tech Tip in video format if you’d like to see it in action.

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A quote I’ve been loving lately:

“Your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development because success is something you attract by the person you become.” – Jim Rohn

Stay Exceling,

Kat