Label 42 Excel rows in 4.2 seconds ⚡

Stranger Things, smarter spreadsheets

February 19, 2026

Hey there! I just learned that 1980s computer games like Solitaire and Tetris had a "boss key." If your boss walked by while you were gaming, you’d press it to instantly clear the game screen and instead display a dummy Excel spreadsheet. 

Excel: having our backs since ’85. 🤝

Rate Anything in Seconds With SWITCH 🎬

Did you watch the final season of Stranger Things? The eight-episode run cost over $400 million to produce, making it one of the most expensive TV shows of all time. 😦

With all five seasons out, you might be tempted to rank every episode in Excel (if you’re an Excel nerd like me). You could type "Excellent," "Great," or "Good" manually...but with 42 episodes total? That’s going to take awhile. 🫠

Enter: the SWITCH function! 

💡 Excel Explanation: The SWITCH function looks at a value and returns a result based on a match. Think of it as a lookup table built into your formula.

Here’s how to set it up: 

Step 1) In your desired cell, type =SWITCH and select your rating cell (for us that’s C4) followed by a comma 

Step 2) Map each number to its label, separated by commas: 5, "Excellent", 4, "Great", 3, "Good", 2, "Okay", 1, "Bad". Our formula now looks like: =SWITCH(C4, 5, ”Excellent,” 4, “Great”, 3, “Good”, 2, “Okay,” 1, “Bad”) 

Step 3) Close your parentheses. Drag and you’re set! 

Rating Stranger Things episodes probably won’t impress your boss. But swap it for performance scores, project updates, or survey responses? Now, you’re the office's Excel wizard. 🧙

The Hottest Job Skill of 2026

I used to think being a good storyteller was a talent reserved for writers, comedians, and directors—you know, people with a gift the rest of us just don’t have. 🙃

So when LinkedIn reported that job postings for “storyteller” doubled in the last year, I did a double take. Storyteller? What if that just doesn’t come naturally to me? 

Fortunately, I’ve since realized that being a compelling storyteller is a skill you can practice in small, everyday moments, from your emails to interviews. 

Here are three ways to start: 

  1. Problem Before Data 💥

Next time you start a meeting or send an email, introduce the conflict before the data. “I noticed a dip in new customers in February—here’s what I found” pulls people in so much more than “Today we’ll be talking about the Q1 report.” 

Tension is the storyteller's best friend! 

  1. Keep a Story Bank 📚

Log small wins, tough conversations, and “aha” moments in your Notes app. People think storytelling is about being a great "talker," but it’s also about being a great observer. 

  1. Frame Your Career as a Journey ⛰️

True story: I once recited my résumé in chronological order during an interview. 🤦 What I should have done was connect the dots. In an interview, the company wants to feel like the destination—like everything you’ve done has been leading to them. 

This difference looks something like this: 

✖️”I started my career in 2020 in marketing. In 2022, I transitioned to sales. Now, I’m curious about data analytics.” 

✔️”Marketing taught me how people think. Sales taught me how they buy. Now I want to understand the data behind both, which is what drew me to this role." 

Remember, being a good storyteller isn’t a “trait” you’re either born with or not. It’s a skill! And like all skills, it can be learned. 

Thanks for reading! I went down a Reddit rabbit hole of Excel horror stories the other day and this one got me: someone put a filter on their table and copied a value down 40 rows…populating 3,500 cells with the wrong data. 

Excuse me while I check my tables for the zillionth time. 😅

Stay Exceling,

Kat