The 4 traits of lucky people

And bad news for the no-shows…

Happy Thursday! A helpful reminder: It takes about 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. This means you only have *checks calculator* 47 days to go before that New Year’s resolution feels like second nature. Keep going, you got this! 🏃

Who Wasn’t on the List? 

After two years of working from home, around 50% of companies are ready to send employees back into the office full-time (goodbye, Zooming from bed in your pajamas 💔).

If you’re one of those employees going back into the office, you might be wondering: “But wait, my company is massive. How can they tell who showed up and didn’t?”

Well, Excel hides a sneaky trick anyone can use to determine who didn’t attend a place or event—or Monday all-hands—and it’s much more precise than trying to remember whether everyone said “here” (or “present” if you like to be different) when you called roll.

Let’s say your company has a spreadsheet with all the employees’ names and who showed up on Monday.

Your manager’s goal? Get a list of the no-shows.

To find this, they’d use the =FILTER and =COUNTIF functions. Here’s how to do it (but feel free to keep this tip a secret in case you’d rather WFH forever).

Step 1️⃣: Select the cell where you’d like your “Absent” list to start. 

Step 2️⃣: Insert the =FILTER function with your first array table (for us, it would be “A2:15”). The formula would begin with =FILTER(A2:A15

Step 3️⃣: Type “COUNTIF(ARRAY 2, ARRAY 1)” in the same cell. 

The COUNTIF function counts cells that meet the given criteria. Here, we want it to compare the two lists—the “Present” column to the “Employee Name” column—so it would be “COUNTIF(B2:B10,A2:15)”

Now, your formula looks like this: =FILTER(A2:A:15,COUNTIF(B2:B10,A2:15)

Step 4️⃣: Add “=0” (the number) and close out your formula with a right parenthesis.

The zero is used to single out values not in both lists. 

The end formula is now =FILTER(A2:A15,COUNTIF(B2:B10,A2:A15)=0) 

There you go! But this tip isn’t only for HR managers. You run across plenty of scenarios where you might need to compare two lists to see which items don’t show up, for example…

🥑 If certain products didn’t sell

✏️ Which students didn’t submit their final assignment

💰 The employees who have yet to receive their bonuses

The possibilities are endless (unlike the number of days you have to lounge around in your pajamas during work).

The 4 Core Attributes of Lucky People 

Creating Miss Excel required a lot of luck. 🍀

But it wasn’t the type of luck you might think of when you find a penny heads up. We’re not talking random chance or unpredictable magic…we’re talking science. That’s right, there’s a science behind luck—and that means developing certain traits can bring us more of it.

For 20 years, scientist Richard Wiseman has been researching what makes people lucky, and found that lucky people share four core attributes—and I happened to start embodying them as I was revamping my beliefs and building Miss Excel back in 2020.

1. They maximize opportunities 💭 They go for things even if they’re unsure what they’re doing. For example, I had no idea how to use TikTok and was scared of putting myself out there—but my reprogramming showed me I was capable of being in the spotlight. 

2. They’re intuitive ✨ The lucky person listens to their gut and trusts themselves. A big part of reprogramming is learning to listen to your pings. When you follow projects or people when they “feel right,” things tend to fall into place. 

3. They’re optimistic ☀️ If you believe you’re capable of something, you’re more likely to go for it. This ties in with the Law of Attraction, which states that keeping yourself energetically open to what you’re asking for makes you more likely to receive it. 

4. They’re resilient 💪 They transform bad luck into good by looking at things in a positive light. For instance, staying at home during the pandemic wasn’t ideal, but the newfound free time allowed me to reflect on what lit me up in life—leading to Miss Excel. 

It might take some time to reprogram your mindset, but if Wiseman’s research teaches us anything, it’s that a big part of luck is first just believing that you’re lucky. 

And that’s something we can all get behind. 🤞🏼

  • Here’s the tip on Excel lists we just covered in video format if you wanna drill it in your head! 

  • If you’ve ever accidentally unmuted yourself during a Zoom call, you might find this remote for virtual meetings a lifesaver. 

  • The Joy of Saying No is a great book if you’re battling people-pleasing (which I did for a long time). 

  • The compelling (and ultra-inspiring) case for why you should see obstacles as opportunities. 

  • If you’re determined to become a morning person, this article has your back.

It’s not just how much water you drink, but whether your body effectively absorbs it. 

Drinking on an empty stomach, eating fiber, and taking electrolytes all help your body better absorb water. That’s how you can stay hydrated without having to run to the bathroom every .2 seconds. 😅

Stay Excelent, 

Kat