Squash your mosquito tasks 🦟

And how to leave an Input Message

Hey hey! It’s been a wild few months (launching my course, AI with Miss Excel, was quite the sprint 😅). My partner and I decided to go on vacation to reset, and this quiet time has brought so much clarity and shown me it really is during moments of stillness when inspiration finds you. ✨

Leave Me an (Input) Message

I was at dinner with friends on a Friday night when I heard it.

The Outlook ping announced the message: “Hey Kat, sorry to bother you but could you clarify how I should format the data in this cell?” 🙃

This has probably happened to you, too. You share an Excel spreadsheet with coworkers so they can input information, but they end up needing more guidance before they can start.

A classic scenario: Should it be MM/DD/YYYY? or DD/MM/YYYY? (you readers with team members in Europe can relate).

That’s when input messages come in handy. 💬 An input message is a note that appears when someone selects or hovers above a cell. See below! ⬇️

Let’s say you’re handling inventory and want to tell the staff you’re low on XL shirts. Here’s how you’d create an input message to let them know (and avoid any late-night inquiries):

Step 1) Select the cell you’d like to insert your message in.

Step 2) On your Excel ribbon, click “Data.” Under “More Data Tools,” navigate to “Data Validation.”

Step 3) Go to “Input Message” and type in the title and message you’d like the cell to display.

Step 4) Click “OK” and you’re done! Now, whenever you hover above or click on the cell, your message will appear.

Just remember you’re limited to 255 characters, so brief messages are your friend here!

Swat Those Mosquito Tasks

I need to pay my quarterly taxes.

Shoot, I should renew my license soon.

I have to buy more dog food or else my dog will revolt.

Is your brain full of random to-dos and reminders? Same. I don’t know about you, but these thoughts tend to fly into my head when I’m in the middle of something important. Why our brains do this, I’ll never know. 😅

Entrepreneur Amanda Goetz calls these “mosquito tasks.” They’re the thoughts that buzz around in our brains and distract us from the big things we should be focused on. 🦟 If you try to swat them all at once, you end up chasing them around all day and not accomplishing what you set out to do.

One reason why I’m able to work only four hours a day (not every day, but most days!) is because of how I handle mosquito tasks. My method allows me to:

  1. Get more done

  2. Remember all of my to-dos

When a mosquito task flies in, I immediately write it down on the Notes app on my phone. Once a week I’ll carve out an hour to go back to my Notes and knock out as many mosquito tasks as possible.

If you know me, you know I manage my schedule by dividing the days between “left brain” (🔵 blue) and “right brain” (🟠 orange) tasks. The former is for hustling to 👏 get 👏 stuff 👏 done. The latter is for more relaxed and creative activities.

My mosquito task days are done on “left brain” days, which means I can get right to business and not pressure myself to get creative later.

I promise that if you know how to squash your mosquito tasks, you’ll feel 10x more efficient. But don’t just take it from me—try it out for yourself and let me know how it pans out. 😊 

There are two types of people in this world: those who say “Please” and “Thank you” to an AI chatbot and those who don’t. I know which camp I fall in—which one do you? I’ll post the results next week!

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Stay Exceling,

Kat