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My unconventional goal-setting strategy 📈

Plus: Use a Pivot Table to calculate running totals!

April 11, 2024

Hey! Meet Paula and her boss (let’s call him S). S has high expectations for Paula…

  • Excel analysis’ in 15 minutes or less 

  • Zero Excel hiccups so the team isn’t delayed 

  • No errors in her Pivot Tables and beautiful charts 

Meanwhile, Paula is stressing out. Excel doesn’t come naturally to her and she doesn’t want to disappoint S. 

This ☝️ is why I’m hosting another free live Excel class on optimizing your spreadsheets with Pivot Tables and Data Visualization. Because Paula shouldn’t feel this way…and neither should you! 

There are two class options available (spots are limited, so please just pick one): 

  • Wednesday, April 17 at 3 PM EST 

  • Friday, April 19 at 12 PM EST 

Click here to save your seat. See you (and Paula) soon! 

Obsessed with Dynamics 365 and Power Platform? Save This Date. 

The most important conference for Dynamics 365, Dynamics GP, and Power Platform professionals is May 13–16 in Denver, Colorado. 

Introducing DynamicsCon LIVE, a three-day conference of focused training where you’ll…

  • Learn from veteran product experts with 20+ years of experience.

  • Attend over 250 educational sessions covering a wide range of topics—including all Dynamics 365 products, Dynamics GP, Power Platform, Copilot, and more.

  • Network with other Dynamics and Power users (and even sponsors).

This is the event of the season—and tickets are selling out fast. Register today to save your seat and use code “MissExcel25” for 25% off your ticket price.

P.S. — Want to go but unsure how to pitch it to your boss? DynamicsCon LIVE has a ‘Convince Your Boss’ letter ready to go.

How to Calculate a Running Total Using Pivot Tables 

If you’ve ever used this method 👇 to calculate a running total, it’s time to have a heart-to-heart. 

Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. 

I’m here to show you how Pivot Tables can calculate your running totals for you automatically. Whether you’re working on a sales tracker or a financial analysis, say ciao 👋 to your days of manual counting. 

Let’s dive in: 

1. Go to your data. Head to Insert. Select Pivot Table and then hit OK 

2. Add Month to your Rows field

3. Add Sales to your Values field twice 

4. Right-click on your second sales column and select Show Values As 

5. Select Running Total In 

6. Click Month and hit OK 

7. Rename your headers 

8. Right-click on your two last columns. Select Format Cells and then Accounting. Press OK 

I’ll go over more time-saving tips (just like this one!) in my free Excel live class next week. Claim your seat today and you’ll be one step closer to becoming the Excel pro you know you can be. 

My Unconventional Goal-Setting Strategy 

I’ve created over 13 Microsoft and Google courses (400-something lessons in total!) in four years. 2020 Kat would’ve never believed it: In my first year in business, I kept falling short of my course creation goals. But that all changed when I started prioritizing feelings over figures. 

Here’s what I mean:

The common goal-setting advice is to put a certain number of bite-sized tasks on your to-do list. For example, I told myself I’d film three lessons a day to complete my OneNote Mini Course.  

But it didn't help. Why? Because the “three-videos-a-day” quota was actually a subconscious limit. On days I had extra energy, I still stopped filming after three videos—even though I could’ve capitalized on my creative burst. On my off days, I rushed to finish three videos before EOD—and the quality didn’t meet my standards.

This is how I felt frantically trying to hit my daily video quota 😅

This wasn’t working for your girl. So, I tried an experiment: What if instead of setting quantitative goals, I focused on how I wanted to feel on the other side? 

In the case of my OneNote course, I wanted to end each day feeling productive, proud, and confident that I’d covered each lesson extensively. 

The change was immediate. Some days, I felt especially creative and filmed ten videos in a row. On other days, I didn’t film anything. But by listening to my feelings, I produced videos I was proud of (and in record time!). 

There are other ways you can try this method: 

  • Instead of sending five rĂŠsumĂŠs a day, you send rĂŠsumĂŠs to companies that trigger excitement and curiosity. 

  • Instead of trying to gain 500 followers a day, you focus on creating content that elicits feelings of authenticity and creativity. 

Too often, we get in our own way without even realizing it. But focusing on feelings over figures will help you accomplish more than you set out to do—and show you what you’re capable of. ✨

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  • How beginners, intermediates, and professionals add today’s date in Excel. 

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Before we part ways, here’s one of the best posts I saw this month: 

I’ve said it once and I’ve said it again—messy action is everything! It’s only by throwing ourselves out there before we’re ready do we propel ourselves forward. 

Stay Exceling,

Kat