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This soft skill will catapult your career 📈

Ready to graduate from Excel newbie?

January 11, 2024

Hey there! If you’re ready for 2024 to be an Excel-lent year (pun fully intended) you’re in the right place: I'm hosting a free live Excel class this month! 

In this 60-minute power-packed class, we’ll go over popular functions such as XLOOKUP and VLOOKUP, as well the best keyboard shortcuts. 

The end result? No more messy spreadsheets. No more #REF Errors. No more Excel-fueled anxiety. đŸ« 

There are three class options available (space is limited so please only pick one!)

  • Wednesday, January 24 at 3 PM ET 

  • Thursday, January 25 at 12 PM ET 

  • Friday, January 26 at 12 PM ET 

Go here to save your seat. Happy learning! 

* If none of these work for you, you can register for any date to get the replay! 

The Q&A You’ll Want to Stick Around For

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The best news? If you're already a Notion AI user, just head over to your workspace—Q&A is included in all existing Notion AI subscriptions.

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No Longer an Excel Newbie? Read This.

POV: You’re ready to graduate from being an “Excel newbie.” You know how to use basic functions such as SUM and AVERAGE, enter data, and format cells. It’s time to show your boss you’re capable of more. But
where should you start? 

Your boss, after you learn this function. 😎

That’s when Lookup Functions come into play.

These functions (otherwise known as XLOOKUP and VLOOKUP) help you search for and manage data in larger tables—a key skill to have in Excel. But my favorite function out of the two? XLOOKUP. 

XLOOKUP fetches the data you’re looking for. Unlike VLOOKUP, which only searches from left to right, XLOOKUP can look up in any direction—super useful if you’re dealing with a large data set.

Here’s an example: Say you have a spreadsheet with a list of countries and their population. Your goal is to surface Italy’s population. 🇼đŸ‡č

Step 1) In your separate column, type what you want to find (in this case, “Italy”). Then in the cell adjacent, begin your formula with =XLOOKUP 

Step 2) In the (lookup_value), insert the cell that contains the search term as the first input. In our case, that’s D5 for “Italy.” Our formula is now =XLOOKUP(D5, 

Step 3) Next, let’s insert the lookup_array and return_array (in that order) to our formula. It’s now =XLOOKUP(D5,A2:A26,B2:B26). 

Step 4) Hit enter and voila! XLOOKUP magically surfaces the population of Italy (it’s 60 million in case you were curious 👀). 

We’ve just scratched the surface of what XLOOKUP can do. If you’re ready to reach that next level (and really wow your boss), sign up for my class! We’ll cover XLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, and more time-saving hacks. 💡

The Little-Known Skill That’ll Land You a Promotion 

Here at Miss Excel, we’re all about hard skills: Google Sheets, PowerPoint, OneNote, and of course
Excel. 😉 But I wanted to switch things up today and share the single best soft skill that catapulted my career. 

In one word? Initiative. 

“Kat, that’s pretty vague. Do you just mean getting things done?!” 

Yes
and no! To have initiative is to know exactly how you’re getting from Point A to Point B. Here’s a definition from organizational scientist Adam Grant to help you understand: 

To show initiative is one of the fastest ways to land a promotion. Instead of being someone who “waits for orders,” you lay out action plans—and that’s guaranteed to impress your boss.   

The secret? Initiative mostly boils down to over-communication. 

Here’s an example: The next time your boss assigns you a project, explain in detail how you’ll get the project done and when. Author Benyamin Elias has a great example: 

Sounds way better, right?! There are three main benefits to this, as Benyamin explains: 

  1. Updating your boss every 2–3 days will help them know exactly what’s on your plate—so they don’t pile on additional to-dos. 

  2. If you do end up slipping behind, your boss won’t wonder: “Were they just procrastinating?” 

  3. It adds professionalism to your work. After all, who do you think would do better work: The person with the first answer, or the one who lays out all the details?

Even though I’m not in #corporatelife anymore, I still use this soft skill all the time—specifically setting deadlines. 

Technically, I don’t have to set deadlines (I’m the boss, after all), but assigning a concrete end date leverages another awesome productivity tactic called Parkinson’s Law.  

Parkinson’s Law tells us this: The work will expand to fill the allotted time slot. In other words, when you set a deadline, you bump up productivity because you know you have a limited amount of time. Here’s how you can visualize it: 

Phew! We covered a lot today. To recap: 

➜ The best soft skill: Practice taking initiative. 

➜ When you over-communicate, you show your boss that you’re on top of your work.

➜ Setting deadlines is the secret to getting things done in less time. 

May these tips set you up for your most productive 2024 yet. ✹

  • Hours and minutes won’t sum together correctly in Excel? Try this. ⏰

  • If you want to learn more about Parkinson’s Law, this article is required reading. 

  • Year Compass is a (free!) booklet of prompts to help you design your ideal 2024. 

  • Five Excel shortcuts you probably didn’t know (CTRL + E is my favorite! đŸ„č)

Thank you for being here! Just a heads up: When you register for my free Excel class, you’ll get free bonus practice workbooks! These are the resources I wish I had when I first started my career and I can’t wait to get them in your hands. 

Stay Exceling,

Kat