The Excel error that crushes dashboard dreams 💭

Hey! The post-summer work rush is just around the corner. 👀 But instead of playing catch-up mode, you could come into the office this fall with indispensable Excel skills that’ll have your boss saying, “Wow, you really leveled up this summer.” ☀️

That’s what our free Excel Dashboards Training is for! In just one power-packed hour, you’ll learn how to turn your raw data into clean, dynamic visuals that update automatically and help you get back hours every week. 

Save your seat today!

Don’t Let Pesky +15s Zap Your Dashboard Dreams 💭

Today’s the day. The day when you build a beautiful dashboard of your customer data to make your life easier and impress your boss. You’ve got your coffee (or matcha 🍵), your data, and your vision. 

But wait. What are those random “+15s” doing in your account number column? 

Here’s what happened. ➡️ Since you’re dealing with large numbers, Excel automatically switched the Account Number column to scientific notation so it could handle calculations more easily. 

The problem? Those +15s will break your dashboard. When Excel displays scientific notation (such as 6.43589E+15), the data is stored as a combination of numbers and text. But dashboards need clean numbers—otherwise, you’ll have wonky formulas, janky slicers, and a host of other issues. 🫠

Let’s get rid of these pesky “+15s,” shall we? 

That’s it! Now you can build that show-stopping dashboard (and start sippin’ on your caffeine ☕).

Laziness = Bad Brain Marketing? 🧠

What if the problem isn’t that you're “lazy,” but that your brain is just bad at selling you on doing things? You know you should go on a run, update that presentation, or do the dishes…but when it’s go-time, your mind says…

“That’s hard. It’ll take forever. I don’t want to.” 

No wonder you're not buying it! That internal voice is focused on the effort. But what if it focused on the results instead? That’s what author Scott Adams believes high-achievers do: They get excited about the outcome instead of dwelling on the cost. 

Here’s why this works. ➡️ The brain releases dopamine in anticipation of a reward. If your mental focus is on the grind (“Ugh, 30 minutes of running”), your brain has little reason to get off the couch. 

But shift your attention to anticipate the reward (“I’ll feel clear-headed and proud after”), and dopamine starts flowing. Suddenly, taking action doesn’t seem so bad. 

This trick reframes “laziness” for what it really is: a habit of focusing on the wrong thing. But that’s a habit you can change: 

• Instead of: “Ugh. Cleaning that spreadsheet will be tedious.” ➜ Try: “My life is going to be 10X easier once I clean this!” 

• Instead of: “I don’t want to wash the dishes.” ➜ Try: “Can’t wait to have a spotless kitchen and be done with it.” 

Change your mental sales pitch, and watch your motivation follow. ✨

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• “Just amazing,” says a comment on my video on radio dashboards! 

• A $22M founder says this is the biggest red flag in a job interview. ⛔

• Everyone has an “elusive creative genius.” Here’s how to find yours. ✨

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to sign up for our free Excel Dashboards Training! This is the last week the training will be available for the rest of the summer, so be sure to save your seat before it’s gone. 

Stay Exceling, 

Kat