• The Workbook
  • Posts
  • What going viral taught me about success 📍

What going viral taught me about success 📍

Plus: XLOOKUP to find Min & Max values

Hey there! ICYMI: I’m hosting a free live Excel class this week where we’ll go over powerful functions such as XLOOKUP and VLOOKUP, as well as the most efficient keyboard shortcuts! 

If you’re on the fence, here’s just what a few of our students said about the last class: 

(Warms my heart 🥲). 

If you want to join the 250,000 other people who have increased their productivity with Excel, choose one of the time slots below: 

  • Thursday, January 25 at 12 PM ET 

  • Friday, January 26 at 12 PM ET 

Grab your seat here. I can’t wait to see you! 

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

Find Max And Min Values in Seconds with XLOOKUP 🔍

“I need to know the highest and lowest performing products. Can someone help?” 

This is it: The opportunity to impress your boss by assisting them with an Excel conundrum.  

The solution? Easy: XLOOKUP. 

💡 Excel Refresher: XLOOKUP fetches the data you’re looking for. Unlike VLOOKUP, which only searches from left to right, XLOOKUP can look up in any direction.

Let me show you how you’d use this function, starting with finding the lowest performing product. 

Step 1) In your desired cell, type =XLOOKUP(MIN(

Step 2) Next, insert your lookup array (the range the function will search) and close with parentheses. 

Because we’re searching based on price, our formula is =XLOOKUP(MIN(C2:C16)

Step 3) Insert the lookup array again. Then, add the return array (the range that contains the corresponding result you want to return) and close with parentheses. 

Because we want to retrieve the product, our formula is =XLOOKUP(MIN(C2:C16),C2:C16,B2:B16)

That’s it! To find the highest performing product, you’d simply swap “MIN” for “MAX.” That formula would be: =XLOOKUP(MAX(C2:C16),C2:C16,B2:B16)

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 one of my classes. We’ll cover XLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, and more time-saving shortcuts. 

It’s Everything You Dreamed About. So Why Can’t You Handle It? 

In November 2021, I’d been manifesting a major milestone: a press feature for Miss Excel (in Forbes, CNBC, the works!).

On November 21, my wish came true. I went on The Decoder podcast with Nilay Patel and mentioned that I’d earned six figures in a single day from course sales (I still can’t believe it 🥲).

This statement caught the attention of the major outlets and, almost overnight, I went more viral than I could’ve ever imagined. 

I was incredibly grateful, but my nervous system was not prepared for that kind of attention. As thousands of people put me under the magnifying glass, my anxiety roared to life. 

It became difficult to focus on the business. I started getting panic attacks. There was even a point where my eyes were constantly twitching (literally). 

Katy Perry gets it.

Turns out, being unable to emotionally handle your level-up is pretty common: 

➜ You get the promotion, but the duties it comes with makes you doubt your skills. 

➜ You land a dream brand partnership, but get so intimidated your creativity dries up. 

➜ You find the perfect new job, but it feels so surreal you don’t dare negotiate salary.

So often, we’ll chase tirelessly after a goal but never give thought to what will happen after it’s accomplished. The result? A huge change floods into our lives and we feel wholly unequipped. 

But I’m a strong believer that we wouldn't be given the challenge if we weren’t capable of handling it. It’s on our doorstep for a reason. And if we expand our mindset through self-care practices, we can adapt to the change—instead of fighting against it. 

Try adding these two practices to your toolkit: 

🧘‍♀️ Meditation. → After my viral fiasco, I started meditating every day for 45 minutes first thing in the morning. Meditation is great for alleviating stress and anxiety. It helped ground me and swap that frantic energy for calming thoughts. (Even five minutes makes a difference!) 

💭 Reflect. → Up until now, you’ve navigated every change in your life with a 100% success rate. This isn’t your first rodeo! Reflect on times when you were able to navigate another life change and remember that power is still within you. 

Using these tools, I adjusted to the influx of attention and released my anxiety. Remember: Just as we’re capable of creating new opportunities for ourselves, we can also develop the mental space needed to grow (and eventually flourish) alongside them. 🌱

The Workbook just hit 300,000 subscribers! 🎉 Thank you so much for being here. Getting to help you level-up both professionally and personally is an honor and I can’t believe I get to do it as a living. 

Here’s to becoming our best, most productive versions of ourselves this 2024!

Stay Exceling,

Kat