The Winning Leap to Excel

You on one side and Excel on the other. There is so much information in between. So much knowledge that might seem unreachable. "Excel is only for those ... advanced ones," echoes through the corridors. And even though this program is used at work by many, some still feel that understanding Excel is for advanced computer users only. But that is not necessarily the truth.

Fear - the ultimate gap between you and Excel?

Fear is an inner sign that sheds light on an area or a situation, where we might feel that we are insufficiently prepared and that something is beyond our capacity. As Zoran Milivojević states in his work, we experience this group of feelings when we estimate that one of our values has been compromised and when we evaluate that we might not be able to deal with the person or situation that threatens us.

After bringing fear to our attention we can discover the reasons behind a specific signalization. Do we fear failure? Have we had unpleasant experiences while learning new things? Do we feel incompetent?

Further on you can read an outline of some ways how to work with fear at Excel and jump closer to knowing it.

I know that I know nothing

While our readiness is crucial when learning new things there is also of great importance on how that knowledge is passed on to us and what medium we use to learn. Nevertheless, we all start at the same point. Point ZERO. And from there on, each one of us moves in our own way, at our own pace, and with our own feelings.

Adapt the way we learn to what works best for us.
Let the surroundings be calm and understanding - it's important that we are in an environment that is tolerant towards the fact that the study topic is completely new and unknown to us.
It is of utmost importance that we take our time. So ... take it easy.
Start with one Excel formula. Ask yourself - what does this formula do? What is its purpose? What is the meaning of its content?
Use this one formula every single time when you can. You'll soon get used to it. And only then, let's head to the next formula and repeat the learning and internalization process.
Knowing what we want Excel to do for us will bring us to the right formula faster.

As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress

To deepen and internalize new knowledge we need to practice. Let's find our own way of practice that suits us best.

Hint: you can use the formula on every occasion when you see that it might help you get to the finish line faster.

Slowly but surely

Learning anything takes time for it to become an automated process. When we bump against something that might make us feel resistant, we can create notes and always return to them to refresh our knowledge. Or simply check the image below with short explanations that can support you on your way to learning Excel.

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