How to overcome fear of MS Excel

Though MS Excel is taught in school, gaining proficiency in this particular software seems to be a common concern for many employees—and not just for those whose main job is in finance or accounting. The challenge though is overcoming a fear of numbers and a worry that it might be too technical.

We asked Donnie Baje, an expert on MS Excel, to give us some tips on how to overcome our misgivings of learning about MS Excel.

No one is born an MS Excel expert.

Everyone who is proficient in this software was taught by someone in some way. Everyone started with a blank sheet.

To get started, ask a friend who may know how or seek help from online MS Excel forums. Or perhaps enroll in a course. Experiment with functions and formulas until you find what you need.

Know the benefits

With businesses relying on data intelligence nowadays, employees must have the capability to maximize the tools of MS Excel. Manually doing tasks takes time and requires a lot of effort. Automating tasks in MS Excel allows you to do other tasks within your work time.

Plus, using formulas instead of manual actions minimizes human error in reports.

Study one function at a time—and use it when you can.

What’s overwhelming with MS Excel is that there seems to be a lot to know. While that may be true, a person usually needs just the essentials and a few of the advanced tools.

There is no reason to know the purpose of every single function in MS Excel. Find one or two functions to study and determine how those can help you in your tasks.

Baje will facilitate an MS Excel Made Simple on April 13, 2018.

This program aims to provide the fundamentals of MS Excel that will allow participants to use and maximize the software for their daily tasks.

There will also be a course on Basic Macros and Visual Basic Application (VBA) on March 15-16, 2018 which will teach the use of macros to automate daily tasks, as well as to enhance automation through VBA.

Knowledge of this skill will ultimately save employees’ time and efforts.

The Inquirer Academy is at 4168 Don Chino Roces Ave. corner Ponte St., Makati City. For more information about its courses or if you would like to add your input on the article, you may email [email protected], call (632) 834-1557 or 800-8110 and look for Jerald Miguel or Judy Bondoc, or visit the website at www.inquireracademy.com.