We analysts like to compare. If you ever want to keep an analyst busy, just give her 2-3 options. She won’t return to your desk until the cows come home. My wife uses this trick all the time. Picture this:

[In late 2013]
Me: I want to buy a new phone
She: Do you want Nexus 5 or Galaxy S5 or iPhone 5s?

Its late 2014 and I am not done comparing.

So today, let’s talk about an interesting comparison scenario.

Comparing by letter or word

See above demo to understand the concept. Read more to learn how to do this. Continue reading →

On Fridays I pull the best of my blog readings to share with readers. Topics can come from anywhere, and cover anything.
This week I highlight articles on eating healthily cheaply; money-saving winter tips; getting back into your fitness routine; and … Continue reading →

For many years I have done my menu plans and bought groceries accordingly. The problem is that when it comes time for meals, the plan may no longer fit. Today we will look at expanding meal plans and building in backup meals so that you aren’t stuck ha… Continue reading →

This is a guest post by Sohail Anwar.

August 29, 1994. A day that changed my life forever. Football World Cup? Russia and China de-targeting nuclear weapons against each other? Anniversary of the Woodstock festival?

No, much bigger: Two Undertakers show up at WWE Summerslam for an epic battle. Needless to say: MIND() = BLOWN().

And thus begun one boy’s journey into understanding the phenomenon of Multiple Occurrences.

My journey continued, when just a few years later my grandfather handed me down a precious family heirloom: A few columns of meaningless data that I could take away and analyze in Excel. You may laugh but in the 90’s, every boy only wanted two things 1) Lists of pointless data and … Continue reading →

One of the productivity buzz words often seen is “Inbox Zero”. This concept is one where everything in your email inbox gets handled appropriately.
Most people I know believe that Inbox Zero is unattainable – a mythic state. Today we will examine what… Continue reading →

Hello folks, how are you?

I have an announcement for you.

It is almost holiday time. Every year, Chandoo.org celebrates holidays with a 3 day sale on our most popular product – Excel School training program. The sale for this year will be,

10th December to 12th December (Wednesday to Friday)

What is on sale?

You will be able to save $30, $50 or $100 on our most popular courses

• Excel School + Dashboards program ($30 discount)
• Excel School + VBA + Dashboards ($50 discount)
• Excel School + VBA + Power Pivot + Dashboards ($100 discount)

More details & links for Sale page will be available on 10th of December. Stay tuned.

Excel Links

It has been a while since we had a round of Excel links. Here are some cool tips & links for you. Continue reading →

One of the things I wanted to do this year is to release productivity forms more often. (Fun tools make me more productive)

This month: Winter Snowglobe Forms

The post New Productivity Forms: December 2014 – Winter Snowglobe appeared first on Simple Productivity Blog.

More great content can be found on the site at Simple Productivity Blog., or you can find me on Twitter (@SmplProdBlog) and Facebook (Facebook.com/SimpleProductivity).

Continue reading →

On Fridays I pull the best of my blog readings to share with readers. Topics can come from anywhere, and cover anything.
This week I highlight articles on clearing out your task list from low-priority articles; winter home emergency kits; ways to re-do… Continue reading →

[Video post] In this episode I talk about how I used my project and task lists to keep me from being overwhelmed during a very tough year.
The post Thursday From The Trenches Episode 4 appeared first on Simple Productivity Blog.

More great content can… Continue reading →

In the 26th session of Chandoo.org podcast, let’s learn all about Excel !@#$%^+/*(}][<.

I am talking about Excel operators, you silly.

What is in this session?

Do you know Excel has more than 25 operators? That is right. There are a variety of operators beyond the simple + – * and /.

In this podcast, let’s understand all about these operators and how to use them. You will learn,

• Why there is a gap between last & this podcast session
• About Excel operators
• Arithmetic operators
• Text operators
• Reference operators
• Comparison operators
• Closing thoughts

Continue reading →