Sharpening the Ax

Abraham Lincoln is thought to have said, “If I had 60 minutes to cut down a tree, I would spend 40 minutes sharpening the ax and 20 minutes cutting it down.”  Lincoln also almost cut off a finger chopping wood.

Still sharpening the ax is one of the Steven Covey's 7 Habits* and in the modern age of tools more important than ever. Although I have worked with spreadsheets for many years this blog posting 10 obscure Excel tricks that can expedite common chores by Jeff Davis was very informative. The ten are:

1. Select all with one click
2. Copy the formatting of one or more cells and apply them to another cell or range
3. Preform one-click data mining with AutoFilter
4. Press [Ctrl]~ to display formulas
5. Generate a unique list of entries in a column
6. Let Excel calculate your subtotals for you
7. Analyze selections with the AutoCalculate menu
8. Love your [Ctrl] key - for three reasons
9. Transpose data from row to column
10. Convert calculations to literal values

The only one I knew about before reading Davis's posting  was number 10 so this posting was well worth reading and my recommendation for anyone who works occasionally or regularly with Excel is to take a look.

* 7 Habits of Highly Effective People