Category: Subscribers

  • Priority Matrix

    Hello office pros! The next three posts will feature my favorite tools for EAs. I feel the most important skill a strategic EA uses is data analysis. The ability to compile, analysis and make data-driven recommendations to your executive will transform your career from a calendar jockey to strategic business partner. Today’s post about the Priority Matrix.

    Back in college, the financial aid office had a sign on the wall behind the desk that read: Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part.

    Effective prioritizing is key. Without it, you’re running around reacting to requests rather than taking stock and focusing on what is actually urgent and important.

    Everyday, you’re dealing with your stakeholders, direct reports, vendors, all manner of people who want your and your executive’s time. There are only so many work hours per day and none of us want to work 10 – 12 hours per day every day. Having a system to prioritize will help you work efficiently and efficiently. The last you want to do is spend days on a low priority/low urgency project, or as I like to call these: Someday Projects, which means they’re probably not going to rise in urgency or importance.

    The priority matrix pretty straightforward to use: take your list of tasks, drop them in the quadrants below based on your and your executive’s priorities. Then start working on the tasks in the upper right quadrant (high urgent & high important), next work on the upper left quadrant and so on.

    I find the Priority Matrix particularly useful when I’m having a bad day – maybe I’ve got a migraine coming on, didn’t sleep well the night before or it’s just a Bad Brain Day. Tools like the Priority Matrix help me focus and plan.

    I hope you’ll give the Priority matrix a try.

    If you’d like a copy of this form, check out my article, So You Want to Become an EA for this and other handy forms, in pdf format.

  • Note Taking

    Today’s post is, as you might guess from the title, about note taking for administrative professionals. While it is not about taking meeting minutes, I feel the practice of note taking helps you take better minutes. If you’re interested, here is a link to my post about taking minutes on complex/technical topics.

    I started my note-taking journey early in my career. Perhaps I was influenced by the vintage rock star admin: Miss Della Street, who never went anywhere without her steno pad.

    It probably had more to do with the fact my first full-time admin role was the Program Assistant (equal parts receptionist, admin assistant and technical writer) in the Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) department at Fred Hutch. I had to quickly learn the basics of safety training, biohazard, radioactive and chemical safety because I took notes at the monthly safety committee meetings, wrote the monthly newsletter and proofread the safety manuals.

    All my learning was on the job by taking notes and asking questions. I’m curious by nature and I like to understand how things work and why. In my career, I’ve supported anywhere from 2 – 9 leaders at a given time and primarily supported doctors. They don’t have time to revisit anything – they need focus on patient care. I needed to develop a solid, repeatable, scalable note taking system.

    A quick Google search revealed very few people have eidetic or photographic memory, anywhere from 0-10%. It is unlikely you have a photographic memory. This is my first tip: don’t rely on your memory.

    EAs and other admin pros do a high volume of task switching every day. As people head back into the office, we’re returning to what I call: The Drive By – random people who stop by your desk throughout the day and interrupt you without bothering to acknowledge they’re disrupting your work flow. They’ll walk away and now you’re stuck trying to pick up the threads of what you were working on.

    I feel taking notes is key to being organized as an admin pro and a core skill. I’ve noticed that admins of any level (Receptionist to EA) who fail to take notes are not productive or effective. They apologize a lot, ask the same questions and struggle getting their work done on time. This cycle negatively impacts their confidence and fuels Imposter Syndrome.

    Make your job easier: take notes.

    Taking notes and minutes are skills to be learned and practiced regularly. I view notes as minutes for me. What helps me do my job efficiently is I treat notes much like minutes: summarize the instructions, identify due dates, task owners, resources, stakeholders, ask questions.

    If you’re groaning right now about having to take notes and how you hoped to be done with notes after finishing school. Sorry cupcake, the learning never ends for the admin professional. Don’t believe me? ChatGPT didn’t exist 1 year ago. Now, AI chatbots and sweet new ways to leverage them are a hot topic all over LinkedIn. Keep learning or get left behind.

    Here are the benefits of taking notes:

    • Time saver – by capturing all the details from the jump, you don’t have to procrastinate because you failed to take notes and have to go back to your executive because you can’t recall the details of the assignment. Now 2 people have lost productive work time.
    • Reference – by keeping notes for every meeting you attend, you can review them later, refresh your memory. My notes have saved my bacon countless times. Over time, they help me look around corners and see patterns that are otherwise missed without notes.
    • Documentation – everything from instructions or links for rarely used processes, performance, preferences, to post event notes on venues, catering, and hotels.
    • Reflection – take time reflect and summarize discussions, projects that went well and those that flopped, record key takeaways and lessons learned.
    • Taking notes will improve your minute taking. You’ll develop the ability to summary information as well as tracking team metrics, deadlines, owners.

    Note taking system

    You need a system for note taking in order to build your muscle memory. To keep things super simple, I recommend using the same system for note and minutes.

    Physical

    I started with paper and pen by creating a daily running list of tasks. Like a bullet journal, I transferred unfinished tasks to the next day.

    Ten years ago, I had carpel tunnel release surgery on both hands. As a result of carpel tunnel syndrome, I lost a lot of hand strength and muscle tone so my handwriting is illegible. Great for art journaling. Terrible for recording work notes.

    At the time, I wanted to convert to digital but my employer was a non-profit and didn’t offer OneNote as part of the standard computer install. Not wanting to purchase a license on my own dime, I searched for free options.

    Digital

    Outlook Tasks – it’s there and I tried it, but don’t like that my tasks are separate from other notes.

    EverNote. It’s simple and is organized like a binder so I could capture everything in one spot. I tried it for a while and still use it for my own personal note keeping.

    I tried TeuxDeux for a year. Nice as a task list, but I didn’t feel it was good for project or event management. Minutes were recorded elsewhere and I like to keep it simple.

    Goodnotes. Nearly every company I’ve worked for used Windows OS. At home, I use Mac and Goodnotes for personal journaling. It is easy to learn and use. I love that you can annotate pdfs and I keep a digital planner for myself.

    In my previous company, OneNote was part of the standard install so I adopted it and haven’t looked back. I love it because it integrates with other Office products. I can link meeting details in my minutes. A super simple, all in one solution. I’ve tried using special OneNote templates, but find they get in my way. I still prefer a hybrid of Bullet Journal & narrative style of note taking.

    Experiment

    Unless you know exactly what works for you, plan to experiment. Give each system time to work. You have to find your groove. And that’s ok. It’ll be fine. At the end of the trial, reflect on what worked and what didn’t in order to determine the next system to try. Repeat until you hit on what works best for you.

    Whatever method you choose, I recommend picking 1 method; otherwise, you run the risk of wasting time trying to find your notes. Is it in OneNote? On my note pad? On a Post It? Yes, sometimes you need to jot a quick note outside your system but create the habit of transferring that note into your system as quickly as possible.

    Embrace note taking as part of your admin toolkit. It will serve you well your entire career.

  • Top 3 ways to step up as a leader

    As an EA, our profession is often associated with the tactical skills, such as scheduling, coordinating meeting and travel, scribing meetings. However, the EA has evolved considerably in the past few years, and it is important to recognize you are a leader in your organization.

    You don’t have to be the Lead EA, manage others, or even be an EA. You could be any administrative professional and be a leader. Being a leader simply means taking ownership of projects and responsibilities, being proactive, and contributing to the overall success of the organization. In this article, I will discuss three simple ways EAs can step up to leadership.

    Develop a strategic mindset

    Admin professionals can become leaders in their organizations by developing a strategic mindset. Yeah, you probably hear that a lot, but what the heck does it mean?  It means understanding the organization’s goals, objectives, and long-term vision. Become aware of the challenges and opportunities facing your organization and be able to identify ways to contribute to its success. 

    These could be small opportunities. EAs have a lot of power but you may not know or fully appreciate it. You don’t have to ask anyone’s permission: be a trendsetter! Create your own process to solve whatever Your Big Headache is and use it.  People will see how great it is and adopt it. 

    To develop a strategic mindset, ask questions and seek out information about the organization’s and your leader’s goals and objectives. Stay informed about the industry and market trends that affect your organization’s performance. Do you know the top 3 products or services of your organization?

    With a basic understanding of the company, you can provide valuable insights and recommendations to your executive and demonstrate your leadership potential.

    Take ownership of projects and responsibilities

    Demonstrating leadership potential starts by taking ownership of your projects and responsibilities. This means going above and beyond what is expected and taking initiative to complete tasks to the best of your ability.

    I say this a lot: doing the minimum is not good enough. If you want to build a solid EA career, you have to consistently provide value that your executives didn’t know they needed until you delivered it.

    Be proactive in identifying areas where you can contribute and improve processes. Take the lead in organizing and implementing new initiatives, demonstrating your ability to manage projects and collaborate with colleagues. Again, you don’t have to ask permission: if you’ve got an idea to solve A Big Headache, then develop it and share it with your peers.

    Continuously improve skills & knowledge

    I am shocked each time an EA or other admin professional tells me that they just don’t want to learn a new app. Of course, being a professional, I don’t show that shock on my face. I get it. I’ve forgotten more apps than I currently use. Anyone remember WordStar? WordPerfect? No. Because they do not exist. These apps are no longer relevant.

    You become a leader by continuously improving your skills and knowledge. This means investing in your professional development and staying up-to-date with trends and best practices.

    Attend conferences, workshops, and training sessions to learn new skills, gain knowledge and network with peers outside your organization. Pursue certifications or advanced degrees to demonstrate your expertise and commitment to your profession. 

    There is a plethora of training opportunities, both in-person and virtual. Join a professional organization like IAAP, subscribe to Executive Support Magazine, sign up for webinars, work with a coach. 

  • Taking Minutes on Unfamiliar Topics

    Meeting scribe is a core skill for admin professionals at any level. In the course of my career, I’ve changed industries several times. For today’s post, I’ll share my five tips for taking minutes when the topic is complex and over your head: meeting review, question code, transcribe, note actions, and training.

    My first full-time admin role was in the Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) department at Fred Hutch. One my tasks was to record the minutes at the monthly safety committees, which were on a rotation between the Radiation, Biological, and Health & Safety.

    I have a BA in technical theater: stage management and design. My math and science skills were fine – I was a B student but I took very few science courses in college. Certainly nothing on any of these topics so I had to learn on the job. What I lacked in technical knowledge, I make up for with curiosity and a desire to learn near things.

    Every job I’ve had involved taking meeting minutes. After EH&S, I transferred to Public Health Sciences where I took notes on a wide range of topics: women’s cancer, cancer prevention, bone marrow transplant, cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, surgical sterile supply, endoscopy, surgical safety committee, data security, smoking cessation, corporate sales and reliability engineering.

    I started all of those jobs with zero knowledge of the topics but I developed a system. My meeting minutes have been repeatedly praised for their high quality.

    The purpose of telling you this is that you don’t have to start with an understanding of the topic, but over time, if you following these tips, you can become very good at taking minutes.

    Meeting Review

    Start with the agenda, whether you are responsible for creating it or you work with the Chairperson. The Chair wants good minutes. If you’re new, demonstrate you want to learn more and a willingness to improve. Take notes. In order to learn a new topic, you’ll need to listen, record and regurgitate the information. Schedule review time and they’ll probably be happy to answer questions – up to a point.

    After the meeting, clean up your minutes and ask the Chairperson to review, comment and make corrections. At first, you’ll get the acronyms wrong, you’ll misspell the lingo. That’s ok. You’ll learn so much from the review meetings. Ask specifically for feedback on your minutes then use that information to improve your skill.

    Over time, the reviews will go more quickly with fewer edits. Your Chair may decide you ready to fly free and skip the review.

    Develop your code for questions

    Note taking is a core skill, whether you’re taking minutes or making a note to complete a task later. If you’re not in habit of taking notes, start now.

    Develop your own code for asking questions – highlight text or insert a specific symbol to alert you that you need to ask someone for clarification. You may go back to the Chair or someone else in the meeting. Whatever the case, keep it simple to serve as your reminder to follow-up.

    Meetings tend to move at the speed of light and you may not be able to stop the meeting to ask the group what something means or ask people to repeat what they said – unless it is of legal or HR importance, then, yes, ask during the meeting.

    Use attendee initials if your meeting requires you to track who’s speaking.

    Transcribe the meeting

    I’ve tried several minute taking methods: hand written, typing and recording. I found I can’t write fast enough to take effective notes. Recording then reviewing the audio later was problematic for several reasons:

    • In a large meeting room, people far away from my recording device can’t be heard
    • When new or subbing for another admin, I don’t know most of the attendees so I can’t figure out who’s talking
    • There’s never enough time afterwards to spend 3 times the length of the meeting to listen to the recording

    I transcribe the meeting, like a court reporter, on a laptop.

    Don’t try to summarize the material DURING the meeting. Focus on recording.You already know what the agenda is about, you’ve asked the Chair your pre-meeting questions. Record the discussion, forget about grammar, spelling, formatting and punctuation.

    Develop a system that works for you. Use the agenda as the outline for the doc or just type and copy/paste the meeting notes into a new doc after you’ve cleaned it up. The point is, keep it simple so you can work quickly and send the minutes out quickly.

    I recommend blocking 1.5 – 2 hours after the meeting to finalize the minutes. Use this time block to clean the document up and write the summary. The meeting is still there in your short term memory. It won’t be there in the morning.

    Pay attention to tasks

    Whether or not your minutes serve as a legal document (board meetings, safety committees, etc), tracking actions is the most important function of minutes. Without group alignment on actions, that meeting should be an email or a document.

    During the meeting, pay close attention to call-outs and action items. If it’s not made clear during the discussion, speak up and ask for clarification on the action, owner(s) and deadline.

    Take basic training

    When I worked at EH&S, I started a habit: I took every basic safety course the techs were required to take: radiation, chemical, biological, general safety. Taking the training everyone else takes shows your sincere desire to understand the material, gives you an opportunity to ask more questions and you learn the language of your team.

    Learn about the topic. Find and sign up for training the rest of the group is required to take. If there isn’t training in that area, ask your Chairperson or executive to recommend reading or an online class. Chances are, if you’re learning for the job, your employer will pay for you to go.

    Then do the work, ask questions, request feedback. People want to tell you all about their own business. You can see it on their faces. They love to geek out on their specific area of expertise. Let them! You’ll learn so much, earn trust and who knows? You might find that you are fascinated by the topic and want to learn even more.

    Find a mentor. Perhaps your executive is too busy to be your mentor but there is someone in your group who would be happy to show you the ropes.

    Taking meeting minutes and notes are core administrative skills. Every admin joins their group with little to no knowledge of their team’s subject. Hold meeting reviews pre- and post- meeting with the chair. Develop your own systems to track questions to ask after the meeting. Transcribe minutes during the meeting. Listen closely for tasks. Be curious. Learn about the business.

    Understanding your executive’s business is a key skill toward becoming a strategic partner. You can do it!

  • Why trust is important for an Executive Assistant

    As an executive assistant, I know firsthand the importance of trust in the workplace. Trust is the foundation of any successful relationship. I believe that EAs need to build trust with everyone, not just with the executives they support. Trust is built with the executives, their directs, stakeholders, business partners and other administrative professionals.

    Trust is important for several reasons. First and foremost, it fosters open communication. When employees trust each other, they feel comfortable sharing ideas, opinions, and feedback without fear of judgment or retribution. This leads to better decision-making, as all viewpoints are considered and evaluated.

    Trust promotes collaboration. When team members trust each other, they are more likely to work together towards a common goal. They are willing to put aside their own interests and prioritize the success of the team. This results in a more productive and efficient work environment.

    Another benefit of trust is increased accountability. When employees trust each other, they hold each other accountable for their actions and responsibilities. This creates a culture of responsibility and ownership, where everyone is invested in the success of the team.

    Trust is essential for building strong relationships with clients and customers. When clients trust that a business will deliver on its promises, they are more likely to do business with them again. This can lead to long-term relationships and increased revenue.

    However, trust is not something that can be established overnight. It takes time and effort to build and maintain trust in the workplace. It requires consistency, honesty, and transparency in all interactions. It requires a willingness to admit mistakes and take responsibility for them.

    As an executive assistant, I make it a priority to establish trust with my colleagues and customers quickly. I am honest and transparent in my communication, and I make sure to follow through on my commitments. I believe trust is essential for building strong relationships and achieving success in the workplace.

    In my opinion, loss of trust is the biggest hurdle to overcome in all areas of life. When an EA loses trust at work, it damages their reputation, ability to do the job effectively and causes coworkers to work around the EA.

    Trust is a critical component of any successful workplace. It fosters open communication, promotes collaboration, increases accountability, and builds strong relationships with clients and customers. As an executive assistant, I understand the importance of trust and work diligently to establish and maintain it in all of my professional relationships. In my experience, earning trust is the highest priority for executive assistants.

  • What to do when your executive won’t let go control of their calendar

    As an EA, one of your core responsibilities is to manage your executive’s calendar. What do you do when an executive won’t turn over control of their calendar? You are feeling frustrated and that you’re failing in one of your primary responsibilities. In this blog post, I’ll discuss some strategies to manage the situation and keep your leader organized.

    At the heart of this issue is trust: they’ve been burned by a bad EA in the past, you haven’t earned their trust yet or they can’t trust anyone (aka, The Control Freak). You need to find out what you’re dealing with then find solutions together.

    Communicate Clearly

    The first step in managing a situation where your executive won’t give up control of their calendar is to communicate clearly. At your next sync meeting, discuss your concerns and provide them with feedback on how the situation is affecting your ability to do your job effectively. Your leader’s reputation reflects on you and vice versa.

    Be specific about the challenges you are facing and use concrete examples to illustrate your points. How many meetings have they missed because you were not allowed to reschedule conflicts proactively? What comments have you received from the team because they can’t count on your leader to attend meetings? How many hours did the team spend preparing for these missed meetings?

    Make it clear that the purpose of you managing their calendar is to work together and develop a system that will help them work more effectively and regain the trust of the team. Come prepared with solutions. Don’t just whine about it. Have a plan and be prepared to present it.

    Find Common Ground

    Once you’ve communicated your concerns, it’s essential to find common ground with your executive. Ask them what is preventing them from turning over their calendar to you. Work together to create a mechanism that accommodates both of your needs.

    It’s important to approach the situation with a collaborative mindset and be willing to compromise. You may need to adjust your suggestions to accommodate their priorities, but in return, they should be willing to do the same for you. You’re a team of two and need to develop your working style. It may take time but persistence will pay off.

    For example, I worked with a leader who gave me control of his calendar but he asked that I give him a 5 minute warning before every meeting. He was in a new, more complex role and I had 3 other leaders to support. It took us a few weeks to develop a new system. Over time, we knocked the 5 minute warnings down to the very important meetings so I didn’t have to jump up every 30 – 60 minutes and tell him to go to his next meeting.

    Seek Support from other EAs

    If you’ve tried several methods and failed, seek support from other EAs. Ask how they managed to get control of their executive’s calendar. We’ve all been there. EAs are happy to provide guidance, tips or suggestions you hadn’t considered.

    The last resort

    If you have done your best and I mean you have TRIED IT ALL and still can’t get your executive to turn over their calendar, then it’s time to move on. Some leaders never give up control. That is on them for not fully appreciating the value you provide. Chances are, you are facing other barriers with this executive. You’re probably not the first EA to beat their skull against this wall.

    By staying in a frustrating role, your performance, attitude and reputation will suffer. Take your time finding your next role if you must. You have now learned a variety of calendar management techniques, ways to earn trust with your executive and have questions to ask in future job interviews.

    Managing a situation where an executive won’t hand over management of their calendar can be challenging, but is not impossible. By communicating clearly, finding common ground, being creative, and seeking support from other EAs, you can earn your leader’s trust. As a by-product, you’ll also earn respect from their team and the other EAs you work with. Remember, it’s essential to approach the situation with a positive mindset and be willing to work together to find a solution that fits both of your needs.

  • Top 3 Outlook Productivity Tools

    I have a short attention and, like most EAs, my work day is full of interruptions. I need effective systems to manage core tasks so nothing slips through the cracks. Over the years, I’ve experimented with all the tools Outlook has to offer. My Top Three Outlook productivity tools are: Quick Parts, Quick Steps and Color Categories.

    I look for tools that are easy to use and give me the most bang for my buck. I live by KISS – Keep It Simple Sweetheart – I hear Han Solo’s voice say “sweetheart.” It makes me laugh. Hey, I’ve been working from home for 3 years. I’ll take all the entertainment I can get. Also, Your Worshipfullness does not fit this acronym.

    All three tools have been around for a long time, yet I’m surprised how few people use these. They are not flashy. They are simple, powerful tools anyone can leverage to be more productive.

    For new EAs (particularly if you are new with no prior admin experience), implementing these three tools will save you at least 1 week’s worth of time per year. That’s time you can take training, work on a high value project for your executive or take a week’s vacation guilt-free.

    One last note about today’s post: there are no videos or screenshots because at home 1) I use Gmail and 2) I have the free Office 365 Online, which has limited capability (as you might guess because, hey it’s free).

    Quick Parts

    Think of Quick Parts as a permanent clip board. It allows you to quickly generate routine emails. Once you’ve fine tuned the wording for an email, including formatting and links, you create a new Quick Part then insert the content into a new email.

    How I use it: I own and co-moderate a large membership email list with over 22,000 members and a number of related subset lists.

    For example, partner teams will send informational emails to the All Members list and a subset list. I use a No Duplicates Quick Part to reject the email sent to the subset list. It explains why I’m rejecting the email and asks the sender to update their template. After a few rejections, the duplicate emails vanish.

    This one Quick Part saves 5 minutes per email. Every month, we moderate between 20 – 100 emails per month. On average, that is 60 emails, with half sent to a subset. This Quick Part saves me an average of 2.5 hours a month or 30 hours per year.

    How to set it up: write Your Brilliant Content, select it, click Insert in the Ribbon, select Quick Parts then select “Add Selection to Quick Part Gallery.” Give it a simple name because a short name is more readable in the Quick Part Ribbon list. The next time you create a new email, put your cursor in the body of the email, click Insert on the Ribbon,click the drop down menu for Quick Parts and select your custom Quick Part. Send. Done..

    Quick Steps

    Anything you can do to an email, you can automate with a Quick Step. My favorite use is: Create an Appointment from an email with the email attached. I use this when I need to do some research before I respond to the email.

    From the Home menu in the Ribbon, click Create New and select your desired actions from the list. You can add as many actions as you need. Give it a short name, and if you like, assign a keyboard command.

    Kick it up a notch

    Combine a Quick Step with a Quick Part to create a done by you pre-filled email in seconds. Just add attachments and send. For example you have 1 Quick Part that creates and addresses an email to your stakeholders, cc’s you, color codes it Green for Board of Directors with the subject line: “Monthly Financial Report.” You create a Quick Step with the email content that says the financial report is attached. Every month, click on your Monthly Report Quick Part and insert your Monthly Report Quick Step, attach your report and send.

    Color Categories

    Most people have tried Color Categories so I won’t go into details but I’ve noticed that most people over-complicate their list. I remind you to KISS. Create the fewest number of categories to cover the majority of work: high priority, office hours/power hour, Optional/Delegate, etc. You want just enough categories to make it useful at a glance and help you run a calendar audit, but not so many categories that you give up because it’s cumbersome.

    What about Rules?

    I’ve experimented and fine-tuned many rules over the years. Rules come in at #4 because I find they take a lot of finessing to get right. More importantly, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve logged in to find the overnight Outlook update broke half my rules.

    Yes, I have Rules. Very. Simple. Rules. These three rules save me about 30 minutes per week or 25 hours per year.

    The basic format of these rules: take a specific type of message, move it to a specific folder and (maybe) mark it as Read.

    1. Undeliverable Message. Managing all those large email lists means I receive bounces every day. I don’t want these clogging up my inbox so undeliverable messages are marked as read and moved into a folder. At the end of the week, I review the contents of the folder and update the manual subscription lists if needed.
    2. Automatic Reply. Like undeliverable messages, I get a lot of Automatic replies. These go into another folder and are left unread. When I’m scheduling high priority meetings or need to track who may not be attending a key meeting, I need to know who’s out of office so I can notify my leader.
    3. Meeting Invite or Update. I currently manage 4 calendars so I receive and generate a lot of meeting invites. This rule moves all meeting invites into a Meetings folder so I can batch review them throughout the day. This keeps me from obsessively checking my inbox throughout the day.

    For those playing at home: these 4 tools save me approximately 96 hours per year. Work smarter, my friends, not harder. My top 3 Outlook tools: Quick Steps, Quick Parts and Color Categories are simple yet very powerful productivity tools.

    Implementing these tools allows a new EA to more quickly transition from a tactical calendar jockey to strategic business partner because you’ve freed up time on low value tasks to focus on high value projects. The faster you become a partner, the more valuable you become to your executive and your company.

    Hey, guess what? You also just learned how to create macros. You can now transfer this knowledge to creating, for example, macros in Excel or actions in Photoshop.

    Go forth and conquer!