Want to be More Productive?  You Don’t Need an All Day Course… Here’s why…

People often think that to become more “productive” they need to enrol in a full day training course, usually at an intermediate or advanced level because they’ve been using Excel for a few years.  This generally means blocking a day out in their calendar and preparing themselves for information overload!

But the truth I wish more people understood is that:

It’s not full day training you need.  You need a few better tips.

Having been a trainer who delivered full day training programs, I know all too well how much attending a full day training session actually increased rather than decreased student’s stress levels.

The courses are topic specific and it’s rare for them to actually feel relevant to the workplace.  They move too fast, or two slow and can leave people feeling out of their depth or wasting time before the morning tea break!

This is the last thing anyone needs in a world of high expectations professionally and personally.

In reality, a majority of people are not struggling because they are not skilled enough, rather it is because they have never been shown the small, high value features and tools that can truly shift the productivity dial.

Those features are hidden inside everyday tools you probably already use and not inside advanced full day training courses.

Time is the Real Problem, Not Skill

When overwhelmed or feeling left behind, people start doing things that tend to create more, rather than less stress:

• Going down the rabbit hole of Google looking for answers
• Utilising AI tools with the potential to accidently expose sensitive data
• Scroll through YouTube videos only to find hundreds of video tutorials that lack context to their workplace or don’t match their version of what they see on screen
• Rely on asking colleagues and end up feeling inadequate and embarrassed for not knowing and consistently having to ask
• Doing a “Save As” on documents because the format is similar, but as a result creating potential data risks
• Trying to “catch up” by checking emails out of hours.

These are all TIME, not skill problems.

In business today we simply don’t have the time, nor the space, to explore or learn things in simpler format. So, we end up doing whatever feels the quickest, even if it actually makes things harder.  Just because we don’t know what we don’t know.

Big Shifts can come from Small Tips

A favourite moment of mine in training was showing someone how to create a chart in Excel using some shortcuts.

They told me they normally spend hours trying to get charts to look like how they needed them to look.

Once they saw the process and how easy it could be to create one to visually represent their data, their whole demeanour changed!

That’s how powerful one small tip can be.

This isn’t about learning or adding more “stuff.”

It’s about isolating and using a few things that can truly reduce your stress, save you time, and ensure you feel more in control of your day.

You Just Need a Starting Point

To feel calmer and more confident and capable with Microsoft 365 programs, doesn’t require a full day workshop leaving you feeling stressed about catching up with your day’s work.

You just need a starting point.

My Top 10 Microsoft 365 Time‑Saving Tips Checklist gives you exactly that. 10 simple, practical and workplace relevant tips you can immediately implement.

Each is designed to give you back time, reduce your stress, and ensure you feel more in control with the tools you already use every day.

It only takes one thing to make a big difference.

👉 Download your free checklist here: 10 Microsoft 365 Time Saving Tips