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Saved by @paro_monty

The ultimate guide to Gmail, Gsheets, and Mac Productivity:🧵

 đź“Š -Explore:

Need to do some number crunching?

Let Google's AI do the work for you.

•Highlight the range of data.

•Move your cursor to the starburst-shaped icon in the bottom right corner.

•Click "Explore" – Charts, analytics, & detailed info. generated automatically.
đź“© -Look like you're working (when you're not)

Gmail offers scheduling... Who knew?

No need to be physically sitting at your desk, or hammering out emails on your phone after hours.

•Compose your message
•Click the dropdown next to "send"
•Click "schedule send"
đź’» -Specific Screenshots:

SHIFT+CMD+3 will capture your entire screen.

Did you know you can also narrow your capture to a specific portion?

It's easy, & now that I know it exists, I use it every day.

A simple SHIFT+CMD+4 and you're on your way.
đź“Š -Finance:

Monitor stock prices, spot trends, & quickly review historical data using =GOOGLEFINANCE.

Want to see the last 60 days of closing prices for a specific ticker symbol?

Paste the formula below & voila!

=GOOGLEFINANCE("NASDAQ:TSLA","price",TODAY()-60,TODAY())
đź“© -Remove those annoying tabs:

Maybe it's just me, but I hate the "social & promotions" tabs that come with the standard Gmail setup.

Let's trash them, & get all your mail in one place.

•Head to settings > all-settings
•Inbox > categories
•Choose which to show as tabs
đź’» -Keyboard Shortcuts:

I was sitting in my office recently & noticed one of my coworkers seemingly flying through tasks.

Without ever using his mouse.

I thought, "man, I've got to learn keyboard shortcuts."

With this in mind, here are the basics to get us started.
đź“Š -SPARKLINES/Progress Bars

What good are goals if you can't track against them?

Sheets make it simple to see a visual representation of your progress using SPARKLINES.

Easily embed a miniature bar chart inside any cell.

=SPARKLINE(B2:C2,{"charttype","bar";"max",C2})
đź“© -Self-destructing emails:

In Gmail, this is known as "Confidential Mode"

•Navigate to compose an email
•Locate the 🔒 icon at the bottom
•Click & set the expiration date

You can even require an SMS passcode for the recipient to open the message!
đź’» -Split View:

If you're like me, you never have enough screen real estate.

Here's how to 2X your viewable area:

Hover your pointer over the full-screen button 🟢 in the upper-left corner.

->Tile left or right
->Click a window on the other side

BOOM!

2 apps, 1 screen
đź“Š -QR CODES

Everyone has a smartphone these days...

Generating an easily scannable image to drive traffic to your site seems like a no-brainer.

•Copy + paste formula below
•Change "A1" to the cell with your URL
•💥 Free QR code

=IMAGE("https://t.co/WUIcmxXEDY"&A1&"")
đź“© -Mute Conversations:

We've all been there.

Copied on an email chain with several other people, on a topic that's somewhere south of relevant to you.

No worries. Just mute the conversation.

•Select the message
•Click the 3 dot icon above
•Select "mute"
đź’» -Digital Signatures:

Have a PDF you need to sign?

Let's skip all the printing, physical signing, scanning, etc.

Using the "preview" app you can easily create a digital signature.

All you need is a pen, a white piece of paper, & your Mac's camera.
https://t.co/3ACdKofm0I
đź“Š -ARRAYFORMULA

Why enter 3 formulas when 1 will do the trick?

Array formulas allow you to process data in a "batch" rather than individual calculations.

Here we pull the monthly sales for each "widget" & calculate the Q1 total.

Formula:=ARRAYFORMULA(C3:C5+C7:C9+C11:C13)
đź“© -Preview emails:

Converting from Outlook & miss your "preview pane?"

Gmail lets you preview as well.

•Head to settings > all-settings
•Locate Inbox > enable reading pane

Now you can read mail right next to your inbox - Read & write faster while adding more context.
đź’» -Digital Signatures:

Have a PDF you need to sign?

Let's skip all the printing, physical signing, scanning, etc.

Using the "preview" app you can easily create a digital signature.

All you need is a pen, a white piece of paper, & your Mac's camera.
https://t.co/3ACdKofm0I
đź“Š -QUERY

Search large data sets to find & extract items that meet specified criteria.

Formula:=QUERY(B3:C14, "select B where C>50000")

Here, we'll pull out the names from column B with over 50K followers in column C.

This is only the beginning of what QUERY can do!
đź“© -Auto-advance:

"Inbox zero" sure sounds nice.

Speed up the process of deleting emails by enabling "auto-advance."

Once on, Gmail won't send you back to your inbox each time you delete an opened message.

•Head to settings > all-settings
•Advanced > auto-advance
•Enable
đź’» -Annotate PDF's

While the preview app doesn't allow for text editing, it does provide some other pretty cool features.

By selecting the "markup" toolbar, you can unlock multiple collaborative options:

•Add notes
•Suggest changes
•Sketch, draw, & share ideas.

Here's how:
đź“Š -SPLIT

Split text from one cell into multiple.

Formula: =SPLIT(B3,“ ”)

This will take the contents of B3 and separate it into C3 & D3 based on the delimiter you place inside " ".

In this case, we'll separate the First & Last names based on the "space" in between.
đź“© -Keyboard shortcuts:

Save time using Gmail's built-in shortcuts.

Navigate your inbox, format text: Archive, delete, & more.

•Head to settings > all-settings
•Locate general > keyboard shortcuts
•Select "on"

Need a complete list?

Type "shift + ?" with Gmail open.
đź’» -Custom shortcuts:

Did you know you can make a keyboard shortcut for almost anything?

Go to:

System Preferences->Keyboard
->App Shortcuts->Click the +

Have a menu option you use all the time, but a shortcut doesn't exist?

No worries. Create your own!
đź“Š -Timesavers:

Assuming you're signed in to your Google account, head on up to your browser's address bar:

From there type: "https://t.co/BeKgYV7g31"

Boom! A new Google sheet is created for you on the fly from anywhere on the web.

(Works for docs, slides, calender, etc.)
Thanks for reading!

If you learned something new...

Follow me @blakeaburge for weekly threads on business, productivity, & building a better you.

Check out my newsletter:

"While You Were Away"

•The best of Twitter
•In your inbox
•Every Sunday
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More from Blake Burge đź’ˇ

Blake Burge \U0001f4a1
Blake Burge đź’ˇ
@blakeaburge
Success isn't a mistake.

8 steps to build the life you want. 🧵

Clock In:

It's time to go to work.

There are no magic bullets & "get-rich-quick" doesn't exist in the real world.

Immerse yourself in learning, have a bias toward action, be willing to do what others won't.

Do this & you won't need to look for results, they'll find you.

Work from the top down:

The fastest way to get from where you are to where you want to be?

Find someone who's already there.

Learn from them, seek advice, & follow the path they've forged.

Reach out.

People are more willing to help than you think.


Persist:

The bigger your goals, the more likely it is they'll take longer to achieve.

Most people fail when they quit right before their plan is beginning to work.

By stopping, they never know how close they actually were.

Be consistent. Keep going.

h/t@visualizevalue


Build your personal brand:

We're all selling something, often it's ourselves.

Give before you get.

Provide value, be unique, be consistent.

Once people know what to expect from you, they'll come back for more.

The best advertisement in the world is repeatable results.
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Blake Burge \U0001f4a1
Blake Burge đź’ˇ
@blakeaburge
It's time to run your inbox––instead of it running you.

12 powerful Gmail tips every user should know: 📬

Undo Send:

Don't tell me you haven't done it.

You clicked "reply all" on a message including your boss when you meant to only reply to your friend.

Save yourself!

With Undo Send, Gmail allows you to recall a message sent in error for up to 30 seconds after you click send.


Tie emails to Tasks:

Look, we're all busy.

When your inbox is filling up faster than you can handle, it's easy to forget to reply, miss an assignment, or just plain feel overwhelmed.

Connecting emails to tasks can help.

Get reminders, add details, subtasks, and more.


Schedule Send:

With schedule send, you can draft an email at a time that works for you.

Then schedule it to be sent at a time that fits your employees' and customers' day.

In the world of remote work, this is critical.

It's a win-win.

Work on your time, send on theirs.


Confidential Mode:

Sometimes you send an email you'd prefer not live on forever.

Better yet, you'd like it if the recipient wasn't able to save, copy, or forward to someone else.

With confidential mode, you can do just that.

Set expiration dates, require passcodes, & more.
ALL
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Blake Burge \U0001f4a1
Blake Burge đź’ˇ
@blakeaburge
10 can't miss Excel skills every single user should know: đź“Š

Custom Lists:

Stop wasting time entering the same customer names, product types, and generally repetitive data.

Creating custom lists is easy.

• Excel
• Preferences
• Custom Lists
• Create and click "Add"

Type the first item, then drag, and the rest of your list appears!


Data Types:

Data Types is a relatively new feature that was added to Excel in 2020.

It allows you to enter text, select data type, then extracts information based on the criteria you select.

Here's a pretty cool example using states where we can pull population data instantly:


SORTBY:

I'm a fan of organized data.

What I'm not a fan of?

Manually updating my sort every time something changes or new information is added.

Here's an easy fix.

With the SORTBY function, we can create a table that dynamically adjusts along with our data in real-time.


Unique:

Back in the day, Pivot Tables were my go-to for identifying unique items within large data sets.

Not anymore.

Now I use the "Unique" function in MS365 to easily identify and separate repeated items.

So simple.

Don't blink or you'll miss it:
ALL
Blake Burge \U0001f4a1
Blake Burge đź’ˇ
@blakeaburge
This thread will make you better at Outlook: 📬

Color code your emails:

I like to keep things organized.

I'm forgetful & I get A LOT of emails.

The easiest way I've found to ensure things don't get lost is utilizing conditional formatting.

• View -> View Settings
• Conditional Formatting
• Select type
• Name the rule


Never miss a game:

Did you know you can add custom event calendars directly in Outlook?

Never miss your favorite TV show or the next big game.

• Just head to "Add Calendar"
• Select "Sports" or "TV"
• Choose the event you'd like to add.


Send delay:

Sometimes you need to write a message now but wait to deliver it until later.

Just use "Delayed Delivery."

Here's how:

• Write your email
• Select Options -> Delay Delivery
• Choose the "Do not deliver before" time


Email your calendar:

Avoid the back and forth hassle of scheduling meetings.

Simply email your calendar so people know when you're available (and when you're not.)

You can also drag items from the received calendar to your own.

Like this:
ALL
Blake Burge \U0001f4a1
Blake Burge đź’ˇ
@blakeaburge
10 powerful Excel features every user should know: đź“Š

Flash Fill:

Let's say you've got all the data you need––it just isn't in the right place.

"Flash Fill" is your friend.

Quickly extract pieces of text from one cell and move them to another OR combine text from multiple cells into a single place.


Camera Snapshot

Here's a little-known trick to move data between workbooks.

First, add "camera" to your quick access toolbar.

•Select your data ⇢ click 📷
•Paste to new workbook

The cool part: When you update the main workbook, the data in the picture updates as well! 🤯


Analyze Data:

I was never very good at Pivot tables, graphs, & analyzing data on my own.

Lucky for me (and you) Excel will do the heavy lifting for us.

•Select the range of data
•"Home" ⇢ "Analyze Data"

Charts, tables, & analysis––premade.

Click "insert" & you're done!


X-Lookup

If you're an old-school Excel user, there's no doubt you're familiar with V-Lookup.

X is the new & improved version, here's why:

•Lookup array does NOT have to be only on the left-hand side.
•Allows you to return multiple values at the same time.

Here's how: 👇🏻
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Dickie Bush \U0001f6a2
Dickie Bush 🚢
@dickiebush
What is 1 YouTube video you think every person on Earth should watch?
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Blake Burge \U0001f4a1
Blake Burge đź’ˇ
@blakeaburge
10 powerful Excel features every user should know: đź“Š

Flash Fill:

Let's say you've got all the data you need––it just isn't in the right place.

"Flash Fill" is your friend.

Quickly extract pieces of text from one cell and move them to another OR combine text from multiple cells into a single place.


Camera Snapshot

Here's a little-known trick to move data between workbooks.

First, add "camera" to your quick access toolbar.

•Select your data ⇢ click 📷
•Paste to new workbook

The cool part: When you update the main workbook, the data in the picture updates as well! 🤯


Analyze Data:

I was never very good at Pivot tables, graphs, & analyzing data on my own.

Lucky for me (and you) Excel will do the heavy lifting for us.

•Select the range of data
•"Home" ⇢ "Analyze Data"

Charts, tables, & analysis––premade.

Click "insert" & you're done!


X-Lookup

If you're an old-school Excel user, there's no doubt you're familiar with V-Lookup.

X is the new & improved version, here's why:

•Lookup array does NOT have to be only on the left-hand side.
•Allows you to return multiple values at the same time.

Here's how: 👇🏻
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Library Mindset
Library Mindset
@librarymindset
100 Books To Read In 2022


1)Atomic Habits
2)Deep Work
3)The Almanack of @naval Ravikant
4)Sapiens
5)Can't Hurt Me
6)The Psychology of Money
7)Think Like A Monk
8)Steve Jobs
9)A Calendar of Wisdom
10)On the shortness of Life
11)Do Epic Shit
12)12 Rules For Life


13)Man's Search For Meaning
14)A Short History of Nearly Everything
15)The Four Agreements
16)The Power of Habit
17)21 Lessons for 21st Century
18)Homo Deus
19)Alchemist
20)War and Peace
21)Factfulness
22)The Lessons of History
23)The Power of Now
24)I Will Teach you to be rich


25)Einstein
26)Autobiography of Yogi
27)Leonardo da Vinci
28)Benjamin Franklin
29)Why We Sleep
30)5 am club
31)Built to Serve
32)The Go Giver
33)Meditations
34)Ego is the enemy
35)Stillness is the key
36)Lives of the stoics


37)Grit
38)The Everything Store
39)Measure what Matters
40)Everything is f
41)Crime and Punishment
42)Talk Like Ted
43)Who Moved my Cheese?
44)Beyond Order
45)The Dip
46)Limitless
47)The Rational Optimist
48)48 Laws of Power
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Joe Koster
Joe Koster
@jtkoster
I’m often asked by college students for reading recommendations to help them learn more about investing. I feel like I change my answers, at least a bit, all the time depending on what I’m reading and what’s on my mind at any given time, but here’s my current list….

1. Warren Buffett’s Letters to Shareholders

2. “Poor Charlie’s Almanack”

3. Howard Marks’ “The Most Important Thing”

4. Nassim Taleb’s books, in this order…. “Fooled by Randomness” (twice, back-to-back), “The Black Swan” (once), “Antifragile” (twice, back-to-back), and then “Skin in the Game” (once).

I think after reading Buffett and Munger, things sometimes seem too easy. Taleb’s books helped me think about risk and randomness in a way other books haven’t. Howard Marks’ book (or letters) help a lot too, but Taleb’s books pound those lessons in.

5. Peter Kaufman’s essay on “Culture”

6. William Green’s “Richer, Wiser, Happier.” And you don’t just learn from the investors profiled in the book (about investing and life), you also learn so much from @williamgreen72 as he synthesizes and simplifies the important things.
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Vinay Sharma
Vinay Sharma
@Vinaystwt
50+ free platforms to get free photos for your next Side hustle

A Mega Thread🧵

🔹Unsplash: Beautiful, free images and photos that you can download and use for any project. Better than any royalty free or stock

🔹Pexels: Free stock photos and videos you can use

🔹Pixabay: Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright-free images, videos and

🔹Stocksnap: Stocksnap adds hundreds of stock photos weekly, photos which are free from copyright restrictions.
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Sam
Sam
@SamKhan999
This day was inevitable. Indian Muslims always lived in La La Land. They bad mouthed real well wishers & slept with the enemy who never considered them as part of them. In Gulf, Indian Muslims were busy with Javed Akhtar & Sonu Nigam. Never interacted with South Asian diaspora

Now when Indian Muslims are thrown to wolves it’s Pakistani & Bangladeshi Muslims with whom they kept distance are the only ones feeling their pain. None of the people who they invited for Eid Milan. Qawali & Mushaira are there for them. Such people invoke wrath upon themselves

Indian Muslims never spoke for Kashmiri Muslims. Distancing from separatist was understandable but we never even bothered to highlight their human rights violation & rapes carried out by forces. We could have sent them humanitarian help we didn’t. Our silence made us complicit.

When Sania Mirza married Shoaib Malik it was something legal. A Muslim married another Muslim. Entire Hindutva media went after her. They launched a witch-hunt for months. No Indian Muslim stood by her. All were silent. Now days come when Muslims are arrested for marrying a Hindu

Indian Muslims particularly the elite downplayed communalism in India by saying it will pass or Hindu majority is good. Fringe are bad. They misguiding others. Muslims were always others. Indians were happy to see Muslims sing & dance & eat their food but never considered as own
INDIA
Noah Smith
Noah Smith
@Noahpinion
Remember: Just because an idea is old doesn't mean it's good.

Knowing whether old ideas are more likely to be good requires understanding whether conditions have changed in important ways.

Horse archery was an amazing method of warfare for over a thousand years...then people invented guns, and suddenly this great idea that had stood the test of time became obsolete.

Then again, when underlying conditions don't change much, tried-and-true approaches are probably better.

"Learning the lessons of history" usually just means assuming ergodicity and stationarity in an informal time-series model...

(end)
SOCIETY
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Khatvaanga
Khatvaanga
@khatvaanga
Sri Gurubhyo Namaha.


After the phenomenon called Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati came another one - Sri Abhinava Vidya Teertha [1954-1989] the 35th Jagadguru. Srinivasa was born on Nov 13, 1917. He was initiated into Sanyasa by Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati in 1931. He was Jagadguru for 35 years.

He was chosen and specifically trained to take over Peetadhipatyam from Sri Mahaswami. He is majorly responsible for the way Sringeri currently is. He built various buildings for devotees, Gajashala, Gooshala etc.

Acharya on conversions:
Once a person approached Sri Acharya that some other religions are trying to convert Hindus and requested Sri AVT to do prevent these conversions.

AVT replied - what do u mean by religion? Religion i.e. mata is related to 'mati' or intellect.
Caste is called 'jAti' which is related to janana or birth.
Ex- breed of a cow. we cannot change its qualities to resemble another breed by changing its name.
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Maurice Casey
Maurice Casey
@MauriceJCasey
I am reading through reams of late-1920s communist poetry and easily my favourite title so far is: "To a Lady who Rejected a Poem about Spring as a Petit-Bourgeois Deviation"

The last lines:
"So here's my hat into the air,
Three cheers for your amazing hair,
For coal mines, and for turbines, too,
For steel, the Comintern and you!"

A not exactly graceful (though possibly satirical) title: "Lines Disassociating Myself from Yessenin and Supporting the Otherwise Unfounded Legend that I am a Foremost Proletarian Writer"

An excerpt:
"Goodbye verses of Yessenin
Goodbye literary slop-
You are not the line of Lenin
You are not the line of WAPP

Never shall I moan a
simple lyric from the heart
I'll devote my new corona
to the proletarian art"

The poet was Joseph Freeman, who published much of his revolutionary verse in the New Masses, a stylish journal of the interwar American literary Left.
CULTURE
Jaya_Upadhyaya
Jaya_Upadhyaya
@Jayalko1
SRI VARAHA NARSIMHA, SIMHACHALAM, VIZAG (AP)
#bharatmandir

One of the 32 Narsimha Kshetram of Andhra. It has a unique form of Narsimha, appearing like a shivlingam

It is said that Narsimha’s fierce nature is soothed by worshipping him with Varaha, considered a peaceful deity


The shrine is believed to have been constructed by Prahlada. With time, it crumbled.
In Treta yuga, King Pururava was passing from here in his vimana. The vimana was attracted to this place by a mystic power.
When the place was unearthed, the deity was found.
@GunduHuDuGa


Pururava’s wife, Urvashi, had a dream that the deity should remain covered in sandalwood paste for the whole year except on Akshaya Tritiya.
This practice has continued till date.
The mukhya mandap here, has a pillar kappam stambham believed to possess curative powers.


Chandanotsava/ Chandan Yatra is the most important festival celebrated on Akshaya Tritiya. The sandalwood paste is removed from the moolavar deity and nijarupa darshan (original form of deity) for twelve hours of the day are done by devotees.
ALL