Hey, it’s Terry here.

It’s tough going back to work after an overseas holiday. Jet lag, loads of washing and getting the circadian rhythm back into Aussie time. 😴

Vietnam was awesome, I highly recommend it for all ages, our family group was aged between 20yrs - 77yrs old and we all loved the country and its people.

In case you haven’t noticed there is a comments icon at the top of the newsletter. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this week’s content!

💠 Tech tips:

Keyboard shortcut to delete one word at a time instead of one character at a time,

How to insert temporary random text into a Word doc,

Quickly highlight all data in a column so you can reformat it, copy and paste etc.

💠 Xero - common GST coding errors

💠 Constructive criticism - how not to offend someone.

💠 plus more…

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Here’s how to delete whole words one at a time instead of one character at a time. It’s the same as deleting characters, except you also hold down the Ctrl key.

Press the Ctrl key + backspace key to delete one word at a time on the left of the cursor.

Press the Ctrl key + delete key to delete one word at a time on the right of the cursor.

When you’re designing a document, sometimes it’s handy to insert temporary filler text. It can help show how the document will look with actual content.

If you’re going to come back later and insert the final content when you have it, you can always make the filler text red as a reminder.

Simply place your curser where you want the random text to appear and type =lorem() then press enter.

⏱️Do you click on the top cell then manually scroll/highlight all cells below until you get to the bottom of the list? That can be very time consuming on a large spreadsheet.

Here’s a shortcut - Click on the first cell to be highlighted, press Ctrl+Shift keys then the Down Arrow and all the data will be highlighted. You can do one or multiple columns at the same time.

Blank cells will stop the highlighting. To select the remaining data, keep holding Ctrl+Shift, release the down arrow key, then repeatedly click the down arrow key until the entire range is highlighted.

The example below has only 50 rows of data but if you have much more, particularly with no blanks, this is really quick shortcut. You can then copy and paste, reformat etc.

Use for goods or services exempt from GST. eg education, unprocessed food such as fruit & veges, water. Here’s a list from the ATO. Also goods and services from businesses not registered for GST.

Transactions that don’t have GST or an exemption. Examples: stamp duty, council rates, fines, bank interest, loan repayments, directors loan, drawings, sale of private motor vehicle. Here’s another handy list from the ATO.

📌 Focus on Behaviour, Not Personality: Focus on what they do, not who they are.

📌 Use "I" Statements: Frame the feedback around your observation or the impact on you/the team. Rather than accusing or “pointing the finger” at them.

📌 Be Specific and Provide Examples: Vague statements are unhelpful and easily dismissed. Refer to a concrete event.

📌 Offer Actionable Solutions: The criticism should be paired with a clear path forward for improvement.

📌 Ensure the Timing and Setting are Appropriate: Give feedback promptly, in a calm and private setting.

📌 Start and End on a Positive Note: Leading and ending with genuine praise helps reinforce confidence and receptiveness.

📌 Maintain a Supportive and Objective Tone: Your body language and tone of voice should convey that your goal is to help, not to punish, blame or put down.

📌 Make it a two-way conversation: Ask open-ended questions and listen to their perspective to understand any underlying causes.

The creator of GIF, Steve Wilhite, intended it to be pronounced with a soft G (like "gin"). However, the hard G (like "gift") is also widely accepted, and most dictionaries list both pronunciations. So you can say it both ways!

In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, a GIF is a video only a couple of seconds long that continuously loops, like Kermit below.

My Excel and Word video’s are also GIF’s. I recorded 5 second video’s and saved as GIF’s in my all time favourite app. I’ll tell you about it next week.

Sometimes when people are presenting a slideshow or running an online meeting or workshop, it’s like watching an erratic game of tennis because the presenter constantly moves the cursor unnecessarily and my eyes try and keep up with it in case I miss something.

If you’re a Jiggler, please only move the cursor when you need to!

Remember October is Cyber Security Awareness Month! Read more about it here… You can also do this free government funded cyber security course at cyberwardens.com.au.

Log into my password manager app called Keeper. We all have so many passwords to remember these days, it’s near impossible to remember them all.

When I log into Keeper it then helps me log in to other apps really quickly, and it helps protect me from cyber attacks on both my laptop and mobile phone. Try it now for free!

Don’t get hacked. Get Keeper.

Someone recently called me a Prize Pig when I was boasting about the prizes I’ve won on the radio. There has been heaps of records (back in the day), event tickets, and an electric scooter plus more. The tallest prize I’ve won was my height in CD’s (again showing my age). 159 CD’s later and my music collection was all sorted for a couple of years.

A "snollygoster" is a shrewd, unprincipled person, especially a politician who prioritizes personal gain over principles.