It comes down to doing analysis. Too often we get into the rut of doing things exactly the same way every time.

When faced with a problem that seems overwhelming, throw out all assumptions. Everything. Then ANALYZE the problem. Determine the facts, restraints, and make sure they are real and not imagined. Then start thinking about how to fix it. Take things a step at a time.

A good example occurred to me today. Someone had a complex spreadsheet that had data elements used to make a decision. Instead of helping them write a formula to do what they wanted, I wrote a formula to do a portion of what they wanted. Then another, and another, and another. Once those were done and tested, I explained that they could combine them all into one formula (good luck!) or simply write one more that based the answer on the ones we wrote. All I did was break the work down into manageable pieces.

What seemed to be impossible (to them) seemed so obvious once I showed them the methodology I use. I didn't do anything special, and nothing they could not have done themselves. The difficulty they had was they were focused entirely on the big picture of AZ columns and 7,000 rows. When they explained each piece to me one at a time, it was easy to do.