When I’m juggling a full plate, I lean on Stephen Covey’s time management matrix to keep things clear and focused. I picture a grid with urgency on the x-axis and importance on the y-axis. My priority is always the upper right corner: tasks that are both urgent and important. These get my full attention first, since they’re often tied to immediate deadlines or key results. From there, I shift to tasks that are important but not urgent, which are usually more strategic and long-term. If something is urgent but not as important, I try to delegate it, so I’m not losing time on things that don’t need my direct input. And anything that’s neither urgent nor important gets pushed to the bottom of the list. Using this method helps me stay focused, reduce distractions, and make sure I’m spending energy where it matters most.

During my internship at Hillmann Consulting, maintaining accurate and consistent data was critical. After cleaning and organizing the financial data across over 200 projects, I focused on keeping it that way long term. I knew the system would only be effective if future users understood how to use it properly, so I took a proactive approach. I locked and protected the data input sheets to prevent accidental changes and created short instructional videos explaining how to use the dashboard without breaking its structure. These videos walked project managers through what they could and couldn’t edit and clarified how to input new data while maintaining the format. I also put together a clear instruction sheet that outlined best practices and troubleshooting tips. By combining clean formatting with user-friendly guidance, I helped ensure the system would stay reliable and aligned across teams even after I left.

During my internship with Hillmann Consulting on the Construction Risk Management team, I led a project to overhaul how financial data was tracked across more than 200 active projects. Each regional office had its own format and process, which made it difficult for leadership to get a clear, consistent view of project budgets. They were spending close to two hours every week just trying to compile and interpret financial data. To solve this, I built a macro-powered Excel database and paired it with an interactive dashboard that allowed users to filter by project, region, or category. I used pivot tables, slicers, and conditional formatting to make it easy for non-technical managers to get the insights they needed instantly. I also collaborated with regional managers to test and refine the tool, and I trained the team on how to use it effectively. After presenting the final version to Hillmann’s executive team, it was implemented across 24 locations. The new system cut weekly analysis time down to just five minutes and quickly became the standard for tracking project performance. The project not only sharpened my technical skills but also taught me the value of creating solutions that are practical, scalable, and easy for others to adopt.