• Overcompensating in one skill to make up for another is how I learned about data analytics.

• Hands-on data experience is a great way to break down the mental barrier of working with numbers.

• Asking lots of questions is crucial to developing new skills.

I've always been a bit hacky to make up for some skills that never quite clicked with me.

I was an English major who somehow got through college barely reading any of my assigned reading. I was a bad reader, but a decent writer. I had trouble absorbing information in the classroom, but I could ace an interview to get internships and learn on the job. I can't whistle, but I can walk and chew gum at the same time. You get the idea.

Overcompensating in one skill to make up for another is how I starting learning about data analytics. I realized that when you're fresh out of ideas or don't know where to strategically turn, the data at your fingertips can lead the way and unlock a whole world of insights.

My favorite part of this "pivot" is that despite working with numbers all day, I genuinely use my English degree more than I ever thought I would. This background actually helped me compensate for my technical skill limitations. The critical thinking I learned in school and the writing skills I developed gave me a massive leg up on the fact that I was still learning about data and new ways to perform analyses.

Here are three tips that helped me become comfortable with data and transformed me into a "numbers person."

Become a Google sheets master

Google sheets, like Microsoft Excel, is an extremely powerful tool if you learn how to hone it. In my role at Insider, I've created dozens of tools and dashboards that save hundreds of people hours of work every day — and I did it in Sheets!

Getting hands-on with datasets in Sheets is an accessible way to gain experience in manipulating and calculating data. Even if your workplace uses Excel or a data visualization platform like Looker or Power BI, Sheets is an amazing primer for someone who is not familiar with working with large datasets and it will break down some math anxiety.