why can’t i ever get to perfect?

I check my work. i try super hard to submit high quality work. But there is always something that slips through the cracks…and it’s always something stupid, like a wrong time zone, 2024A instead of E, etc.

Good analysts don’t make mistakes like that. Good analysts are perfect. I want to be perfect so badly but I just can’t…and I feel like such a useless idiot every time I submit imperfect work and my bosses call it out to me.

I don’t know what to do. Really feeling like I was never meant to be successful, in this job or in any job.

 

Don't be too hard on yourself. Every analyst and associate will make mistakes, even experienced VP's and MD's. You'd be surprised to see how many decks get to meetings with mistakes like that or even worse, serious model blunders. The key is to keep improving and make less mistakes over time.

 

I suffer from this issue, and I feel you on the “no matter how hard I try I make mistakes” part. You need to try to slow down, check your work constantly on every angle. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re not the only one.

 

Basic stuff helps honestly went through the same thing and what helped me most was printing out decks or triple checking models. Literally F2ing every cell in the model or first 3 in each row. Taking walks, getting water clearing your head

 

You ever seen whiplash? It’s basically the same thing. They are always going to give you an impossible bar where in reality you may be submitting decent work, but the point of them always shitting on you is apart of how this business works. You become extra conscientious of your work to the point of paranoia in the hopes that work is better than your peers. You’ll get through it

Intern123321
 

Here, Ill let you in on a little secret... No one is perfect and no one does perfect work. 

There is a reason why an Associate reviews, then a VP reviews, then a D reviews, then an MD reviews, and then finally it gets sent to the client. 

You're an analyst, it's expected that you will make mistakes. Just don't make the same mistake twice. When you get promoted to A, you will make mistakes that your VP will catch. Don't make the same mistake twice. When you are a VP, you'll make mistakes that the D/MD catch, again just don't make the same mistake twice. 

Even the final deck sent to the client WILL have mistakes, although probably very minor, but they will still exist and be present.

 

You should check out that other thread from a month ago where OP was getting yelled at for forgetting oxford commas in footnotes. Funnily, in that thread all the comments were on moral high horses spouting the importance of perfection.

 

Relax bro. Just don't make the same mistake over and over.

The important thing is never to let oneself be guided by the opinion of one's contemporaries; to continue steadfastly on one's way without letting oneself be either defeated by failure or diverted by applause.
 

The top analysts actually do make mistakes, they're just perceived to not make them because the rest of the team likes them. Vast majority of top bucket analysts coast on reputation and their work product is just decent.

"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."
 

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"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee

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