365 Days of Success Stories
I spend some of my free time on WSO browsing the different forums and reading other people's success stories.
I am always motivated to do something better with myself, but I know it's not always so easy. Success is sometimes in 1 day or more than 365 days. Usually the latter.
So I decided to document my year in this banking industry as a MO analyst transitioning to FO (hopefully by Septmber 2017).
So far the journey has been tough and the learning curve steep as fuck. Especially because it is not always easy to hang up your sensitivity to the bullshit. It's a cut throat industry, I can feel it and the knife hasn't even pierced my throat.
So I encourage you to follow my journey throughout the year as I document my lessons learned (ad hoc). Add your input, feel free to document your own.
Day 03: I was feeling quite down about my slow intergration into my new team. Yes, I don't fit in so well, yes I don't really enjoy the work but no way was I going to allow myself to fall into a depression over a team I won't be in in 6-7 weeks time.
So, another day with very little or nothing to do I felt like crap. My line manager had nothing for me. You can understand my frustration.
You know what I did? I quit feeling sorry for myself and sent an email around to everyone in the office asking for work and offered my help if needed.
I was proactive. No responses yet but at least now I know I've tried and won't feel so bad for doing excel training instead of starring blankly at my screen.
Day 10: Good people don't mind helping others, No matter how senior they are. Good people see beyond the title.
Day 11: Yesterday my manager told me how happy she was with me. I was surprised, she was confused, but my surprise reaction was because my last team told me everyday I was shit. That team was crucial and much needed for my personal development. Prior to joining banking I was soft, fluffy and naive. Vulnerable to some degree. People in banking are cold and for the most part don't give a shit about you - just what you produce. And I wasn't producing enough or to their standards, consistently. Nonetheless, the manager was unfit and a "bully boss". I moved on.
Anyway, today my overproductivity caused me NOT to really read the details of a request. So while the task is 1 month ahead of schedule because of me, I should have read what the task specifically asked for or required.
Moral of the story:
It's ok to go the extra mile but don't forget the actual miles you're supposed to drive through/to.
Pay attention to detail and what is being asked for or requested. Otherwise you come across as sloppy, careless and unreliable. All the things I don't want to be known for.
So in the words of my last manger "don't rush, take your time".
Day 12: Sometimes you just have to be quiet, observant and push through. Everything is a means to an end. Just make sure you know what your end is and that your means are headed towards it.
Whether you're in BO, MO or FO work gets boring or even draining. BUT allow your commitment to the wider picture help you to push through.
It's all you really have.
Day 13: Learn how to finish your work within the working week. It can be hard because some tasks are lengthy and tedious but falling into the habit of working during the weekend is unhealthy. Don't let the comfort of working from home encourage you to be lazy during working hours. Don't let your perfectionist nature fool you into thinking you are going to "perfect/master" the task at home.
Solution/Advice: Learn how to write reports more effectively (e.g. write your bullet points in full sentences). Learn how to create your financial models quicker by creating macros, learn how to extract your information quicker by having pre-set pivot tables and so forth.
Learn how to be efficient. You can do it, especially now you know what does not work.
Day 23: You still don't fell motivated about your new team because your proactive efforts have gone to waste. While you should be grateful you get paid a lot to do very little, I do acknowledge that your managers are not making an effort.
But who will invest in an analyst for just 3-4 months? Ideally a good one but maybe you don't fit their criteria. Maybe this job isn't for you. Maybe you're bullshitting and getting sidetracked because you have lost sight of your end goal. Never lose sight of your end goal.
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