Go to Energy Drink?

Most people who work in finance work long hours and often rely on energy stimulants to keep them awake and focused.

Do you lean coffee or tea? Or are you an energy drink kind of guy? Would love to see what is the preferred energy stimulant of WSO.

 
Best Response

Tier 1: Pressed coffee or sugar-free Redbull Tier 2: Rockstar Pure Zero (that shit wires you) Tier 3: Railing addy or vyvanse (half joking) For some reason caffeine pills don't do the trick for me.

 

Redbull. Gives me wings.

I also just drink lots of tea to keep myself hydrated and eat small snacks constantly, because half the time my lethargy stems from being thirsty and/or hungry.

Currently: future neurologist, current psychotherapist Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
 

I've struggled to find drinks with guarana extract in New York. Guarana is much better than caffeine + sugar. There's one iced tea brand that has it, plus a few herbal energy drinks eg Runa.

Those who can, do. Those who can't, post threads about how to do it on WSO.
 

I have a secret energy drink I use. Its very uncommon and I buy it online but a colleague several years ago showed it to me and its by far the best thing I've ever used. You mix with water which I really like.

Power Edge https://www.discountcoffee.com/wild-berry-power-edge-energy-drink-mix.h…

"If you want to succeed in this life, you need to understand that duty comes before rights and that responsibility precedes opportunity."
 

1-2 cups of coffee in the morning, then water the rest of the day. Sometimes I'll throw some tea into the mix, but caffeine free. I try to limit my caffeine to my coffee in the morning so it actually gets me awake.

 

Caffeine pills, I don't need diabetes (energy drinks) or to waste my money on coffee (tastes like crap, makes your breath smell like it). Much more efficient. Drinking a ton of water throughout the day makes a huge difference. If you really make an effort to consistently go to the water cooler and refill your bottle each time it runs out and do this throughout the whole day you'll feel so much better. This, combined with regular exercise, makes me generally only need a caffeine pill once every 2 weeks or so (or when I have a headache).

 

I think Red Bull tastes like crap, so I've tried nearly every other brand trying to find a replacement. Unfortunately, nothing quite does the trick like Red Bull.

  • Capt K
- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

2 words: yerba mate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate). From South America, this is the strongest (legal) stimulant I've ever had.

Red Bull et al don't even come close.

You can buy a watered down version of yerba at Whole Foods / Trader Joe's and a few other stores but I recommend importing the loose-leaf version - it's STRONG.

Basically you get all the positive effects of coffee without caffeine or anything negative.

 
dosk17:
2 words: yerba mate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate). From South America, this is the strongest (legal) stimulant I've ever had.

Dosk, care to share a good place to get the real stuff online?

  • Capt K
- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

does anyone else have a hard time drinking a standard red bull and not getting the hint of vodka on the back of your tongue? i can't separate the 2....

I'm personally a fan of black tea

 

I'm partial to coffee, served black, no milk and sugar, but then again, I can only have one cup between wake-up and 9 am or it throws my balance off for the rest of the day. That being said, when it comes to energy drinks, I'm partial to Monster Lo-Carb, Suger Free Red Bull, Amp and, for when I'm going through a major gaming session, Bawls is a good choice. Most of the other stuff just tastes awful.

 

there is an e-book called "How to Sleep Less and Have More Energy Than You've Ever Had Before"

its a short read but has a lot of interesting information about how sleep works and how its possibly to survive on as little as 4 hours of sleep a night. it emphasizes the importance of "quality" sleep over a high "quantity" of sleep. it talks about how bad caffeine is for your sleep cycle and how the best thing is to drink enough water, exercise even if just for 15 min a day, get enough sunlight which can be emulated by a "lightbook" that can sit on your desk (apparently high-energy light or whatever its called is a big part of what determines how good your sleep is).

probably sounds like a bunch of crock to some of you, and personally i still love coffee/red bull and refuse to kick the habit, but its still a good read that helps you understand sleep a lot better. feel free to PM me with your email address if you want me to send the PDF along. it is also available all over BitTorrent search engines

 

Pedigreed Monkey,

While I haven't read the book, I certainly agree with the concept, in particular the drink enough water suggestion. I drink more than half a gallon of water per day in the office, and I never drink any coffee and only touch a redbull after an allnighter. While it means more trips to the restroom, it certainly keeps me feeling mentally alert and energetic. Back when I had more time to exercise, I felt great all day even on less sleep. I can't speak to how much sunlight helps, but there could possibly be some merits there.

I actually bought a book on sleep last night and am looking forward to reading it. I think taking the steps to make your body comfortable can definitely improve your ability to work in this type of environment.

~~~~~~~~~~~ CompBanker

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

Umm.... Adderall. Concerta. Dexcedrine.

If you're not into meds, "5 hour energy" shots work really well. I sleep like 10-15 hours a week and those 4 have me covered.

‎"Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns or dollars."
 

I don't need it to stay up past, I just need it to give me a little boost so I can get the shit done that I have to get done. Staying up all night is the easy part, making it through the day... that's another story.

 

I think I've said this before, but it beats red bull, coffee, and espresso, especially if you're not used to it. Not sure about cocaine, but at least yerba mate is cheaper.

Try to get the looseleaf variety if you can as it's a lot stronger... if you can't find that, sometimes Trader Joe's (depending on the location) has the tea bag version. That's ok but I think the loose leaf one is way better / stronger.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate

 

Just saw this in a grocery store by the check-out the other day. You spray it up your nose and one squirt is supposed to be good for four hours I think. Never tried it, but I'm sure taking 4-5 doses at one time would get you through anything. Eventually someone is going to develop something where no one ever sleeps and we'll all go mad.

 

Well, there are varying shades of legality and long term effectiveness. Dosk's suggestion of Yerba Mate is probably your best bet for an effective, sustained stimulant. You could also look in to caffeine pills for shorter bursts (though those do nothing for me), or consider adderrall if you're finding your productivity lagging. Honestly though, a glass of cold water can be 10x as effective as coffee at times

 

Adderall + coffee. I swear to god if the coffee guy downstairs started crushing up 10mg into each cup, he'd put everyone else out of business. The come-down from a caffeine pill is too hard, and you look like a tool drinking an energy drink. Stick to the good shit-- coffee to get you up, and an amphetamine salt to keep you going. Enjoy.

 

adderall is legit when you really need to pound through work at 4am (esp when you're a SA trying not to fuck up again)...i used this a few times over the summer.

there are newer ones out that are a bit stronger like metadate cd and vys....but really try to use sparingly and in the smallest dosage possible. i started using this stuff way back in early high school but did a good job of only using it when i really needed it (finals, etc), but i have seen too many of my friends start off with 20mg being enough, to them needing 70mg every few hours. no way this stuff can be good for you in the long term, so use sparingly and in small doses, or not at all if you don't need it

 

One of the best ways to maximize the effect of stimulants is to use them sparingly. I've cut out my caffeine intake. At first I thought it was impossible to go without morning coffee (I was like a zombie well into the afternoon), just replace it with something else. I drink a protein shake or OJ instead, don't feel any different.

When I've had a brutal night and need to be at top efficiency in the AM, or when its 5 PM and I have to knock out a shit ton of work before morning, I'll use stimulants. And then its like rocket fuel. I take 1 normal sized can of redbull and crush up anywhere from 5 to 10mg of adderall, and mix it in with the redbull. Sometimes Ill just chew the adderall and drink the redbull after. I typically kick some major ass for the next couple of hours. As a result of dubbed this concoction "bonus juice" and rightfully so.

 

you can do it with whatever, i'll crush up a 20 or 30mg XR (the beads inside), and just lick the tip of my finger and dip it once/twice in the power, down it with some water, and I'm good for a few hours. combine with a redbull if you really need to power through, but usually i don't need that (that and a redbull would start to make my heart pound uncomfortably)

i'm not doctor, so i don't know how it reacts w/ carbonated stuff, but really use the smallest possible amount. so if you feel it with just water, don't take coffee/redbull....limit this stuff bc you will thank yourself later when they find out that these stimulants give you leporacy or something

i had a friend nearly overdose on adderall, spent a rough night in the hospital drinking charcoal or whatever they give you (granted this was when we were pretty young/stupid)....moral, don't take more then you need

 

I know some people who have a rotation between: caffeine, cocaine, weight loss pills and adderall/focalin. They use caffeine for 3 weeks, cocaine 2-3 times a week for 3 weeks, 3 weeks of weight loss pills, and then adderall 2 times a week for 2 weeks.

Personally, I like sipping on nitric oxide throughout the day to keep me going on 3-4hrs.

 

you'll probably have an analyst who is on prescription for addy or something similar, just buy or bum them from him

one of the interns last summer had a script, and one of the 2nd yrs was going crazy for them, taking like 90mg a night....nuts

 

I like 'V' (bui) a Japanese vitamin energy drink, one of the 1990s progenitors of modern day energy drinks. This video below is a hilarious, crazed commercial for 'V' starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

From people's experience in IB, what percentage of people use a kind of stimulant (excluding coffee, so cocaine, amphetamines, crazy energy drinks, caffeine pills, adderall etc.)?

 

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"... then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it."
 

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