Anon's tips to get crushed and survive

I was asked to compile a list of tips for incoming/current IB analysts that are unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I remember looking for something like this when I started, and most of the existing tips&tricks were either too long, not applicable or too rote/cliche. Hope this helps:

1. Keep perspective.

No career out of undergrad makes as much money on a nominal basis other than tech, and finance outscales tech pretty quickly. Most other careers take much more school, or are actually intelligence-gating (robotics, engineering, etc). You're getting paid ~$200K to shut up, take call notes, re-align logos, copy and paste from already made templates and link stuff in Excel. There are undoubtedly millions of 21/22 kids in Eastern Europe, Africa, South Korea, etc that would genuinely lose a limb to get the opportunity you have in front of you. 

2. Understand that adversity breeds success.

Hardship is necessary to grow. If IB breaks you then that's fine and you shouldn't feel any lesser, but just know that it doesn't break some, and those in the latter category are the ones that will have +/-2 standard deviation outcomes 5-10 years down the road. 

3. Quickly learn to separate your identity from your accomplishments.

There is a Christian proverb that translates somewhat to "there is a difference between who you are and what you are. You are a human being, but you would not walk up to a crowd and introduce yourself as a human being - that, of course, is already understood." Analogously, you are an investment banking analyst, but the more you feel the need to express this in contexts outside of work, the more toxic your job has permeated in your life. If you've traditionally feel the need to be validated with grades and compliments, you will gain 40 pounds and/or be the first one out of the door in the next 12 months, deeply unhappy. De-couple now or do it later anyway and by then, with a completely warped shape (physically and mentally).

4. Invest in sleep.

Whether that's dry cleaning pickup & delivery, dropping bands on the perfect mattress and pillow, buying the Calm/Headspace app, getting a space warmer, buying sleeping pills, cutting down on late-caffeine - you need to figure it out and you need to figure it out fast. Sleep is king. It is a luxury and a premium. Do not be the idiot that goes out every weekend when they're free because your body needs to heal from sleep deprivation first, not from the alcohol you just consumed. Every extra hour you can squeeze out when it's easy/medium translates to enduring an extra week when it's tough. I only recently started feeling like I did before my 1st year of banking. It took a lot of time to unwind that damage.

5. Take the small wins.

There is a show where the protagonist is so extremely outclassed by the villain he's fighting that he discards going for the win, and instead settles for landing just one hit. When he manages to get one hit, his next goal is going for 2, then 4, etc. He ultimately loses and almost dies, but he grows tremendously from the fight. Frankly, this is the true average day of an IB analyst. The more time and effort goes into completing a task, the more you are memorializing its nature in your head. You will find that this has a significant snowball effect on doing the same thing, or something similar, significantly faster the next time. And many of the things you do in IB are highly replicable / repeatable. Do not let yourself get crushed by foreboding thoughts of "CIM+model, sending DD tracker, updating VDR, updating comps for pitch" - narrow your scope to one day at a time, and then three-four hour quadrants at a time.

The goal is not to make everyone love you. Nor is it to be the best analyst the bank has ever seen. It is to survive.