New on the desk and already depressed about the job

I’ve only been on the desk for a few months but am starting to get sad about the job. It’s not like I’m doing awful, but I’m not amazing and still make mistakes. I hate waking up early every morning. I can’t do fun things during the week and barely have time for my hobbies, which are things that make me me. Things are slow, but even working 70+ hours just feels like too much for me. It’s just hitting me like a ton of bricks that this is my life now and that I have to just be a clog in this machine we call IB. Maybe I just had it too easy growing up because I’m starting to question if I have the work ethic to wanna do this forever. Then again, I like the money and want to not have to worry about finances so maybe this is the price I have to pay.

Idk maybe it’s just a bit of a transition for me. Not used to being a fast paced and stressful environment and having virtually no free time during the day. I’m gonna keep a positive attitude, but it’s sad to think about how this is my life now.

 
Most Helpful

A few things to unpack:

Mistakes: overtime you can develop your own approach to minimizing these + you'll gain experience to know what to avoid

Time during the week: tough on, are your hobbies team dependent or individual? One positive is that you'll see ebbs and flows so maybe on some weeks you'll have more time + you'll gain experience as you get up the skill curve / manage up.

Cog in the IB Machine: since you're just starting out it's a tough one to see the bigger picture on, but if you take the time to ask your associates or VP about the bigger picture / objective at hand you'll likely find it more enjoyable / help put what you are doing into perspective which can minimize this feeling.

Time / money trade-off: if you work 40hs you likely may be cooking and cleaning up after yourself, and have other time trade-offs which make your effective working hours longer than just your job. Your role and hours will improve over time and you can use some of that money to save yourself time too (e.g. not having to go grocery shopping)

In short, it definitely gets better just by the virtue on "getting up the skill curve" so give it 1 year and see how it all unfolds.

 

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