Tips on getting work to effect me less emotionally?
First year analyst who admittedly is trying their best but still slipping up and making a LOT of mistakes.
Everytime I make mistakes, my whole day is ruined. I instantly feel like an idiot, like I don't belong, etc. Fellow analysts I talk to explain that they don't expect work to be perfect, that to just keep up the good attitude and effort, etc. They also said they struggled with the same issues as me and felt the same exact way but that they got really good with seperating work, from their thoughts / emotions.
Any advice?
Following
Same
It’s spelled “separating.” Pls fix thx.
You caught that but not "effecting"?
That's for the next iteration.
Keep telling yourself anyone still in banking past analyst prob couldn’t find tech, pe, corp exit opps and just image you are talking to a bunch of apes. Makes the 2 years a lot more fun
Just see it as a learning curve. Mistakes are part of developing.
The issue is if you keep on making the same mistakes over and over, shows no growth.
1. alot of banking is dumb people trying to make banking seem complicated. people also forget that others cant read their minds and don't know every detail about a topic. so don't be afraid to ask questions. it’s generally more likely that you’re missing a key piece of info than failing to understand some concept. if you can handle calculus, i promise you can unravel the mysteries of operating leverage
2. ask yourself whether stuff makes sense. bad analysts make their most idiotic errors when they lose sight of the basic message of a slide/analysis. don’t ever turn work without sanity checking it. try to anticipate others’ comments and address them ahead of time. use your brain from time to time.
3. print and check your work. You probably don’t do this because you take too long to finish stuff as it is. You can save time by never spinning your wheels. Don’t ever leave a meeting without knowing exactly what someone wants and how to do it.
4. toughen up. people your age have fought and died in wars. You can probably make sure the ebitda multiples on pages 6 and 10 tie. that said, if youre *really* rattled, consider doing something else. Ideally something you enjoy and dont suck at. Life is too short to be miserable
Weirdly passive aggressive comment… no wonder you’re still in banking
I was like this as a first year. Actually lateraled from a “low tier” bank to a BB and my imposter syndrome improved so much. Don’t worry about making mistakes, they are bound to happen and tbh your associates and VPs have probably made the same mistakes. I’ve sent the wrong versions, gotten called out by clients for mistakes on the page, etc. Try to find someone junior (second year analyst or associate) to take you under their wing and ask them what they are looking for when they check your work / their own work.
Some things that helped me make fewer mistakes
1. I print everything. I catch so many mistakes this way
2. Check every single comment with a highlighter. If the comments in pdf or written in an email - print them out. Until you improve, check every comment as you go, and then again when you’re reviewing your deck.
3. Any time someone directly edits your work in ppt, pdf it and compare it with the pdf of the version you did. Line the 2 decks up perfectly and Alt tab quickie between the 2 and see what jumps and then make a note of what was changed.
4. Create a checklist of things that you know your associates always checks and check those things first.
Also on PDF comments, in Adobe you can use the “Sign” feature or something to put checks on or next to comments in a markup. Next best thing if you are unable to print them out like if you are working from home.
An MD told me in my first year that the work we do really doesn't matter. If you make a mistake, what's the worst that happens? Your associate gets a bit annoyed or the MD sends a pls fix. We're not doctors or soldiers - nobody dies because of what we do or don't do. Take a step back and realise there is more to life than the footnote on p34.
This is what I keep reminding myself of whenever things go wrong, although of course it helps to have seniors who feel the same way.
Sadly MD’s mindset is their annual comp depends on the footnote on page 34 impressing the client so can’t mess it up.
The decent MDs know that their clients value their advice more than having every single footnote correct. It's the substandard MDs who hide behind the materials.
My advice is to throw ego aside. Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing that you care a lot about doing well in your work. However, sometimes you just need to accept that you will make mistakes. Failure leads to learning and you'll get the hang of things eventually.
Essentially, learn to eat shit and enjoy it.
I agree with a lot of the advice here - putting another perspective into the ring, you will screw up, but (A) be honest and transparent about it, (B) think about where you went wrong and what you could've done to prevent that (and even share it with the reviewer), but importantly (C) recognise that nobody else in your office really cares or thinks about it - people have short memories, and are usually spending much more time about what their girlfriend / boyfriend said or what they've having for dinner or whatever than whether you made a typo in a footnote.
Get a life outside of work. If the only thing you have going on is updating power points then your whole self worth is going to be tied to it, and not only will it affect you more, but it will also cause you to screw up more. Go get some fat girl that you wouldn’t care if she fell down a flight of stairs and screw her brains out. I always find the more I have going on in my life, the more confident I am, and the less likely I am to fall into some pattern of malaise and make mistakes.
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