Work life balance = highly overrated
A2A. 4 years in banking. Recently exited to the strategy team of a F500. Left very burnt out.
With 6 months behind me, I can confidently say WLB is very overrated. Unless you have children, there is not much to do on weekdays. I get off work at 5pm. Commute home by 6pm (no more Uber Black). Go to the gym until 7pm. Shower. Cook dinner (no more Seamless), eat dinner, cleanup until 9pm. Watch TV until 11pm.
It is not a fulfilling lifestyle. I am also at the age where friendships are now taking a backseat to romantic relationships. Unless you are in a serious relationship (and want more time with your partner)... have a higher calling (like a business idea or travel plans), just keep grinding. Your 20s are meant for grinding. If you are an analyst reading this, just stay in banking or PE.
TLDR: WLB is a overrated concept
Grass is always greener
I think everyone is on their on schedule regarding when to get off the roller coaster. Sounds like you miss it.
Gettin no girls huh
It’s a balance point as always. Would you rather be 29 and no time to date, go gym, see friends, have hobbies?
Perhaps you just don’t find your job very interesting
I agree balance is important. Towards the end, I had no problem squeezing in a 30 minute workout most days. I would go for runs at 6am. I trained for a marathon in banking.
I am not 29 yet, but when I am 29 I would rather be rich than slogging it along in some corporate job... hoping to climb up the ranks over the next 20 years. No! No! No!
I will say: my life is immeasurably less stressful now, and I do not have immediate plans to return back to banking. But I think about it often whether I made the right choice. Had I stayed another 2 years, 4 years, 6 years... I would have exited to a more senior position.
time is the currency of life and you don’t get your 20s back
You're not wrong... that's very true...
Spent my 20s watching netflix - shit was dope.
That is the dumbest take I have ever read. I also had a transition phase at my prior stint (MBB) where I basically was working corporate hours on internal stuff (i.e., 9-6 pm). My life completely changed during that period.
It was also during summer so whereas typically on projects weeks would just buzz by sitting in front of my laptop from 9 am to midnight while already feeling accomplished by hitting the gym once between mo-thu, I felt so alive, sharp and well rested again.
In a typical day I managed to go for a 10k run, read 1-2h (finished classics I always wanted to pick up again like "Crime and Punishment"), cook something really healthy and nice, walk with my significant other and our dog as well as watch a TV show together in the evening. Of course there was also variations, e.g., going out with friends for dinner on a regular Wednesday, etc.
During that time I also lost a good ~12 pounds and got shredded, with abs/veins peaking through every morning. My resting heart rate also decreased from ~55 to ~37 whereas my HRV went from low 80s up to 140.
I realized even though they are so highly paid, partners are just freaking slaves. They have zero freedom. None of them could go to a dinner with friends on a Wednesday because they sit in some shitty conference room or hotel room to serve clients.
TLDR: WLB is overrated if you don’t know what to do with your time when you’re not working for the man.
Working for the man in finance is easy. Your boss tells you what to do and when to do it (the answer is always yesterday btw). You always have an excuse for everything else in life if you need one. You just shut your brain off and do it. If you’re lucky and have some downtime, it’s easy to fill with whatever you’ve been meaning to do or just “wind down”.
Having WLB makes it impossible for you to make excuses. WLB means I have predictability and when I don’t build my own side hustle / educate myself / pick up more hobbies, it’s because of my lack of discipline and imagination.
Finance makes you think you’re doing big things and it’s you driving it, so we hate to think we’re not disciplined or creative. What few of us understand is that working under external pressure in a machine is not the discipline we think it is, and that we’re among the least creative people on the planet (which is why we buy art instead of creating it).
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