Am I Cut Out for This MF Grind, or am I cooked?

Joined a MF, and I’m starting to wonder if I’m just not built for this. Even at the MD level, people are grinding through 1-3 week stretches on 2-5 hours of sleep a night. It’s normal to get emails from the head of our group at 2AM.

The toll is hard to ignore—most people look like they haven’t seen a gym in months, with permanent bags under their eyes. Honestly, it’s tough not to imagine some coping with stress in less-than-healthy ways, whether that’s overeating, drinking too much, or worse.

Maybe I’m just a huge fucking 🐱. Or maybe I’m not enough of a deal nerd or freak of nature to keep up with this. I need the gym. I need 🐱, and I need sleep.

Either way, I think my future in this industry is COOKED. Anyone else?

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lifestyle, security, pay - pick 2 of the 3:

Corp dev: lifestyle and security but lower pay

HF: pay and lifestyle but no security

PE: security and pay but lifestyle

you choose the 2 that matter most to you. 

 

Joined a smaller shop and my hours tend to be 9am-8pm with minimal weekend work (so far) but that comes with associated less comp/"prestige".

For what it is worth, a few friends were downright miserable for the first six months of their MF stint but then as they developed, it became easier. Don't think any particularly want to stay on that path but i think the first 6m for MF PE is brutal just by nature of new job / high demands. 

 
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Or maybe you're the only sane person in the room. Having the courage to not ignore these feelings makes you the opposite of a pussy. It's your gut warning you something isn't right at the moment. If you don't want to have your MD's life, and if you don't want to look like him then run because it doesn't get better from here if you continue down this path. Find what you really want to do with your life, or find what God wants you to do with your life if you're a God-fearing man. We have more freedom today than at any other time in history. We don't have to work on the farm, join the military, work at the only factory in town, or stay with the same company our entire lives to make a life for ourselves if we don't want to. You can find financial freedom and fulfillment in countless ways these days. Figure out what that means for you because no one is going to give af about your banking grind at your funeral, I've been to enough funerals to understand that.

 

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