the ascent

Let there be light!

And WSO was created.

Avoiding thanking wso and the monkeys profusely, I'm going to tell my story.

*

I landed in finance by mistake, fell in love with a girl, rose to the top, came crashing down, got the girl, worked like hell and rose to the top for her again..and then she fell for another guy.

First heartbreak. Took 10 years to get over her (I can hear ppl chanting "loser" but I was 15 and..she was special). This was just the beginning..and it all ended yesterday.

Back to 10 years ago..

I slogged to go to the same school where she studied. After a year of painstaking effort, i got through. Sadly, it was 3 years of heartbreak..watching her with that guy every single day..and not being able to stop loving her.

I lost track of everything.

As you monkeys know, losing track of everything else has its cost: i failed a year in my undergrad, resolved to repeat the course..worked my ass off to forget her but meanwhile was ostracized for being a failure by my classmates.
It was hell all over again. Familiar territory.
That's when I came to know how hard ppl can sometimes work when facing adversity. I did just that. End of the course, i got placed in a bb..after clearing a 5 stage selection process.

Work became my life. 14 hours in the office were normal.

And now the real dirt of it all. I got placed in a back office role doing operations for the bank. I'm still doing it.

And now the sweet part: I'm going to continue climbing out of the hell that my life is (the only person responsible for my being in hell, as you now know, is me).

7 months back, after a lot of networking, I had been interviewed for an ib analyst role in the bb I work for (mobility). As you would guess, I failed miserably. the 14 hr workdays hit me hard.

Come friday (12/20/2013): heard they'll consider me for an interview again. And all I know is, i ain't going down anymore!

I'm going to forget everything, do what it takes..and change my life.

In the last 7 months, the amount of time I spent on wso went up like crazy. And so did the amount of inspiration, advice and guidance I got from ppl here. Just by reading posts.

I'm determined to get that job, and soon I'll have experience so I will start giving back to wso.
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In forgetting her, I so immersed myself in finance and work, that it had a profound effect on me. It changed my values. I believe competence is the only thing that matters. Not emotion. your effort is what stays with you. And your capacity to change the world is directly related to your level of competence and the amount of effort you put in.

With that, I'm going to sign off. If this post inspires a single person, I'll consider it to be a success. Anything's possible. Dream on, monkeys!