8/10 across the board or 10/10 at one thing

I've heard an increasing sentiment that for personal growth a guy should aim to be 7-8/10 across the board versus 10/10 at just a couple of elements in their life to maximize your own potential. Banking is hard work but when I see guys at 50 bald and fat making 7 figures it's not very inspiring. Same thing with broke dudes who just work out all the time and are super swole. Being fit/in shape, cultured, pretty successful in your career, well dressed, well spoken, and having some form of creativity/activity (sports, music, travel, any passion), etc. seems to be the way to go. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. 

I know the IB mentality is grind grind grind and in your early 20's that fine but doing that forever to me honestly seems like a waste of a lot of potential 

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I think it ultimately comes down to your philosophy in life and what you're willing to sacrafice. For instance, if you want to be 8/10 across the board, you'd be locking yourself out of IB, PE, and HF (maybe a few other high-stress or high-work areas) and all of the potential financial wellbeing that it brings. I know this is more of an older view from back when I had a rosey tint, but I always thought consultants to be 8/10 across the board in how they prioritized their wellbeing working closer to 50 hours as compared to high finance careers where the average leans towards 70 hours. But even that comes with strings attached - get placed on a PE DD or have to travel far out to nowhere, and those fewer hours may not be as enticing as some may thought. 

Really, where you choose to focus your time, whether it be your career, education, hobbies, personal life/scoial life, and spiritual/religious involvement is NEVER consistent. For those in early years of IB, it's 90% work, 10% other. For those who've settled down, it's 50% personal/social, 20% hobbies, 25% work, 5% other. So on and so forth. And let's not forget how we upend our lives for CFA Studies, Master's programs or our lives get upended for us through layoffs, sickness/passing of relatives. 

An old piece of advice a mentor had told me like seven years ago that I've echoed even on this forum several times, "get out a piece of paper and a pencil. Write out where you see yourself in a years' time. Be specific: what time would you wake up, what would you be doing? What kind of morning ritual would you have? Would you be getting home to cook up dinner or just drop off your bag before heading to kickboxing class? Would you read before bed? What would your ideal, realistic lifestyle look like exactly one year from now?"

The purpose of this exercise was for us to understand what nonstarters would be for those that envisioned evenings for hobbies or social life, the unpredictability of IB would make it hard to routinely indulge in fitness classes or some creative hobby. For those that saw themselves settling down (or at least meeting someone serious) in a years' time, then the travelling or consulting (or sales oriented roles) were non-starters.

I, then, smugly, asked: "what if in a years' time, that vision isn't anything like where we go?"

He replied, "Then, here's waht you do. You get out a piece of paper..."

 

This is like the triathlon joke. Bad at 3 things, or good at one thing? 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
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Ernie the Cowboy

Zuck tried the 10/10 thing for a while and everyone hated him. Then he started hitting the gym and doing BJJ in his free time and within the year he’s become somewhat likable….better to be well rounded

Zuck looks like a divorced lesbian. He is not suddenly likable because he has a 12 year old’s haircut and wears zoomer jewelry. He is still the strange lizard in a skin suit he’s always been. 

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

nah that dude has always been cringe. went from dressing in walmart-looking clothes to looking like an alien and now a wannabe rapper with horrible tan lines. if he showed a bit of personality, it'd be good but he is only able to talk about meta.

 

A lot more .01% outcome careers have been built off being great at 1 thing vs good at many.

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

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"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee

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