If I reduce my 8 hours of sleep to 6 hours, how can I use this time in the best way? (In College)

As a first-year college student, I'm curious if sacrificing 1-2 hours of sleep to read finance, economics, and consulting books -outside of my curriculum- would benefit my future career in private equity - I will also get used to sleeping 6 hours. Previously, I have thought about studying for the CFA exam but it has no use in private equity so decided not to do that. I'm open to suggestions for improving my career prospects in private equity and expanding my knowledge in the financial industry. Do you think reading variety of books would be the best choice?

25 Comments
 

you should have been doing this in middle school like the rest of us, might be too late now

 

Prospect in PE - LBOs

As a first-year college student aiming for private equity, I'm curious if sacrificing 1-2 hours of sleep to read finance, economics, and consulting books - outside of my curriculum - would benefit my future career in private equity - I will also get used to sleeping 6 hours to prepare for private equity. Previously, I have thought about studying for the CFA exam but it has no use in private equity so decided not to do that. I'm open to suggestions for improving my career prospects in private equity and expanding my knowledge in the financial industry and especially in private equity. Do you think reading variety of books would be the best choice to prepare for private equity?

You didn't use enough times the term private equity, so I added some more.

incentives trumph ethics
 
Prospect in PE - LBOs

As a first-year college student, I'm curious if sacrificing 1-2 hours of sleep to read finance, economics, and consulting books -outside of my curriculum- would benefit my future career in private equity - I will also get used to sleeping 6 hours. Previously, I have thought about studying for the CFA exam but it has no use in private equity so decided not to do that. I'm open to suggestions for improving my career prospects in private equity and expanding my knowledge in the financial industry. Do you think reading variety of books would be the best choice?

Just focus on getting a perfect GPA and getting good internships.

"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
 
Most Helpful

Chill. Seriously. To get an IB/PE job you need:

1. Good grades

2. Networking

3. Involvement in clubs/extracurriculars (not just finance clubs)

4. Have done some interview prep (talking few weeks of technical studying, not 8 months)

5. Be a chill person and easy to get along with

Those books are not helpful in the slightest, and honestly being a hardo finance drone is the best way to get dinged. 6 hours of sleep is not sustainable and your personality, social life, even brain development will suffer for absolutely no reason.

Get yourself a WSJ student subscription and read it a few times a week to keep up with the markets. Join some clubs and get involved... find some hobbies and things to do for fun

Array
 

Frankly, you're better off trying to get that 8 hours of sleep as much as possible, especially while you're this young and still in school. The percentage of the population that can truly function at 100% on 8 hours rounded to a whole number is 0. Just try your best in class, form friendships with likewise professionally-minded folks where possible, and have fun. Health is wealth and I can speak from personal experience it's a bitch and a half to get back on the wagon if you choose to step off just to try and cram in more "professional" benefits. 

"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
 

I honestly don't remember if it was on JRE (could be, I think he's been on a couple of times) but the quote itself is from Andrew Huberman. The generally accepted threshold is ~7-8 hrs so..

"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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