Best purchases you've made to improve quality of life in IB

I'm an incoming IB analyst at a BB this year and recently spoke with a current analyst who said buying a weighted blanket was probably the best purchase he has ever made, that it helped him sleep a lot better. Also said buying blue light glasses and a neck massager significantly improved his day to day life. So I thought it was worth asking here to see if there are any other items any of you might've bought that you feel improved your everyday health/sleep/day to day/quality of life in general. 

 
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With wfh I think you’ll want a nice work setup as well. But I would recommend:

1) a nice mattress. Get whatever it is that is comfortable for you, sleep is important

2) gym membership (questionable with wfh) - but I would pay up for this. Go to a place that you feel comfortable at, with nice equipment, not crowded, classes if you enjoy those

3) work setup - great chair, monitors, keyboard (mechanical if you like that), standup desk (if you like working standing up)

4) massager - I have a back and a leg massager as well. With wfh I find this nice to be able to use while working. 
5) coffee setup (again for wfh) - but if you don’t drink coffee get whatever you enjoy that is easy to make/get. I have a coffee maker in my home office so I don’t have to go too far to get some. 

I’m sure I’m missing many other things but those are off the top of my head. 

 

Some of the below are WFH-specific, other are more general, will put WFH at the beginning of the ones that are WFH-specific.

- blue light glasses

- WFH: an apartment with a washer/dryer (Its great when you can throw a load of laundry in when you have a 5 minute lull)

- WFH: ergonomic office chair

-  WFH: 2 big monitors

- WFH: a printer

- Cleaning Lady a few times a month to clean the apartment. One last thing I have to worry about

- Theragun / massager

- golf balls: not really a big purchase, but along the lines of the massager, I find that rolling my feet out on golf balls relives pain in the feet, all the way up the posterior chain to the lower back--all of which is in pain due to sitting all day

- a good laptop: This is important for WFH as well as in general. If you ever want to be able to leave NYC on a weekend without worrying about work, I recommend bringing a laptop with you. The risk of becoming one of those "pls fix" memes where the guy is in the hot tub or on the ski lift with a lap top is so worth the ability to take trips like that. While this was always true for weekends, with WFH enabling work from anywhere with wifi, this becomes especially important.

 

Agree with all, especially the theragun massager. It's not a lifesaver, but definitely helps for sure.

Also added to this, a good speaker. I'd like to keep it on the other side of the room with musi playing on all the time except when I'm on call. Reduces the loneliness of wfh by more than you can imagine tbh

Array
 

Buy a good pair of headphones. I have the Airpods Max and Sony MX4 over the ear headphones for music and both are great. Airpods Pro and classic Airpods for calls. Utility aside, the amount of happiness music brings me is 100% worth it and the best ROI out of anything I spend my money on. 

 

For office use:

- Airpods. No brainer - very versatile

- A nice keyboard. Please spend the $50-100 to get a Black Widow or something. Heaven forbid doing 80 hours a week on a laptop keyboard

- Two screens minimum

For health:

I'm big into self-therapy and massaging. Theragun is cool but expensive.

Some cheap and easy stuff:

- Foam Roller. Absolute must. Get a cheap one on Amazon for under $20, use it everyday. Will save you so much pain in long run. Work your way up to PVC pipe

- McKenzie Lumbar for your chair. Under $20 and your lower back won't have issues long-run

- Lacrosse Ball / what people in fitness call a peanut. Great for rolling out for a myofascia release (

) that can't be done with a foam roller. Can also do your hip flexors with this. Necessary when you sit down all day

And as a routine, try to do DeFranco's Limber 11 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSSDLDhbacc&ab_channel=joedefranco) at least once a week. Your body is the thing that gets damaged the most from WFH - improving your posterior chain and thoracic spine will mitigate most of this damage

 

The only silver lining of WFH right now is playing Warzone with friends from college. It's funny knowing that our banks could be competing for mandates while we're getting absolutely rocked by 13 year olds during downtime.

 

The light-based alarm is a game changer and works way better than you think it would, even when you're in a heavy sleep. Zero grogginess. I set a bat alarm on the iPhone just in case and my Philips light alarm has a loud alarm built in to prevent oversleeping as well.

 

For WFH, I'd add really comfortable and presentable athleisure.  Get something comfy but presentable if you have to run a quick mid-day errand for whatever reason.  Going from rolling out of bed in my old gym shorts and 8 year old fraternity rush shirt with holes in it to throwing on a breathable t-shirt, nice pair of joggers and maybe an under armor quarter zip just did wonders for me.

"That was basically college for me, just ya know, fuckin' tourin' with Widespread Panic over the USA."
 

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