How do you do it?

upod01For those of you that work 90+ hours a week in banking. How do you do it for a long period of time? What are your secrets to not burning yourself out internally?

Quick aside: 90's actually okay from my point of view. I think the wall between sustainable and insane is somewhere north of 100. That's where I personally started to feel the burn.

But in general, working the long hours in banking is all about expectations and frame of reference. Personally, I had to set up a mental wall between what was normal for other people and what's normal for me. For instance: All my friends are going to a wedding this weekend? Too bad. That's not me. Everyone's going to Thursday night poker? That's fine for them, not for me.

Beyond that, I slept when I could instead of going out drinking. I showed up every morning with the expectation that I'd be there for the next 24-36 hours. I made a couple of close friends on the floor (but not in my group; this is critical) that didn't drink the kool-aid and had a good sense of humor. And I started the job with a specific perspective of who I was and what I was doing it for, and I tried to keep that perspective throughout. This was not a total success, but it still helped.