How to handle stress?

Start jacking off and aim to increase your #.

Wim Hoff videos. Check his website and do his breathing exercises

Nicotine.

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Stay organized, make an Excel spreadsheet of your networking and a schedule or list of your technical to dos. Have small goals each week (say 2 networking phone calls, understand the 3 accounting statements well and be able to construct them). Schedule your recruiting-related work onto specific days (excluding networking calls) so you're not constantly worrying. Write down your progress/success each week or check off your goals: give yourself evidence of your efforts.

Also, 95% of the technicals you'll be asked can be learned about in a week or two. Deeper understanding is a great idea but don't drown trying to read every book recommended here if you're already stressed. If you can get through the M&I 400 PDF you'll be fine in most interviews.

Super helpful, I'm definitely glad you said this. I try to stay as organized as possible and making small goals, as you said, when it comes to networking/technicals has been a huge help. I guess I'm most stressed about just landing the interviews for the time being. Any insight on things like referrals? I thankfully have a decent amount of contacts at most firms, but can only get 3-4 Analyst/Associate referrals max

If you're this stressed about landing interviews maybe you should reconsider why you want to go into a highly stressful profession in the first place?

Honestly, I would say that the best thing you can do is carve out a block of time during the day where you turn everything off, stop focusing on the world around you and do something that you enjoy doing. This way, you can relax and focus on doing something to take your mind off of everything going on. The other thing I recommend is to start hitting the gym daily.

The one thing that I recommend is to hit the gym daily. Seriously, you can find a ton of articles on the subject. Whether you choose to lift, run, do yoga, or something else, being active is a fantastic way to help manage stress and get into a routine that will help you out during your working career. It makes it easier to handle tough situations. It allows you to focus on what you're doing without thinking about the world around you. Whether it's working on a yoga pose or focusing on deadlifting 405lbs, all of your attention is directed to what you're doing and not what's on your mind. It forces you to concentrate on the here and now and, for me at least, creates a sense of clarity. Plus, it gets you into good habits, particularly when you're working in a tough job and need to find a zen place to reset yourself.

To add to what others have said.. (1) meditate for 3-5 minutes twice per day. It sounds weird at first.. but once you try it, it is very empowering and helps the world around you slow down a bit.. can't recommend this enough for anyone who hasn't tried this before. (2) join a gym, or just go to your university's, and learn to lift. Start with a push (chest/tricep), pull (back/bicep), legs (quad/Ham/glute/calve) routine. Once you get the basics down, start setting small and achievable goals. The smaller the goal the better IMO. Achieving the goals over time will remind you that you're constantly progressing. Use the following link for reference to workouts, do 3-5 exercises per muscle group, with 3-5 sets per exercise in the 8-12 rep range and you'll be good to go. https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises

Honestly, going to the gym helps a lot more than you'd think. Even if its 30-45 mins 5 days a week, you'll find it will start to help! I also used to make checklists on a piece of paper for everything I had going on each day. Crossing something off of a list can be very satisfying.

Big thing that helped me out: focus on separating the things you are stressed/worried about into 2 buckets - things you have control over and things you don’t have control over.

For example, worrying about an upcoming midterm would be something you have control over, and the control is regarding your preparation. On another hand, worrying about the results of a test or an interview is pointless - it is out of your hands at that point.

Somewhat simplistic but it really helped me because I often found the most stressful things in my life were out of my control. If that’s the case, then worrying gets me nowhere. For other stressful things that, I could control, I gained relief by actively doing things to affect the situation.

exercise, sex, sleep, doing things in moderation, listening to music, reading, talking with friends and family

PNG - Pray, Network, Gym and Repeat

Get your cortisol levels tested and if they are chronically elevated add mackeral to your diet. 100g a day or checkout ps100. You may already be burnt out to the point where your cortisol is too low, so get tested.

This wont reduce stress but help reduce the negative sides of high cortisol.

I second the comment about the gym. I would try to get some cardio going. I swim and that helps me a ton. Also realizing that it is all okay if you don’t quit. Surprisingly, listening to talks/ podcasts of people I admire helps a lot. I realize most of them aren’t the golden people chosen for a higher path. Many of them weren’t quite on path and took wrong turns. By and large, very few top level people took a very linear and clear path. Many made counterintuitive decisions much to the disdain of those around them. Meaning if you do something wrong and don’t go to BX/ KKR within 3 years, your life isn’t over.