Hi guys:
I'd really appreciate your though on the following please - how can I make myself work faster? (beyond getting more reps).
I generally do ok/good quality work in normal time frame, but in a live process where there's a lot of work, I feel like my mind works less well (maybe I'm tired, maybe I'm overwhelmed, etc.)
How can I improve on that please? Should I think about the work differently when there is a lot of work to be done in a short time span? Any hacks/tips please?
Thanks!
This is a really good question and I also am curious. I find when more hours are required and I get less than 8 hours of sleep, my mind starts to melt and I get less work done, get moody, etc. Concentration and emotional regulation are so hard to lose.
bump
Use a key for that bump and you have your answer.
Delete and delegate as many tasks as possible
cocaine and caffeine
You have to cut toxic people out of your life, see through the bullshit, and focus on what really matters. Or you can drink 3D energy drinks, they pretty good.
Focus on automation; wherever possible. I have heard a ton of people who have gamed the IB process, talk about VBA and Macros for taking care of a lot of grunt work. The principle here is - automate as much of your job as you can, and the parts you are left with - be awesome at getting them done.
Plus, ask more people about their processes. You are doing it here; but try to bring it up over the next coffee chat with someone from your industry or even your boss if he/she is someone you can talk to. You don't have to reinvent the wheel everytime; if you are working at a big shop, there's a high chance someone would've already done it for you, before you.
On a more psychological front, focus on the areas where you can have a genuine value-add. This is more common sense than a hack; but if you are unqiuely good at one part of your job and your firm cares about it, you might be able to convince your firm to make someone esle take care of the clerical work.
What can you automate in VBA in IB?
They made a song addressing exactly this:
A lot is also reps, if you’ve done it ten times or something very similar ten times, it’s likely going to naturally take you less time.
When I was a lawyer, first couple times I did fund documents, it probably took me close to 2-3 times it did once I finally got the hang of it.
Coming from a position of absolutely hating being in the office longer than I need to, my hacks are:
Even when you have multiple things you have to do at the same time, certain work streams are on a shorter fuse then others. Getting organized on the front end will help you slow things down and be more focused as you work through your to-dos.
Similarly, it is critical that you address the bottlenecks on the front-end. Have a PDF which needs to be converted? Send to Graphics - by the time you finish your work, they'll come back to the few pieces they were responsible for. Send books to print the night before a meeting, if there are small changes you can have production do page swaps instead of jamming to get everything printed at once.
Don't think twice about leveraging every available resource. I don't remember the last time I've made a presentation/model completely from scratch. If you're at BB, your drive is stocked with thousands of precedents that you can re-purpose for anything you're doing. Delegate to graphics, have FactSet put together sheets for you, etc.
This is by far maybe the most critical on the back-end and the hardest to master. Understand how your team works. Are they lean and work moves quickly? Are there 5+ people on the deal team and everyone opines on materials at the same time with conflicting comments? Understand these pieces, and calibrate your pace/work quality accordingly - some of your deal team members will care about the particulars (e.g. formatting nits, Excel logic) but for the most part, as long as you got the bulk of what needs to get done finished, you will likely be able to push work streams along more quickly.
Just some thoughts off the cuff - feel free to PM if you want to chat more.
What do you mean by having FactSet put together sheets?
Divide stuff into Do, Delay, Delegate, Delete. Worked wonders for me
Don't spin your wheels. Leverage people and things that are appropriate to leverage
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