stress

Recently there's been some threads about people having anxiety and them trying to cope with it. I'm sure the current climate definitely doesn't help. I also think that not having that many people to talk to on a consistent enough daily basis (in my case, have a shitty roommate that's thankfully moving out, the rent is so cheap that I won't need another one immediately) has made me have more existential thoughts and seriously affected my work performance. Here's some issues I've been thinking about lately: 1. **One of my parents was recently diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and is projected

07 Jul 2020

Have you guys ever saw someone go through massive personality change (for the worse) due to extremely toxic work environment or heavy stress from work, especially in finance? Is it a common occurrence? What would you do if you saw someone going through something like that? The person isn't the same person who he or she was a year ago and etc. Would you convince them to quit their job and look for another one or make them stick it out for the better if they are going to rotate to another desk a year later (which would mean another year of hell)? The economy isn't doing that well so recruiting

16 Jul 2020

What are some roles with a combination of: Lifestyle (9-5) Decent pay ($125K in high COL region) Relatively low stress (limited fire drills, limited risk or potential for major mistakes) Demand (not super niche, potential to work in a relatively wide range of industries and companies) For those of us with the work to live attitude, what's up?

17 Sep 2017

We all have those days where we're on the verge of exploding from either school or work stress. The concept of "me time" is slowly fading with busy schedules and lifestyles that pride constant work over relaxation. But, it's important to relieve stress from time to time before it becomes destructive. My favorite ways to relax are to read a book and go running. What are yours?

22 Apr 2017

Pretty much everyone from this industry is from at-least a cushy middle middle class background, hasn't faced any real adversity in their entire life but then they'll turn around and use jargon which hints at war or toughness in some sense. "This is a very stressful job, how will you handle...". Oh please, the biggest wimps I have ever known work in this industry... it's truly pathetic honestly. Give it a rest. Why are there so many delusional morons who think they're some fucking tough-as-nails hardy legends who fucking walk across the Sahara on a daily basis.

25 Nov 2017

I am sure everyone on this forum face numerous stressful situations at work/school on a daily/weekly basis. So how do you beat it? And how do you manage to overcome the stress and not let it affect your mood or take it out on your family/co-workers? Saw this article and thought it shared a couple of good tips on overcoming stress.

Don't over commit. Whether in your personal or professional life, learn your limits and set boundaries. Know when to say, "No!" Don't take on more than you can reasonably handle.

[quote] Stop stressing over little things. So much stress comes from

18 Oct 2016

I'm sure that to many of you, the title is a bit disconcerting, especially if you've just done a couple 100+ hour weeks. Sadly, according to data compiled from O*NET (Occupational Information Network), this appears to be the case, as shown in a list of the top 14 most stressful jobs in America. Now, in the interests of complete disclosure, the data from O*NET is fairly broad based and "Investment Banking Associate" is not an occupation found within the data. However, there's plenty of finance occupations, including, "Securities and Commodities Trader" which, is absolutely among the jobs found

06 Apr 2014

Mod Note (Andy): WSO readers qualify for a $100 discount to Jared's Daily Dirtnap daily market newsletter...just email [email protected] and mention "WSO Monkey Discount" You can follow Jared on twitter at @dailydirtnap Quick story from the associate training class, Lehman Brothers, 2001. The businesses would come in and give presentations to the MBAs. Some of them were good, some were bad, some were boring, some were funny. We got about 25 of them, and they all started to sound the same after a while. I don't know why this sticks out in my head, but one day we were hearing from the FX

21 Sep 2014

Frequent poster, posting under a new account given the personal nature of this post. Background, I am an incoming senior at a regional target. Like most of you, I am generally surrounded by the smartest, most competitive, and most driven students at my school. Going through recruiting last year was one of the most stressful times of my life. I prepped for probably almost a year, and worked extremely hard the last month or so. I ended up with over a dozen or so interviews, and received an offer at my top choice. I recruited regionally for the most part - and got a top bulge bracket in the coverage group I'm working in.

08 Sep 2013

Currently an analyst at a top sweatshop group (GS TMT/MS M&A/Lazard/MoCo LA), just finished my 9th week in a row of 95 -140 hour weeks. Having trouble dealing with the hours. It was a lot easier coping during my internship/fall because there was an end to the internship/fun events and in the fall there was Thanksgiving and Christmas. There is no end in sight right now, and I am having trouble thinking I can keep this pace up for the next 15 weeks til the interns get here. I keep telling myself the hours will ease up next year (second years have it better), but it is still a struggle. I find

05 Mar 2013

One of the things I hate most about banking is the high pressure / stress that gets put on the analysts from the rest of the team. I honestly think I could deal much better with external stress (ie: from markets), but I have a suspicion that hedge funds may even be more stressful than banking since a series of bad ideas would easily get you laid off. Can anyone working in the industry comment on their typical levels of stress and perhaps compare it to banking? Thank you.

30 Jan 2013

Another dreadful day, loads of requests flying in, the bosses going mad and people keep yelling around for no apparent reason (its still the end of the summer, there should not be this type of disruption yet). After getting some price issues sorted out and trying to understand one of the factset templates I just received from some associate my phone keeps ringing and I decide to apply a no answering policy for the next 10 minutes (not good if you work in this environment).

16 Aug 2012

Serious four questions please. Context: + Sometimes being with my girlfriend can take over an hour and it exhausts me. And when I sleep after that I'm really exhausted. I feel I have low energy on the morning after and sometimes feel weaker at the gym. + She's quite demanding sometimes. Sometimes 3 hours. + I have a small genetic predisposition (thalassaemia minor) but was awarded honours in the military so I have the capability to operate at normality. Bottom line of this is my blood has less oxygen per ML. + I love being with my girlfriend. + I also love building my career and staying in shape. I was extremely excited when I got my financial calculator and found the excel shortcuts. + Sometimes my relationship seems to soak up a lot of my time.

08 Dec 2010

We all know Michael Lewis as the author of best-selling books such as "Liar's Poker" and "The Big Short," books that helped us understand the workings of Wall Street and glean into the lives of traders and investment bankers. Knowing the stress of a job in finance all too well, Michael Lewis has again come to the rescue with tips on how to relieve anxiety and maintain that killer instinct to keep making millions. Forget transcendental meditation. Michael Lewis recommends sitting on a fat kid: [quote]Fat kids aren't as thick on the ground in Manhattan since the soda ban was proposed so you

26 Jun 2014

I finished my last article with the sentence "There are actually several ways to break out of operations" but before you break out you need to survive first. Believe me, the back office seems to be more relaxed than it actually is. Depending on what markets you cover it might happen that you work from 2pm to 1am from Monday to Wednesday and from 7am to let's say 5pm/6pm from Thursday to Friday. (I know still not i-banking hours) Monkeys on the early shift cover the Asian and European markets, whereas monkeys on the late shift cover the American markets. After doing this for a few weeks your

07 Oct 2012

I graduated from Carnegie Mellon. The workload was tough. I have heard that Chicago, CalTech, Cornell, and Cooper Union is tough as well. That leads me to wonder - do the top D-1 colleges (HYPS, Duke, etc) have high workloads? On one side of the argument, I was annoyed throughout college because I had I was spending weekend after weekend in the lab, while I knew people from "better schools" just dicking around, partying and pulling 3.8+ GPA's with seemingly no effort. Also there is the saying that "It's hard to get in, but once you're in, it's a cakewalk". In addition, many of these schools are D-1 schools, so you can't pile the workload too high or athletic performance will suffer. On the other side of the argument, you could make the case that the workload is harder than "lesser colleges", including mine, but these guys are all-stars anyway, so they could handle it. Also, there are books, such as "Running of the Bulls" which indicate that these colleges actually do have high workloads.

13 May 2010

..between banking and this: http://video.yahoo.com/network/101149635?v=824449… (sorry the videos a little long, but its worth sticking out to the end)

17 Sep 2010

How do you work those ungodly hours and pretend that they don't bother you? How do you keep a smile on your face in front of your MDs or do you just not smile? Isn't it difficult to contain the stress and lack of sleep from showing? Is it normal to dread Sunday nights?

30 Oct 2011

Financial meltdown? Pfft, here is something worse! They are...cold sores! Who else hates these damn things!? If someone has a remedy that can help speed the healing process, please do share.

08 Feb 2009

Just a little background. I graduated from college this past August, moved from the South to NYC in January, started working in VC, studying for Series 7,63,79. 23 years old. Working between 70-80 hours a week.

16 Apr 2014

Being a strong believer of data-driven wellness myself, I came across this story of a Banker and his journey on quantified health. He talks about how and why he measures his metabolic profile. Interesting read and learning for all of us. https://www.fitnescity.com/blog/for-bankers-who-w…

05 Oct 2018

Have any of you guys ever felt like just dropping the ball and not aim for top jobs but instead to settle for a random, normal job? I'm still a college student but I'm really starting to hate the competitive atmosphere of reaching ibank. I'm not even in a hard major atm and I'm constantly stressed about my grades because I feel like if I don't try my best then I'll regret it later in life. I think networking events are extremely awkward and even more awkward when the super competitive people walk in and start laughing at anything that comes out of the banker's mouth. I hate having to worry about obtaining the next level internship every summer/occasional semester. This all feels like a rat race, I can't ever relax because I always feel like someones out there trying to beat me.

12 Dec 2010

Found this interesting article at the crack of dawn. Oddly enough on my way to the gym. The premise is how our bodies atrophy without regular stress (exercise) when we age. How this can also be applied to our minds. And basically that stress can be good for you. How have you pushed yourself? Was it through a sport, a major in college, a job or something else? With some introspection did you grow from the experience? I know some of you guys want to go into IB and other intense fields. This article might be a good reference during those interviews on why you enjoy a demanding and stressful job

25 Apr 2012