Burnt out analyst, not sure what to do
I’ve just finished my first year as an analyst at a top BB (GS/MS/JP) and am really lost on what to do next.
I know for sure that Investment Banking is not for me. I won’t hate on banking - it’s a great career for a very certain few, and I’m not one of them.
I’m extremely burnt out. My mental health is at the end of its rope and I don’t think I can survive another year. The issue is, I have no idea what I want to do next.
I’m not interested in buyside, but aside from that I’m not sure how to figure out what I want to do.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
You will always and ever find many (!) more worse off. Fact by birth for the likes of reading and posting here... Pushed to max (just to illustrate where this attitude goes in extremes): You have electricity and internet access, many ppl don’t, hence appreciate your situation and be more happy! ...C’mon, sounds too strange, right?
Trying to feel better again in making your own self just more aware that others inside or outside your work environment are (way) worse off is actually a pretty sick attitude, don’t you think? It‘s sth like accept your own unhappiness by relativising it with a greater population of unhappy/unlucky ppl for comparison - „I am happier and more grateful now, because I just realised many more others (than I thought before) are even way more unhappy...“ - This should actually make you even more unhappy than happy, don’t you think?
No offence, I still hope I know where you come from (for good reasons and motivation). Still your argument itself is very sick if you think closely about it...
Such view can get very toxic once it even manages to talk people into believing sth which they actually don’t feel or experience at all...
Humility for sure is a very good thing, however, to push for an additional degree of humility when you are about to get mental or physical burn out? Wrong approach, pretty sick, and just insane...
I worked way more hours in banking and never burnt out. It’s absolutely not about the hours. I viewed it as a stepping stone for the ultimate goal of moving to the buyside. My perspective was it was a 2 year thing and that’s it.
There has to be a purpose to the work that you do. Otherwise, you feel miserable doing the work because you think there is no point to all of it. That’s when you start burning out.
I viewed the buyside as the promise land in banking. Worked my tail off during my first two years to get a job at a multi manager hedge fund. I burned out after just one year working there, and that was despite working less on average than I did in banking.
Burnout is completely about your perspective and purpose. I didn’t see the point in betting on stocks over the short term at the multimanager. My perspective changed and I quickly burnt out after I realized I absolutely did not want to do this longer term.
Look up the Japanese concept of Ikigai. It helped me. About me... Engineering undergrad —-> F30 —-> Venture backed Start up —-> Failed —-> burnout —- > MBA ——> Figured myself out (or thought I did) ——> PE / Pension Fund ——> Hated it ——> More soul searching ——> F500 Corporate VC —-> Couldn’t be happier. Meets all the criteria of what I define success to be.
A lot of times in life, you have to eliminate options by trying them before you land on what you should do for a living.
Don’t fall into the IB or nothing hype prevalent on WSO. It’s a echo chamber of mostly monkeys who aren’t even in college. Very few folks on here have gone through a complete career switch or explored beyond the realm of finance.
A better bet is to reach out to career switchers who started in IB, similar to yourself. Reach out and understand their journey, their thought process.
Enjoy the journey. Don’t be the monkey who reaches the top of the tree only to realize it’s the wrong tree.
This is probably one of the best comments I have read in a while. The final sentence is just so true.
OP - hang in there. 1-2 weeks off will help a little with time for you to get some sleep and just relax and begin the reflection process. My personal recommendation (if this is realistic) would be to go to a place where you don't know anyone and literally turn your phone off. Feel free to send your parents/family/close friends an email/text with the name of the place you are staying and its number. If they really need to, they can call you (you may be surprised how few people will call). Wherever you are, explore, hang out, nap, do whatever it is you want.
The final thing I will say is that very few people have life (or even just their career - and life is much more than just your job) figured out. I know I definitely do not and I'm much older than you are and have seen a lot of very "successful" people break down and/or struggle, if not at work then at home or socially or health-wise. Even more have told me that if they could re-do everything again, that they would not choose their current profession. Life rarely goes as planned and everyone has their own path. You can and will find yours.
Good Luck