Once you graduate from college and start living a life on your own, you begin to realize that getting to where you want to be is not that easy. Growing up, everything is pretty much laid out for you – wake up, go to school, do some extracurriculars, finish homework, rinse and repeat. As long as you followed this routine and got good grades, you are guaranteed to get into a good college.
College is basically the same thing – focus on a major, get good grades, do some extracurriculars and work a few internships. These are the basic steps anyone needs to do to finish the first 21 years of your life.
The struggles for the majority of people begin once you are in the real world and there is no longer a set path for you to take. After a few years into your first job out of college, you start to question whether this is really what you want to do for the rest of your life.
The Common Early Career Path:
- Land that “dream job” right out of college
- Remain unsatisfied and change to a new job/career
- Feel lost and not sure what to do longer-term
- Go to business school
Beginning of your career is always the toughest
The first few years in the real world are the toughest for anyone. Imagine you go your entire life with no worries or real responsibilities and have all the freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want. This completely changes after college and your employer dictates when you wake up, go to bed and take vacations.
After a few years, you may start to feel lost and unsure about what exactly you want to do longer-term. Your motivation levels decline, you start making more mistakes, and you may start to experience signs of burnout.
Most people change career paths
After a few years into your first career, you will likely feel like you want to change jobs. You realize that the job you worked so hard for initially ended up not being right for you. Then you work hard to switch to another job, work there for a few years, then the process begins all over again.
Still not happy with what you are currently doing. All that hard work into getting those first few jobs out of college seem to be a waste. You feel like a failure because you are lost and still not sure what you want to do in life.
Business school – a popular solution
Reset, get a two-year break from reality and two more years to figure out what you really want to do longer-term. For some reason, most think business school is the only solution to solve all of their career problems. After four to six years of working in the real world, this seems to be the most common solution.
If you are currently at this stage and thinking about going to business school, make sure you read if business school is really worth it. Spending $100-200K on business school should not be an easy decision to make, especially when considering all the opportunity costs.
Example – Failing in a finance career
A prime example is a career in finance. Go to a good school, start your career in investment banking, then move to the buyside at a hedge fund or private equity firm.
After a few years of working in the “promise land” AKA the buyside, most start to realize that it was not what they were initially expecting. Bankers move onto the buyside with the expectation of higher pay, less hours and less stress relative to investment banking. But this dream job that was hyped up in their minds turned out to be the opposite of what they were expecting. More stress, more hours, less flexibility.
Of course, it all depends on where you work, but the responsibilities and stress usually increase the higher up you go in finance.
About me
If you are new to this blog, you probably have not read My Life Story. Early in my career I was that young finance dude who landed a great job as an investment banker then landed my “dream” job at a large multi-manager hedge fund. I was on track to make mid six figures in a good year and substantially more the longer I stayed in that career path.
The problem is I quit that $500K per year “dream job” after just one year. I failed miserably. Felt stuck in an investing style that I knew I did not want to do longer term. It became so repetitive, day in day out showing up to work in a job that I knew wasn’t for me.
I left to go to a startup hedge fund, which fell apart after just two months of working there. I went from working at a prestigious investment bank, to one of the largest hedge funds in the world, to a startup that failed after just two months.
I had hit rock bottom and did not know if it was possible to get back to the path I was on.
The ultimate way to deal with failure at work is to figure out exactly what you want to do longer-term. By continuing to switch investing styles working at different hedge funds, I finally found one that fit what I wanted to do longer-term and have been so much happier ever since.
Steps to deal with failure at work
Here is what it takes to handle failure in your career:
1. Stop making excuses
You can go all day convincing yourself that it is your company’s or manager’s fault that you are not doing good job at work. Maybe you have a boss that is a big micro manager or wears his emotion on his sleeve. Regardless of the reasons you come up with, realize that you are in complete control of how you feel and your outcome in life.
Complaining won’t get you anywhere, so first step is to stop making excuses about your current situation.
2. Understand that it is part of the process
Realize that unless you won the lottery or you found the perfect job right out of college, you will experience failure at some point in your life. It is inevitable. Embrace it. Understand that failure is the only way to figure out what you want to do in life.
Just look at anybody who is successful and read about their background. Steve Jobs was fired from his own company. Denzel Washington had a < 2.0 GPA in college and was rejected from numerous auditions early in his career. Peter Dinklage absolutely hated his job at a data processing company which inspired him to work even harder to land acting roles.
Wherever you look, you will find successful people who had a rocky start to their career. A lot of readers on this blog are extremely smart college kids, investment bankers or private equity/hedge fund professionals. Most have not experienced a major failure in life until a few years out of college when life is no longer planned out.
Accept that it will happen to you at some point.
3. Take time off
If you feel like a failure at work you are likely also experiencing signs of burnout. Take a week off of work and try to disconnect as much as possible. You need to recharge so you can figure out a game plan going forward.
The worst that can happen is for you to suddenly quit a job without having a plan or another job lined up next. You always want to recruit from a position of power. Trying to get a job without currently being employed automatically puts you at a disadvantage, so you need to avoid putting yourself in this situation.
If you really feel like you need to quit the job you are in ASAP, then read about How to Properly Quit a Job You Hate.
4. Reflect on what went wrong
This is the time to reflect on what went wrong. Maybe the job in general is not a good fit for your skillset. Maybe you love the job but just have a horrible manager that micromanages and does not appreciate the work you do for them.
Whatever it is though, do not put the blame on others for how you feel. Understand that you are in complete control of your emotions and only you can change them. Think about what you could have done differently or how you should change your situation going forward to position yourself for success.
5. Figure out what you are really good at
Maybe you feel like you failed at your current job because you are in a role that is not best for your skillset. Multiple readers on this blog have asked me what type of job they should pursue next. A lot of people tend to go after jobs that everyone else wants. Classic mistake for most people.
Prime example is someone who started their career as an investment banker, is not analytical or detailed oriented and is still trying to go after a job on the buyside because that is what everyone else is doing. Absolutely the wrong approach.
Figure out what your skillset is. If you like being social and talking to people, then you shouldn’t be at a job where you sit in front of a computer all day long. It’s that simple. Focus on what you are good at and only go after jobs that meet that criteria. Then learn How To Find and Get That Job You Love.
6. Create a plan and write down your goals
If you want to change anything about your life, you need to write it down and make it a goal. Have it front and center somewhere in your room so you are reminded every day what you want to accomplish. Otherwise, you will forget and months will go by without you doing anything towards achieving your goal.
Spend time figuring out what exactly you want to change. Maybe it is hitting certain targets at work, switching to a certain career path, or getting a promotion. Whatever it is, write it down and create a plan.
7. Specialize
A lot of people fail at work because they quit after just a year or two on the job. Realize that you are guaranteed to struggle every time you make it to the next level or change career paths.
When I changed from a career in investment banking to an investing career at a multi-manager hedge fund, I felt like I was the stupidest person in the room. I was forced into meetings with management teams and had to come up with new investing ideas to invest hundreds of millions of dollars.
To say I was intimidated is an understatement. I never would have imagined that I would be in a position where I would have direct say in investing that amount of money.
After just a year on the job I quit. I was stressed out, didn’t think I was good at the job and knew it wasn’t what I wanted longer term. Who knows, maybe if I stayed longer in that role I would have become extremely good at it.
Realize that you will never be good at something you have never done before. Be patient and understand that that feeling of being uncomfortable in a new role is the only way you know you are learning. After a few years, I guarantee that any job will become so much easier to do.
The key to becoming extremely successful is to settle into one career path and become extremely good at it. Switching jobs early in your career is okay because it allows you to figure out what you want to do. But if you truly want to be successful at what you do, you need to stick with one career path and specialize.
8. Never settle
If you hate what you are currently doing, then you need to make a change ASAP. Life is too short to spend 50%+ of your time each and every day doing something you do not want to be doing. You will burnout and be forced to change at some point down the line, so might as well work to change your situation today.
You only live one life. If you want to be super successful, then keep striving to be super successful. If you could care less about being rich and want a chill modest life, then find a stress-free 9 to 5 job and live your happily ever after.
Never EVER settle for something you don’t want to be doing.
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