10 Life Lessons From 10 Years In Investment Banking in under 10 mins

Key Points:

• Document your learnings and inspirations.
• Align your career with your personal values.
• Seek success first, then mentorship will follow.
• Be approachable and considerate to everyone.
• Stay connected and keep an ear to the ground.
• Don't hesitate to negotiate and find your niche.

Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. In this video, I'm going to go over 10 life lessons that I've learned from working in investment banking. Let's get into it.

Number one, Document it. What I mean by this is you get some great advice from a colleague. You read something that sparks your interest or even just recognize a habit of someone else's that inspires you.

Please, please take physical note of it. You won't think anything of it at the time, but if you just take 10 minutes to compile your thoughts and what you've learned from it and what you'd do as a result of this thing, that will really help you when you look back in the future.

Every time I see something noteworthy, I add it straight away to my Apple notes on the go. And over the years I've created this kind of goldmine of a document full of all these amazing tips and advice. Every time I read it, I feel like super energized and super inspired.

Now that I'm starting my newsletter and I've been over the last weeks thinking about what I'm going to write about, I've been digging into this document so much and thinking about what has benefited me the most and what I can continue sharing through my own experiences. So don't underestimate the benefits of documenting these key learnings.

Number 2 Align your career with who you are. Whoever you are, whichever organization you're working for, you want to make sure you are getting as much value from your company as they are getting from you.

And I mean more than just the monthly paycheck. If you're feeling lost in your career, use your job as an opportunity to explore and do more of what you want and what you enjoy.

My advice to anyone searching for purpose and for meaning in their work is not to discount the opportunity that exists in organizations themselves, however big or small. There are so many opportunities for growth, for learning, for development, and meeting people from walks of life.

So use this to your advantage. You want to create learning opportunities within the context of what you're already doing because chances are you have worked so damn hard to get to wherever you are anyway, and that's not something you want to throw away really quickly.

No one loves every part of their job. No one. But you can shape your job. If you enjoy organizing events and you want to be an event coordinator, but you work in finance, start putting your hand up for organizing the socials and taking the lead with those.

If you're more of a spiritual person and enjoying meditating, set up free workshops that people can join outside of work. Finding a way to get more involved in areas that you're interested in will start opening up creative channels, and you may even figure out that you like doing something as a hobby, but you never want to do it full time. And that's okay.

Clarity comes from doing.

Number three, Don't hunt for a mentor. Change the narrative from "get a mentor and you'll excel" to "excel and you'll get a mentor." I feel like people often have this imprisoning idea that they need to find this one person that will guide them through their journey.

You don't need that. And I still don't have one mentor who I go for for everything. Your inspiration can come from podcasts, from music, from something you see on YouTube or Twitter. People think that finding a mentor is the key to unlock your future. It isn't.

We have the Internet now. Hundreds of people can be your mentor through the click of a mouse you could have in the palm of your hand through a smartphone. There are so many mentors out there just within a click.

Stick to the facts as much as you can. Try and stick to the facts because facts can't be disputed, and they hold credibility than emotions or opinions.

This can apply to so many things like articulating an idea, persuading someone to buy into your proposal, or even just having a discussion in the workplace or out of the workplace and expressing how you feel about something. Sticking to facts gives you a stronger starting point.

So for example, if you feel like your ideas are being neglected, then instead of saying, "Oh, you never take my suggestions seriously," try saying, "I feel frustrated that you have not responded to my last four emails, which leads me to believe that my suggestions are not that important to you." The latter is a lot harder to deny.

Rules are man-made. When I look back at my career, the times that really propelled or when I've excelled the most is when I've thought outside the box and not followed the standard protocol.

Cheryl Sandberg, who is the ex COO of Facebook, talks about this in her book Lean In. She said she took questions from an audience after giving a talk to a room and then announced that she'll take two more questions. After two more questions were answered, all the women in the room put their hands down and all the men kept their hands up, and she continued to answer questions.

The biggest takeaway from this is to keep your hand up. Just because someone has made a rule, it doesn't mean you need to obey it without questioning it. Just because there have been things that are done a certain way, that doesn't mean it's the right way or that it is the only way.

There are so many ways to get what you want. You've just got to keep going, put yourself forward. Even if you face getting rejected or a level of embarrassment, just navigate a way to get what you want.

Then we have full circle. To be honest, I wish more people in life knew and applied this one. Life has a funny way of going full circle and you never really know if a person that you cross paths with today will come back into your life at a later stage.

So don't be mean to people. You will only ever regret it. Be approachable, be kind and look up from your phone in the work lift and actually engage in a conversation because that costs you nothing.

And you never know when someone you helped years ago remembers something you've done and comes through for you years later.

Keep your ear to the ground. Now this is a bit of an odd one, so let me explain. A lot of getting ahead in life is about who you know and who you surround yourself with.

You want to know what's happening around you and be connected to others. Because that means when new opportunities come around, you'll be the first one to act. You can move quickly, and you can take them up.

If you just have your head down, buried in the sand and you just do your job and you do it well, then there are a number of other people that can also do that. You are nothing special. You really want to dive into things that give you wider visibility and exposure.

And one of the best ways to do that is by keeping your ear to the ground and staying connected.

People don't accept the first offer. There are two sides to every negotiation. It is in the company's interest to spend less and pay you less, and it's in your interest to get paid more and get paid your worth. So keep pushing.

If you are given a number, don't ask, "Is this number negotiable?" but dig into what went into calculating that figure. Where has the number come from? Has it counted for your many years of experience? Your qualifications?

There are many companies that don't want you to negotiate, but that doesn't mean you don't come back with questions.

Have something to say when you're first starting out. It's so normal to feel like there's a knowledge gap and like you don't know enough or have enough value to add.

But you really want to be seen as someone who has something to contribute no matter how small that thing is. Even if you are completely new to the game, don't underestimate the importance of casting a fresh pair of eyes on something and giving your unique perspective.

You want to be seen as someone who adds value and who does contribute. If you really can't think of anything to say, then try taking on kind of the opening of a call or a meeting, or summarizing the discussion at the end and kind of consolidating the next steps.

Be seen to have a niche. This is one that I found in my document, a piece of advice that my first boss told me. You want to be known as the go-to person for something, even if it is doing the stuff that no one else wants to do.

You want to carve out a niche for yourself and be recognized for something. This applies to so many walks of life. Having a niche and defining your brand is what will differentiate you from everyone else. It will create value for you.

And I've added in another point here because I'm Extra Take on the hard stuff. If you get a job offer for something and you don't know how to do it, take it and learn how to do it after.

You don't learn to walk by following the rules. You learn by doing and by falling over. And this goes for so many things in life: starting a YouTube channel, starting a new side hustle, taking on a high profile project at work.

You will learn a tremendous amount just by doing more than you will through reading the textbooks and through the planning stage. Just by putting in the action and diving straight into the deep end.

That experience in itself will offer you a three to five year head start versus someone who's sitting on the sidelines and spends more time analyzing and perfecting everything, only dipping their toes in the water and getting in only when they're ready.

So guys, those are the things that have taken me years and years to learn, and hopefully by sharing this I have fast-tracked those things for you.

If you like this video, I've linked another one here on other life lessons and money lessons, and I really do hope you enjoy watching these videos.

I want to say thank you for watching, for engaging, for commenting. It really is that kind of stuff that makes me keep on going. See you in the next video.