Spoke with a retired hedge fund portfolio manager who made millions for himself and grew out an entire strategy at one of the large pod shops Biggest takeaway from the conversation was that you need to learn to stop worrying about what you cannot control The public markets job is brutal. There are about a hundred variables that can move a stock. There is absolutely no way you will get comfortable with every single one Even when you know a stock cold and have your thesis locked down, there will be 10 other variables you missed or could go against you This freezes up a lot of successful analysts and PMs. At best, it causes many anxious nights where you spend all your time worrying about the variables you haven’t thought of Even when you are there at dinner with your family, you are not really present Your kid is talking about his school baseball game but the scenarios of what happens to the portfolio after earnings tomorrow is running through your head His biggest regret was spending too much time focusing on the items he can’t control and never really being present for his personal life Would go back in a heartbeat to truly live the moments where he was physically there, but not really mentally present