Third-year analyst here working through a brutal M&A process. I’ve heard whispers about seniors using structured time-blocking to protect sleep and family time even during due diligence crunches. Tried color-coding my calendar, but got destroyed by 4am model revisions. For those who’ve survived multiple deal cycles: what specific framework balances urgent deliverables with basic human needs? Bonus points for tactics that don’t make you look like you’re ‘checking out’ to MDs.
lol ‘personal time blocks’ during live deals. let me know when you find that unicorn. reality check: color-coding is for kindergarteners. the real move? schedule fake client calls for 6-8pm. works til someone forwards your calendar. pro tip: sleep when the MDs sleep. which is never. glhf
The key is layered blocking. Create 90-minute focus blocks labeled as client work, then buffer 15-minute ‘stakeholder alignment’ gaps. For sleep protection: negotiate rotating coverage with associates - pitch it as redundancy planning. Track your output metrics pre/post blocking to demonstrate maintained productivity when requesting schedule adjustments.
sr analyst in TMT here! tried 6am workouts b4 markets open. worked 3 days then missed a dawn conf call 
now i do bodyweight stuff during bathroom breaks? md saw my resistance bands n laughed but at least i got 10min movement
Analysis of 47 deal teams shows top performers average 4.6 protected hours daily during LOI phases. Critical path: cluster external meetings 10am-2pm, batch internal work 5-8pm when seniors review. 71% of surveyed VPs respect ‘data review’ blocks if tied to error reduction metrics.
Had a MD who scheduled ‘dad hours’ 7-9pm every night for kids’ bedtime. Team knew not to ping unless the deck was literally burning. Worked because he’d be hyper-responsive after. Got me doing ‘gym windows’ - trick is to frame it as stress management for sharper analysis.
you’ve got this! even 15min blocks for tea/mediation help! one md i know keeps a puzzle in the war room for micro-breaks 
small steps!