How do you stay motivated day-to-day? The ABI staff shares their favorite sites, media, routines, and more that keeps them going during the workday!
Sophia
MOTIVATION: I just naturally love to be active and conquer projects. I also have a strong desire to find solutions that make a difference for disadvantaged kids and for exposure to the arts. Working hard gives me the ability to fund and activate those solutions.
INDUSTRY: I read books, industry magazines, newspapers, and take classes — webinars and in person. I’m very involved in the arts —Dallas Museum of Art and AT&T Performing Arts Center. Favorite reads: Seth Godin’s blog, LinkedIn groups, Adweek, and Ad Age. Oh, talk about a focus group — I learn a lot of what’s emerging and has staying power in digital by getting tutorials from my four kids. I also have a lot of friends in the industry, and we constantly talk about what’s working or not.
Dawn
I’m typically self-motivated, but challenges really motivate me. It’s the “achiever” in me to keep pushing and always bring my whole self to things. I’m inspired by our team consistently overcoming challenges, leveling up our creativity, and finding innovative ways to keep our company relevant and clients excited about working with us. I also follow a ton of great designers, artists, strategists, and content creators producing some really great work all over the world. There are so many talented people in our industry. It’s easy to stay inspired by them. Some I find through searches or my travels, but most through industry publications, books, online events, and webinars.
Jeff
I mostly follow the trade magazines to stay updated on the industry:
MediaPost.
Ad Age
Adweek But, I also keep up with marketing-focused podcasts:
For the most part, all of these brands help me stay on top of what is going on in marketing and keeps me plugged into the pulse of the agency world.
Marchella
Music is a great motivator for me. It pumps me up on my morning drive to work and gets me ready for the day and helps me to decompress on my drive home when I get off. I also listen to it throughout the workday to help keep me focused.
Satish
I keep up with the latest movies and seek out award-winning ads to see what we should possibly be doing differently.
Q
How I stay motivated is by seeing other art forms: painting, poetry, architecture, etc. Seeing things come together from the start helps me understand that there is a process to everything, so I have to keep working with my own process.
Sarah
The best way for me to stay motivated creatively — discovering new places around me. I love the freedom of exploring on a whim; oftentimes, that motivation and inspiration make their way back into my work.
Lauren
The best way I stay motivated and always ready to work is by not thinking about work at all after hours. As a creative, burnout is a serious thing that I try hard to avoid. I also have a lot of outside hobbies that keep me super busy, including running a virtual convention with my group of friends and running all its social media, so I’m able to focus my creative energy on things I’m passionate about. As for staying on the up-and-up for all things marketing, I tend to browse social media to see how marketing is executed by companies who don’t do similar work to ours and see if it could work for us in some way. I’m all about staying on top of the latest and greatest techniques, especially anything that’s extremely creative. I also follow many professionals on LinkedIn and do a daily scroll for motivation and insight.
George
I think about how crazy it is to be able to live the human experience and fully embrace an attitude of gratitude towards life, regardless of what may happen in my personal or professional life. I also stay motivated by surrounding myself with friends who are on the same mission as I am. Having the energy of people with my ambition forces me to constantly keep pushing. Not only that, but it builds a support system that is there to build me back up whenever I feel like I am losing it — and I do the same for them.
To stay in the loop of marketing, I keep my finger on the pulse by constantly keeping an eye out for creative and unique ways people are marketing. If I see a clever ad campaign on social media or traditional, I try to reverse engineer the thinking behind it and try to figure out why certain decisions were made on the back end and why they were so successful with consumers. When possible, I try to pull on data that could further justify the marketing tactics that were deployed.
Kayleigh
My day-to-day motivation starts with my morning routine! I like to get up a little early, start with my news podcasts (typically Up First and Consider This), then I brush my teeth and wash my face. Doing this sets me up for a great day. I was also raised with my dad constantly saying “Stay motivated,”so it's always been ingrained in me.
As far as social media motivation, I like to follow fashion and skincare accounts because I think “look good, feel good” and it helps set me up for a great day as well. For marketing-related accounts, I follow @memes4marketers on Instagram, but it is really for fun.
Sri
There are multiple things I try to do that help me stay up-to-date with reference to my role:
1) Following/Subscribing to articles from marketing and advertising news/tools websites: Marketing Dive, Sprout Social — they help me understand what's happening in the market, latest trends, new tools, tips, and tricks that work on different platforms, consumer behavior, and much more.
2) Since a lot of work that we do has something to do with whatever is happening around, I like to read news articles online just to ensure our messaging is relevant to the latest updates.
Erin
I am intrinsically motivated, and building generational wealth for my family is what keeps me going each day. I am passionate about my goals and that is what wakes me up in the morning. When it comes to keeping up with the business, I love staying up-to-date with LinkedIn topics and following the conversations they bring.
Fiorella
I keep myself motivated by staying focused on my goals and keeping positive people around me with the same ideas. I also enjoy listening to upbeat Latino music known as reggaeton! It gives me energy and makes me want to finish everything quickly and on time.