24 hours with… Josy Paul

Ever wondered what an ideal day in the life of someone from advertising/marketing/media is? We're here to spill the beans on it.

Every Tuesday, we'll have a person from the advertising/marketing/media industry profiled in this section.

Name: Josy Paul

Job: Chairperson and chief creative midwife, BBDO India

Professional and personal mantra: Think like the navy, deliver like the pirates. 

8:30am: I wake up to the music of Pink Floyd’s 'Shine on you crazy diamond'. It's been my morning raga for over 25 years.

“Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Come on you raver, you seer of visions,

Come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!”

9am: I daydream for a bit, playing with random thoughts and ideas… somewhere I can hear the calming instructions of a yoga teacher. My wife’s going through the asanas.

9:30am: Got to get ready. My shower includes the influences that shaped the music of the 60s, 70s and 80s. It’s a podcast I stumbled upon - the history of rock and roll in 500 songs. It’s the tumultuous journey of the music behind the music.

10am: Get to work. Call dad on the way. Call my creative partners. Observe the world. Slip into a dream.

10:30am: Breakfast in the office as I watch YouTube and Google about the idealism of the sixties folks who invented AI.

11am: The BBDO ashram is in full flow. The creative energy of the open office mixes with the gravity of deadlines.

11:15am: It’s a rush of meetings, briefing sessions, creative explorations, deep listening, and white room confessions. Through the day I play many roles - the explorer, the artist, the judge, the warrior. But mostly, I’m listening.

4pm: Late lunch with the leadership team. 

8pm: I leave for home, Bandra. Bandra is not a place, it’s a holiday.

8:45pm: I walk in the narrow lanes of Bandra. That’s my thing. Through the back lanes up Mount Mary and down to Bandstand and then to Bandra Gymkhana. I get about 7 km of walking with musicians, presidents, rock stars, UFO sighters, CIA agents, phycologists, neuroscientists and all kinds of people through the various podcasts that I listen to.

10pm: Dinner and the day’s sharing with my wife. 

10:30pm: We speak to our son who is studying at NYU.

11:30pm: I journal my thoughts and daydream!

12:30am: Plan for the next day.

1am: Respond to the day’s WhatsApp messages. Check documentaries. Read for a bit. Daydream. Listen to myself.

2am: Time to sleep. Faraway, a song whispers like a distant lullaby. Last night it was the Moody Blues -

“Nights in white satin

Never reaching the end

Letters I've written

Never meaning to send

Beauty I'd always missed

With these eyes before

Just what the truth is

I can't say anymore”