Things you only understand when you work in advertising.

Ever found yourself in bed, just about to fall asleep, and suddenly an idea pops into your head? You grab your phone, type it into your notes before it disappears, and wonder why your brain couldn’t have done this eight hours earlier.

If you work in advertising, you probably know the feeling. At some point, you stop looking at things as just things. A billboard becomes a reference. A restaurant menu becomes a design idea. Something you hear at brunch becomes a potential consumer insight. Even a supermarket trip can turn into a study of packaging, positioning and how brands compete for your attention.

There’s a saying that there’s no such thing as a truly original idea. Everything we create has been influenced by something we’ve seen, heard or experienced before. And maybe that’s why inspiration matters so much in our industry. It’s not always about coming up with something that has never been done. It’s about making new connections between things that already exist.

That means inspiration can come from pretty much anywhere. Look at what other brands are doing, yes, but also step outside advertising. Watch how people behave. Pay attention to conversations. Explore different industries. Scroll beyond the usual pages. Go places you wouldn’t normally go. Sometimes the best reference for a campaign has nothing to do with another campaign.

And when something catches your attention, keep it. Screenshot it. Photograph it. Save it. Write it down. Build your own little library of things that make you think, “that’s interesting.” You might not know why you’re saving it today, but six months from now, it could be exactly what you need for a brief.

And once you’ve trained yourself to look for them, you really can’t unsee a good idea.