24 hours with… Arnold Su

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: Arnold Su

Job: business head – consumer and gaming PC, system business group, ASUS India

 

I can divide my 24 hours into two parts since it equally occupies 50% of my life.

 

When in India:

 

Usually, I spend the first half of the month in India. If I am in Mumbai - 

 

7:20am: I wake up and do a small exercise (yoga and push-ups) before going to the office.

 

8:20am: I leave home and on my way, I buy an Ice latte at Starbucks and reach the office by 8:50 am.

 

Then starts my daily schedule, my basic unit of time is by 30 minutes, so I complete my pre-scheduled meetings by 6:00 pm, then I may reply to some emails till 7 or 7:30pm before going home.

 

On the way home, I will do a video call with my sons, it’s the time they are about to go to bed, so we can talk to each other via video call, it is a very important time for me every day.

 

8-8:30pm: Depending on Mumbai traffic, I reach home between 8 to 8:30pm, then I will quickly have my dinner [some food which can be easily cooked in the microwave or just with boiled water such as noodles with some vegetables.] and go for jogging in the gym (three out of five working days)

 

If in the day I am not going jogging, then I will cook a better dinner with three dishes and a soup (the traditional way of Taiwanese style dinner is rice with three dishes along with soup). I am not really good at cooking, still, I enjoy it since normally I connect with my mom over a video call so she can teach me cooking.

 

If I am travelling to different cities in India: 

 

During business travel, normally we will have dinner with clients, therefore I will change my jogging from evening to early morning, so I will wake up at 7:00am and then go to the gym for 30 minutes to 40 minutes, take a quick shower, then quickly have breakfast in the hotel before moving to market.

 

I usually continue to conduct my routine meetings in the cars as much as I can, however since our team is strong enough, so if I am really not able to attend, I also authorize the respective owners to host the respective meetings on my behalf.

 

On weekends:

 

8:30am-2pm: I normally wake up late on the weekend, then I go to the gym to have a long run. (60 minutes to 90 minutes run), then I go to the supermarket to buy some vegetables, meats along with my Taiwanese colleagues (both Saturday and Sunday)

 

2-6pm: Then I will have lunch in a Japanese restaurant in Powai, normally we will come back home by 2pm, then I will go to Starbucks to read books and magazines and then write the case studies till 5:30pm or maximum by 6pm. (I prepare a case study every week for my team, since, I have to spend time with my kids when I am in Taiwan, so normally I write two-three more case studies as a reserve when I am in India).

 

6-7pm: I cook dinner, then enjoy a movie on Netflix or Disney along with dinner. (of course, I will do the video call with my sons, and also call my parents separately to keep in touch). 

 

Once a month, I spend a Saturday visiting shops in Mumbai, so I can keep myself updated about our competitors, and also the last mile execution of our own team.

 

When in Taiwan: 

 

Usually, I spend the second half of the month in the Taiwan HQ office. 

 

On work days:

 

I wake up at 7:40 am, and then prepare breakfast for my two boys, and then send him to school along with my wife, then I take the metro to go to the headquarter office, and leave the car with my wife, so she can pick up them after school.

 

I normally come back home between 7-8pm depending on the schedule of the day [due to the time difference, I will have to work till 8:30 pm Taiwan time [6:00 pm India time], however, I tried to avoid the meetings between 5-6pm IST when I am in Taiwan, so I can spend some more time with my family.

 

When I am in Taiwan, due to the time difference, the morning 9-11:30 am (India 6:30 am to 9:00 am) time period is a golden time for me to plan, think, and complete some tasks which require time to prepare without meeting/call disturbance.

 

In Taiwan, I also maintain the jogging routine for at least four days a week, so I have to go to one car parking lot nearby my house after my sons go to sleep. Normally I can go only after 10:30 pm.

 

On weekends:

 

My sons don’t allow me to sleep much, usually, they wake me between 7-8am in the morning on weekends and ask me to play with them. Or take them out to parks, to ride bicycles, play in the sand ground, slides, etc

 

My entire weekend is with my wife and two sons which makes me tired, however, also gives me full energy to fight in the coming week’s tight working schedule.

 

If there is a long weekend, then we will go back to my home town (which is 170km away from Taipei city), to visit my parents, so my sons can have a good relationship with their grandparents and other close relatives

 

Apart from this tight schedule, I try my level best to maintain my body healthy by jogging, and swimming, cycling, I am going for a triathlon in April 2024 (just enrolled), so I started to add swimming and cycling to my routine training schedule.  Currently, I am doing 120km-150km jogging per month, I started to move some time slots from jogging to swimming or cycling.

 

As a sales VP in ASUS India, a growth mindset with a clear target is very important, so I always set up a target for everything I do.

 

Such as jogging, I enroll Marathon every year, with a clear target set. And also, a clear monthly mileage target to complete. (we have to achieve a target every day, so we have to jog almost every dayJ)

 

For reading books, instead of just reading them, I rather set up a target to share it with my team, so that I can achieve the target to share a case study per week.

 

I believe there is no magic, only basic. This is my life philosophy.