Good Evening to you Travelers,

There is so much going on in my world and in my head, so this is going to be a mini brain-dump post. As previously posted I am an MBA Candidate at Loyola Marymount University, here in Los Angeles, and I have also quit my job (which I didn't post) with my former fashion consulting employer. I have been hired as a research assistant to a professor at LMU and I will be honest the work has been very interesting. Lots of research, fact checking, and blogging (more like post correcting), and I really do feel like after all of this is said and done I will be in a much stronger places in the efforts of being accountable to my readers, my students, to my audience, and clients.

I am in Week 2 of my full-time studentdom and I am learning a new thing about time management skills. There is something about not being accountable to anyone about my time and my efforts, and what that really means in the area of maturity and growth. I live in LA, the land of the no 9-5's and I have learned that those that are successful with it are the ones that are most self-disciplined.

I haven't really figured out how my schedule will actually play out and it is midterms time so I am a bit consumed, but I have found that there are times when I will look up from three hours of studying and find that I am still on page 3 (sometimes literally) of 30. So what does that have to do with your journey? Three lessons I have learned about this looking up and seeing more road than progress:

 Any motion is better than no motion: There was one chapter of Business Law (Torts to be specific) that took me 7 hours to get through. 7 hours....that is almost a full work day on one chapter of reading, for one class, trust me when I looked up at hour 3 and saw so much more chapter to go I felt defeated, but I encourage you today that any motion is better than no motion. When we are trying our best it is okay to celebrate the small victories rather than looking at what we have not accomplished. 

Know your "Potholes"-and then fill them: We all have something that can distract us, make us feel overwhelmed, and what makes us feel settled/free/less random. Find out what those things are. My vice is tv, and I don't even have one (well I do but that is another post for another day), I watch all this on my computer. IDK why I will automatically go to the same sites to watch my shows, or spend random time on twitter, knowing it can wait until my task is handled, but for some reason I do it, and now I know that that is my pothole that needs to be filled, the number one place where I need to be disciplined. What makes me feel better is seeing progress, and brain dumping (writing out everything that is on my mind with no organization whatsoever but just to get it out), which is why this post is happening right now. I wanted to share this with you, to know that there is a way to fill your potholes. 

• The app where I rent my books Chegg.com had this cool diagram about how to prioritize that I wanted to share it HERE (I am now all about the airplane mode)

Never compare your speed to the alleged speed of another: At one point or another we all compare ourselves, our purpose/journey, and its growth and progression to that of others that we allege are in similar situations. I know I do. I assume that everyone in my class has done the reading and the homework, and that they are a lot more prepared than I am, the closer we get to midterms I have found that that is not true. When I was working in the fashion industry I would compare my age, career-level, and salary to those that I alleged to be in a younger, higher-level, or wealthier position than myself, which may not have been true. Why put any kind of pressure on yourself that airs you in a negative light? Don't do it!! If you can look up this very day, right now, and look back at the same day last year and know that you are in a different spot, and not worse off than last year, then you are in a good place and you are making progress! Screw what other people are doing, or not doing. 

That was "Random" now on to the "Research": 

In the course of my researching for my professor, I have come across some things regarding fashion, being a woman, and Africa (it's my thing right now, but I love learning more about my diaspora), that I would love to blog about here. I have a few blog mentors and am even a member of IFB (Independent Fashion Bloggers - see the badge on the side), and yet I feel like I don't live up to this at all. I want to be better and smarter and more researched in my posts. I have high hopes for this blog and the direction of my brand. Also I want to do away with the "Fashion Freeway" theme of my blog, though I like the concept I find it confining at this stage of my journey, life and development. So I will not be holding myself to strict references to street and construction terms (though I did use "potholes" in today's post). I am working with a great web designer to revamp this blog and to also create a site that has a link about my EAF Endowment fund honoring my father, as well as a link to my Mary Kay page that ppl may donate and sponsor a domestic shelter through a package purchase that will also generate a donation fund back to that particular shelter. I am still working out the details of that one.

Post Quality and Integrity - this has been plaguing me for a while. I want to write better posts, I want to be a better blogger. Now let me be clear that I am not hoping for blogger fame, that's not my deal, but I would like a consistent audience that benefits from my musings and contents. Thank you very much to my loyal subscribers and new readers, I really do appreciate you! I know that you could be spending your time reading any other blog, but you chose mine. And for you I want to provide a higher quality of product.

I have been trying to be a bit more lenient to the direction of my blog, and the progression of the tone of my posts, however as the writer of a text heavy and not photo/style heavy blog I feel I have a duty to my readers for better and more quality writing and well researched information. I don't want to turn this solely into my online journal. That is not what I want at all. There is great information out there that I would love to expose you to. The growing pains of this blog, from the traffic themes, to moving to a branding focus, and now to my personal musings, I am now sitting back and looking at how to make my No Fear, Just DIVA (a name I came up with back in like 2006) brand into a clear and consistent one that grows as I grow and clarifies as I clarify. I think that the problem is that I get overwhelmed with the amount of research and what it would take to create those posts, and then I use school as an excuse (but I have been writing this post for the past hour) and then I let all the work fall by the wayside. Also it is no secret that I want THIS book, and I make the excuse that I can't take the time to read/self-study another book outside of my current texts. This is not true at all. I just have to be self-disciplined enough to actually do the research and write the posts. Even if they are shaky in the beginning I am still putting into practice lesson one "Any motion is better than no motion." One day I will get the book, in the meantime I will work on just one "editorial" feature a month. I said that I wanted to blog at least once a month and have a new post once a month and I still do. I need to remember why I go into blogging in the first place and also how many people actually read my blog. I honestly forgot that I have this on my resume, so when I apply for a position it always (like never fails) surprises me when the interviewer says "yes, and I read your blog..." So I am ready for some higher quality stuff here. Actually I am about to apply for an internship that is requesting two writing samples and I am going to use my blog as an example of my work, another reason I need to beef this up. But to perfectly honest I have not even began to know what "writing samples" look like or are so I need to look that up.

On that note my dear Travelers I am headed to bed. I think I am getting rid of the tagline as well, idk, but I won't put it here tonight, there are a lot of ideas in my head about this blog, but I know that I am keeping it. So there....you're stuck with me!

Night!!

One Step Forward, Just Glance Back. No Fear, Just DIVA! (nah, I'm keeping it, it still excites me)