VERUCA
That is something I believe you will probably have to wrestle for the rest of your life, because life changes, priorities change, we change. For the past decade and a half I had different routines when I had different biological needs and pressures. My most recent approach is trying a nine to five schedule, which is something I never thought I would say because I am so opposed to the idea of working in office daytime hours, that for the longest time I would just rebel and create whenever— that's not to say I would slack off, I'm actually a workaholic, but I realized I needed structure in my life. So that's probably what I would say— You need to find your own routine and you need to manage your energy, not your time, because everyone has different energy outputs and how much you can produce, and your capacity of how many long durations of times you can focus and when you need a break… So my best advice is track yourself. Journal. See what works for you, set a goal and reverse engineer and work backwards from there. What is it that you wanna accomplish? And then think about all the steps you need to take to get there…observe from other people who have gotten to where you want to go, and literally take the time to see if they have a timeline or a YouTube video, or a blog. Look at all the things that they did that took them there and see the different steps… the unspoken steps that they took to achieve what they have achieved…
Honestly, I have so many things I want to say to my younger self in regards to being a fashion designer, but the immediate first thing I can think of right now is understanding boundaries. That is probably the very first thing, the very top thing you should understand as an artist and as a person, a sensitive person…knowing where other people's opinions and suggestions and facts end, and where your thoughts and your ability to interpret and take action in the way you want to begin. I cannot say how many times where I didn't realize I could have said no, or I didn't know how I could find another way to negotiate or find a way to meet my visions and meet them in the middle without feeling like I was being guilt trip.
Most times people aren't aware that they're not meeting your needs. They are prioritizing their own time and their efforts so much that it can so easily blend over into your territory. So it's so important to express what you want and never feel bad for it. You can go wherever you wanna go!…You need to realize you're the meat and bones of the industry in a large sense, and you need to see that value and know your worth!!!