Streamlining The Morning Mess

It’s a familiar story. I wake up late, rush to get dressed, pin my hair into a recycled version of yesterday’s style, run for the door, only to discover that I left my keys, and my phone, on the bed.Rush back to grab those, then fly down the stairs to my vehicle. Once I’m in the vehicle, I notice that my gas light is on…but oh, well. I’m late and don’t have time to stop. Please, please, please don’t run out of gas.

While this is the worst of my disorganized mornings, it is certainly not the exception to the rule. Quite often, this describes the general routine of my mornings, as I am genetically engineered to be a “night person.” Mornings and I just don’t get along, so it’s no surprise that my job performance has suffered.

I came to a startling conclusion one day. Maybe, just maybe, I could plug my preference for evenings into my morning routine, saving myself some lost minutes in the morning.

I had to revamp my morning routine, starting the night before.

Look Great – The Night Before!

You’ve heard this before: Lay your clothes out before you go to bed. If you’re a terrible morning person, one of the most important things you can do is preempt your morning routine by making it a night routine. Lay your clothes out, your hair brushes and other styling tools. If you need makeup, decide on which makeup, then set it out where you usually get ready.

Choose which shoes you’re wearing. If you need any additional accessories, those should go with your clothing, as well. One rule you need to adhere to: Do not change your mind. Morning people are capable of clear, concise decision making as soon as they’re awake. Night people are not. That outfit that looked great last night still looks great today. In fact, you only think it doesn’t because you’re half asleep. Trust yourself and get dressed.

If you find yourself having this conversation far more often than you’d like, another option is to lay out two choices, and then choose between them.

Make sure you know if you’ll be showering in the morning. That will add a minimum of 20-25 minutes into your routine. Decide, and stick to it. At this time, you should also apply a time budget to your hairstyle. I have short, curly hair that tends to frizz, so I set aside about 45 minutes. For straight or manageably wavy hair, plan on 20-30 minutes.

By now, you’re dressed, styled and have makeup on.

The Things We Need But Often Forget

Moving on, you arrive in the kitchen. At this point, my routine involves the realization that I forgot to make coffee.

Most of us night people need a regular infusion of coffee in the morning, but it’s often forgotten.  A great way to avoid this hassle is to use a programmable coffee maker that, properly programmed the night before, will turn on and have a cup brewed about halfway through your routine. Hamilton Beach makes a great coffee maker…it’s about six cups, and dispenses into a coffee cup much the same way that a convenience store coffee maker would—with the push of a button.  

Now you’re mostly prepared to leave home, provided you have your purse and keys….and whatever else you needed to take with you.

Another problem that happens quite often is that moment when you realize that you needed to take a few extra items with you that particular morning, but you don’t have them with you.

But, you were savvy and remembered to set those items by the front door. One of the best time savers is a set of sturdy hooks at the front door, aside from the usual coat hooks. Here is where a simple sidekick comes into play: a grocery store plastic bag. It’s a nice, neat convenient way to store all of the things you need to be sure and have with you. This can include lunch items (non-refrigerated), extra office supplies, or other important items.

Another helpful option is to use those same hooks to keep your purse and other personal items on those hooks. Instead of one coat rack, set up a pair of racks so that each person has two hooks: one for coats, and one for additional items.

If there are any other things to grab, such as refrigerated lunch items, remind yourself with a brightly colored memo note attached to the bag. Hang your keys on the same hook.

Divide and Conquer

Because I am chronically late, I’ve learned to divide my morning up into sections. I wake up at a certain time via alarm. I have two other alarms that remind me of certain times. With these reminders, I’m able to divide my morning up into segments, which lets me know when I should have completed certain parts of my routine.

At this point, you’re ready to leave for the day–ready to greet the day in a way that others will envy, without the hassle of a morning’s stressful and hurried disorganization!