Go low(er) maintenance

How to buy yourself a few extra minutes of sleep

We all have 24 hours in a day, but from studying thousands of people’s schedules over the years, I can report that we spend this time quite differently. For instance, people spend wildly varying amounts of time getting ready for the day.

Now, some of this has a gender angle. Men often have shorter hair, and tend not to have a social expectation of wearing make-up. Their workwear is often more standard. And that’s before we even get to the matter of helping other people get ready for the day (which may not always be evenly split).

That said, comparing women, and only looking at the time the spend on their own self-care, I still see a wide variance in getting ready time. This was brought home to me when I posted my time log recently at my blog. On a weekday morning, I clock 20 minutes from wake-up to being showered, dressed and wearing make-up. If I need to dry my hair and curl it, this is a total of 30 minutes (if I don’t need to look presentable until later in the day, the curling process only takes a few minutes since my hair will have dried naturally by then). Some people thought this was quite short, though I imagine others would think this was long. Perspective is everything!

There is no right or wrong answer on how much time it “should” take to get ready. We all have different expectations and priorities in life. But one thing I do know is that every minute saved on getting ready in the morning multiplies — as we tend to do these routines over and over again. And while saving 5 minutes at, say, 2 p.m. might not suddenly open up vast possibilities, most people wake up at set times to get ready. If it is possible to move the alarm 5 minutes later, this would be a real win, as this bit of extra daily sleep does accumulate. Five minutes a day is 25 over the work week. Ten minutes a day is 50 over the work week — which isn’t nothing.

Watch the time

So if it is possible to go slightly lower maintenance, that might be worth a lot in the long run. I have long hair, but I’ve noticed that when I wear it just slightly shorter, it takes significantly less time to wash and to dry (on the days I’m doing that). There’s no reason to do a very short cut if that isn’t appealing, but shoulder length, as opposed to much longer than that, could buy a few extra minutes. You might also think through your shower routine. How quickly can you get in and out? I stopped conditioning my hair a few years ago when I realized that I didn’t notice a huge difference and the shampoo I was using seemed to work just fine on its own (this is also helped by having slightly shorter hair). I’ll condition occasionally but I have no desire to add minutes to my morning for something no one else cares about.

I’d also strongly suggest looking at any make-up routines with a critical eye. If you find yourself spending more than a few minutes on this daily, it might be worth looking for videos of minimalist make-up routines, or even asking a pro for a lesson in what would have the most impact in the least amount of time.

Make getting dressed easy

Getting dressed can also take a lot less time. I believe the goal should be just about zero time in the morning spent deciding what to wear. One approach is to have a set number of fabulous outfits you rotate through. Ideally there are several options that will work and you don’t need to think about. Many women choose dresses as a wardrobe staple because they are simple but you might also have a few pairs of equally fabulous black pants and tops in your power colors that you cycle through too. People who work in fashion might have slightly different expectations, but most of us don’t.

For most things in life I don’t think it’s worth worrying too much about optimizing minutes. You probably don’t do enough errands that you should map out routes that involve only right hand turns. But since we do get ready every morning and the opportunity cost for morning minutes is high (hello sleeping!) it might be worth analyzing this time a little more closely. Most people won’t notice if you go slightly lower maintenance. But you will get the time back, and that’s a big win.