Oversleeping? Snap out of it!!

A recent graduate of Harvard University, Lauren currently works full-time as a Marketing Associate in the Consumer Products Division at L’Oreal USA. Having spent 4 years as a Social Anthropology major (no, she didn’t study bones and fossils; it’s the study of people and cultures) and a lifetime as someone with entrepreneurial tendencies (at age 7, Lauren was selling her parents possessions, unbeknownst to them, for $1 a piece out in front of her driveway), Lauren decided it was time to put her knowledge of people, her ability to quickly build a rapport with others and her knack for business to good use.

We’ve all been there…
Maybe you forgot to set your clock. Maybe you set it, but you weren’t paying close enough attention and that wretched little dot was in the PM position. Maybe it actually went off… and in your sleepy stupor, desperate and wincing, all you could think about was clicking it back off.

Being late – particularly, being late AND looking like you’re late because you just woke up – is one of the worst impressions you can make with customers, clients, interviewers, and the like. If you’re armed with some quick tricks of the trade, oversleeping doesn’t necessarily mean you actually have to BE late or look like you just got out of bed…

Taking the following actions will get you out of the door in 15 minutes (or less) and, more importantly, could save you from personal and professional embarrassment.

1. Turn the lights on, turn the radio up, and leave the TV off. Darkness and silence will only make you want to crawl back into bed. The TV has a mystical, unparalleled power — far too many mornings it has captivated me, one pant leg on, staring and dumbfounded, and I’ve forgotten for a solid 3-5 minutes that I’m actually supposed to be getting ready.
2. As you get ready, sing or talk loudly to yourself to warm up your vocal chords and get your voice back to its normal pitch faster. You may think this is silly, but better to sound crazy in private; you’ll sound even crazier if your voice still sounds like James Earl Jones/Mufasa when you encounter other people.
3. Look at your clock. Commit yourself to 15 minutes. If your clock says 7:23, you have until 7:38 to be ready to leave. Make it a game. No one likes a loser. Go.
4. Foregoing brushing your teeth is simply not an option. Okay, fine. It’s an option, but it’s really, really gross. Take 2 minutes to brush. While brushing, think about exactly what you’re going

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   to wear. What’s clean? What doesn’t need ironing? Where are your shoes? Try to avoid items with a lot of buttons and zippers. Don’t forget about those vocal chords; don’t sing – you might choke – but keep humming.

5. Foregoing a shower IS an option. If you’ve showered relatively recently (within the last 24 hours) and haven’t done anything super strenuous since, spritz your hair with some water to reactivate the product you put in it yesterday. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT put additional product in your hair – you’ll end up with flakes or a greasy look. If you absolutely have to take a shower, limit it to 5 minutes. NOTE: If you’ve been out partying and you smell like liquor, do not skip the shower; no amount of perfume/cologne will mask what’s oozing out of those pores.
6. Wet a washcloth with warm to hot water and hold it onto your face for 30 seconds. Inhale and exhale deeply through your nose several times to clear your sinuses and increase the blood-flow to your face. This is an important step that will help to take away the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters face a little faster.
7. If you woke up with any sleep lines or creases (from your pillow, hand, remote, etc), spend a minute gently massaging them with facial moisturizer. If you or someone you live with owns wrinkle cream or under-eye cream, these work best.
8. Once you put on the outfit you identified while you brushed (this should take 5 minutes at most), a quick look in the mirror should be the very last step before you head out. If you’re anything like me, looking in the mirror too early in the get-ready process might result in you forgetting what you’re doing and posing naked and clothed in front of the mirror for extended periods of time. This is really not the morning for “Blue Steel.”

Other tips:

• Visine. It really does get the red out.
• Know ahead of time what your easiest outfits are. In fact, mentally or literally make a list right now. What pants slip on the easiest? What sweater pulls on quickly without mussing up your hair or making you feel like you’re trying to push through some sort of crazy birth canal?
• Save yourself the trouble of ironing by hanging wrinkly clothes in the bathroom while you shower (the steam will help to loosen wrinkles) or tossing them in the dryer for 5 minutes while you’re doing something else (many machines have a de-wrinkle setting).
• For makeup wearers, a little mascara and some lip gloss go a long way. Press the mascara wand close to your lashes and gently move it side to side to get an eyeliner-like effect without the lengthy application process.