We’ve all been there: You kill one too many alarms on Monday morning, and by the time you rub the sleep out of your eyes to check the time, you realize that to be on time to your 9:30 lecture, you’d have to leave … 10 minutes ago. If you’re not a freshman, this is probably the point at which you’d take a solid half-second to mull over your options, decide it’s not worth rushing your morning routine and roll back over for another hour of sleep. But for anxious first-quarter frosh and other students depending on attendance credit to keep them afloat, what ensues is a frenzied five-minute race to pack up, pull on the first articles of clothing you see and dash out the door.

But there’s another way. Instead of trying to force yourself awake 45 minutes before class time, why not shorten your morning routine to a relaxed 10 minutes and pocket the extra half hour of sleep? Following these tricks of the trade will have you out of bed and out the door in 10 minutes, tops.

1. Streamline the outfit process by choosing and laying out your outfit before you go to bed. If you’re getting up for a workout or planning to rock a sweatshirt and leggings to class, sleeping in tomorrow’s outfit makes getting dressed monumentally more efficient. Never wait to try on a new outfit until the morning — you’ll inevitably spend all 10 of your precious minutes swapping out various parts of the outfit until you perfect the look.
2. Pack breakfast the night before and aim for convenience. A couple of packets of instant oatmeal and a spoon in a to-go cup go a long way in saving time in the morning. (Pro tip: If you’re really committed to saving time — and less committed to general standards of cleanliness — you can even forgo the microwave and make your oatmeal using hot water from your sink.) Granola bars, fruit and pre-portioned cereal are also efficient breakfast options.
3. Every night, prepare a bag with whatever you’ll need from the time you leave your room in the morning to when you plan to return, breakfast included. Don’t forget to throw in your room key before going to bed to avoid a frantic search in the morning. Sit your shoes next to your bag to reduce the number of stops you’ll need to make before heading out the door.
4. If you find you can’t resist the snooze button in the morning, there are a few ways to kick that bad habit quickly. If you don’t have a roommate, or if your roommate leaves before you do in the morning, consider leaving your alarm across the room, loud enough that it’ll force you up and out of bed to turn it off. Alternatively, if you tend to use around 35 alarms on five-minute intervals in order to get up in the morning, try setting only one alarm at the latest possible time you can wake up and still be on time. You’ll have no choice but to heed your alarm clock the first time — and you’ll catch some extra Zs in the process.
5. Even if you have no trouble waking up in the morning, sometimes overnight Instagram notifications and missed texts can keep you distracted in bed for too long in the morning. By upholding a no-phone policy until you’re brushing your teeth (if you can multitask effectively), you’ll increase your productivity and efficiency and shave minutes off your routine.

There’s no guarantee that these tips will prevent the occasional slept-through-half-of-lecture-already morning chaos. But preparedness and planning ahead can ease even the most stressful morning rush, and nailing down a short routine can save you some much-needed sleep any day.

Got any more tips for getting out the door in the morning? Contact Jackie O’Neil at jroneil ‘at’ stanford.edu.