As you lie in bed on a dreary, Tuesday morning, your mind is fixed on the glorious past month or two of uni holidays. A period full of good times and even better people, it can be hard to develop any kind of motivation to get back into the swing of the uni routine – even getting out of bed becomes a challenging and demanding task.

However, there are certain life hacks that can make your morning routine shorter and easier, guaranteeing you maximum snooze time as well as the ability to get to that 9am lecture.

Get Everything Ready The Night Before

I cannot begin to tell you how many minutes (or hours) I’ve wasted fumbling for all my notes, readers and textbooks in the morning, while constantly checking the seconds I have left to leave to make it to uni on time. Here’s a fun tip: make sure you have everything ready the night before. You’ll save so much time, and going to bed feeling organised and prepared for the day ahead is always a good feeling.

Never Set Less Than 10 Alarms

Look, it might be a bit excessive, but there’s only so many times the average human can press the snooze button before it becomes too much and you’re basically forced to get up.

Head For A Morning Run

On the note of waking up early, be particularly daring and head for a morning workout. Not only will it seriously increase your #fitspo, but you’ll also get those endorphins going, making you feel far more prepared and energised for the day.

Get Your Housemates/Family/Cat To Force You To Wake Up

Even if you tell them “no”, even if you beg them to stop, even if you scream, kick and rage proclaiming that you simply cannot take anymore, get these people to physically remove you from your bed – by any means necessary.

Start Your Day With The Perfect Soundtrack

While some of us enjoy dozing off to some soothing tunes, I haven’t heard many people using music to have the opposite effect. Get some bangers pumping, have a little boogie if you need to – whatever it takes to make sure you’re up, moving and ready to embrace a day of note-taking and lecture-Facebooking.

Actually Have Breakfast

I can’t stress the importance of not missing brekkie – it can actually be dangerous to your health, guys. Your brekkie doesn’t have to be gourmet goodness that will fit perfectly on your Instagram page, just enough to kick-start your day in the right way – it’s not that difficult to just pop two slices of bread in a toaster.

Use Dry Shampoo

It wasn’t until I lived with a girl that I even knew such a thing existed. While I don’t use it, my housemate basically swears by it. This little can of heaven performs the same purpose as regular shampoo, but uses a hell of a lot less effort and saves a hell of a lot more time. Actually being ready for uni with your hair smelling like an orchard? Win/win in my books.

Shave Post-Shower

While this is something that’s been common knowledge to my family and I ever since I hit puberty and was blessed with a glorious face-blanket, some people are still unbeknownst to the most efficient way to groom your face. Shaving post-shower is quicker and cleaner. In all honesty, if you’re a real man, you’ll save more time by skipping the shave completely and embracing your inner ruggedness.

Stop Caring About How You Look

With the huge amount of people who dress up for uni, it’s hard to not think that Fashion Week has come to campus. Nothing against wanting to look nice and dress well, but life doesn’t always have to be a catwalk. Those people you see trudging around uni in Uggs and a beanie? They might look the daggiest, but they’re probably the ones with their shit sorted.

(Lead image: Breakfast At Tiffany’s)