These dark mornings certainly don’t make it any easier to jump out of bed with a spring in your step and crack on with your day.

Luckily, I have a few tips that will save valuable time each morning, allowing you an extra 10 mins of dozing in your cozy bed. (Or even longer depending on how long it takes you to get dressed…)

I bet you have a couple of ‘fail-safe’ outfits in your wardrobe. These are those outfits that a good friend of mine refers to as ‘If In Doubtfits’. When you don’t have time to spare or if you are totally out of inspiration these are the outfits you turn to. They require zero thought.

There is nothing wrong with the ‘fail-safe’ options – in fact they are incredibly useful when you are in a rush or you can’t click your brain into gear. Problems occur when your ‘fail-safe’ options become your every-day wardrobe.

That, my friend, means you are stuck in a style rut.

I’d like to encourage you to start mixing things up a bit. Change is good for all of us. I have a very simple three step process to help you along the way to creating some great new ‘fail-safe’ looks.

This is an easy way to shake things up.

Step 1

Set aside some time to play. The amount you need depends on your style confidence but 30 minutes should do it. Block the time out in your diary and make sure it happens!

Step 2

Open your wardrobe and pick out one of your favourite items. Something you enjoy wearing that you know fits you well and is in decent condition. This could be an old favourite or something fairly new. It can be a pair of shoes, a skirt, a blouse, anything you like. Put it on.

Step 3

Reach for something you would never normally wear with the favourite piece. Make a new combination. If the first option doesn’t feel too good, try another. The least versatile wardrobe is one where you always wear X with Y. Each piece you own should be able to be worn in a few different ways. When I do a mix and match session with a client, we make at least three combinations for each key item. This ensures that everything you’ve invested in gets well used. When you’ve found something that feels good, snap a photo of the outfit so you don’t forget when you are bleary eyed the next morning.

Then repeat steps 2 & 3 to create as many options as you like.

You might decide to do this at the weekend for the coming week, or spend more time on one day and go through your whole wardrobe. It’s up to you but I bet it’ll be time well spent.

Once you have completed this exercise you will have a number of new ‘fail-safe’ outfits to grab in the mornings. Thus saving you time, making you feel great AND making more use of more of the clothes you already have.

That has to be a good thing.

Let me know how you get on by leaving me a comment. Do you have some great new ‘fail-safe’ options?