Growing a Beard for Productivity

With Thanksgiving happening this week, we’re approaching the one-year anniversary of when I started growing a beard, which I did as a productivity strategy.  The week after Thanksgiving last year, I had daily meetings early in the morning all related to a particular program that had no scheduling flexibility.  In no way am I a morning person, which is why I often teach late in the afternoon or into the evening.  Last year, I had a class that ran until ten at night.  I dreaded the thought of having to be on campus and functional at a time when I would normally be sleeping, but it had to be done.  And for several days in a row.

Before the meetings began, I thought of things I could do so I could sleep as late as possible yet still arrive on campus at the right time and in the right mindset.  Going to bed early was out because I just end up lying awake for hours, and showering in the morning was necessary because it’s always the primary thing that wakes me up.  Since my adolescence, one part of the morning ritual I always hated was shaving.  It took too much time for each stage of the process, and I’d often feel anxious as time flitted away.  With a series of early meetings and workshops approaching, I decided not shave.  I’d tell people I was growing a beard even though I originally planned to shave when the semester ended.  What I found out, though, was that I liked how it looked, and I loved the way it seemed I had more time in the mornings to do the other things I wanted to do.  I bought a beard trimmer, and now I trim and shave around the edges twice a week rather than go through the entire ritual daily.  For me, that feels like a much more productive use of my time.

My point isn’t that all men should stop shaving their faces or women their legs, but I think it might be useful for us to share ideas about ways we can improve our daily grooming and personal care routines so that they help us move forward through the day rather than add stress to it.  Not everything will work for everyone, of course.  I thought shaving my head might be another option that would save me time and money, but it looked pretty awful on me even though it looks perfect on others.  I would expect that women have more to deal with than men since societal expectations about women’s appearances are more demanding, but I also know women who have developed successful tips and tricks for handling those demands.

How do you do it?  What parts of the daily personal care routine have you found a way to work around?

(Photo from Flickr user Robert Thomson and licensed through Creative Commons)