I'll be honest with you: on a proper full day, I do not have it in me to style an outfit. So I don't. Here's what I actually do when I wake up.
I open the closet and look for the one thing that catches my eye. One piece. I put it on first, then I keep everything else minimal and build the rest of the outfit around that single thing. That's the whole method, and it's the reason I'm never really late. Don't start with a full look in your head. Start with one piece you actually want to wear, and let it decide the rest.
When you're tired, minimalism always wins. One thing you love, a couple of easy pieces around it, and you're out the door. Save the print-mixing and the layers-on-layers for a day you actually feel like playing.
Here's what that "one thing" usually ends up being.
The two-piece set
A matching set is the laziest good decision there is. You put it on, it works, you don't think about it again. But please don't only wear it as a set. Steal the blouse, put it with completely different trousers, and no one will ever know it came from a set. One set, honestly a week of outfits. You can find them in co-ord sets.
A slip dress
I will love a slip dress until I die. It goes with everything: a blouse underneath, a sweater over the top, or nothing at all, and it does all the work for you. Easy, a little bit elegant, and you look like you made an effort when you very much did not. Live in the dresses.
The dress-blouse and flared jeans
Right now I'm obsessed with the blouses that can't decide if they're a blouse or a dress. A bit of a wrap, a bit of drape, you know the ones. I throw one on with flared jeans, grab a cute bag, and I'm out. Half the time that single top is the whole outfit, and the jeans are just there to hold it up.
Quick honest tangent: good modest tops are so hard to find. Most brands just don't get tops. They don't know how to make them. Veiled is the one that actually does. No notes.
Coloured jeans and any cute top
For the bare-minimum days: coloured jeans and one nice top. Blouse, blazer, whatever's clean and makes you feel something. Don't think about it harder than that.
An abaya
The ultimate "I have thirty seconds" piece. Throw it on and you're covered, comfy, and you look like you meant it. This is exactly where a couple of good tops underneath earn their keep. Same abaya, different top, and it's a different day.
The one thing I won't budge on
None of this works if your scarf is sliding around by 10am. I only wear cotton undercaps. Cotton doesn't move on my head, it's better for your hair, and I've had the same one for three years and it still holds. Please don't do the stretchy ones. The second they stretch you already know how it ends: creeping across your head all day, fixing it in every window you walk past. Get a proper cotton undercap and never look back.
That's it. One good piece, kept simple, held together by a hijab that actually stays put. You don't need more than that on a Monday.