When we think of famous artists and creatives, it’s easy to imagine them living totally chaotic lives — painting through the night, forgetting to eat and waiting around for a lightning bolt of inspiration to strike.
But the truth? Most of them had routines. Not always conventional, but surprisingly consistent. And kind of comforting, honestly. In this post, we’re taking a peek into the daily lives of five legendary creatives — the weird things they swore by, the habits that helped them show up and make magic, and how you can steal a little bit of their rhythm to spark your own creativity. Because let’s face it: Structure and Inspiration aren’t enemies. They’re actually kind of besties.
📝 1. Maya Angelou: Queen of the Hotel Hustle
Who? Maya Angelou was a poet, memoirist, and performer whose words could split your heart wide open and stitch it back up in the same breath. She wrote the legendary autobiography ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ and became a global voice for justice and joy.
Routine Vibe? Aesthetic writing nook
Maya rented a hotel room near her house — every day — just to write. She took a Bible, a legal pad, a bottle of sherry and a pack of cards to play solitaire. No distractions. No frills. No excuses.
🔁 What You Can Steal: Make a sacred space for your creativity. No, you don’t need a fancy hotel suite. Even a corner of your room, clear of chaos, can become your genius zone.
🎨 2. Pablo Picasso: The King of Controlled Chaos
Who? Picasso was the Spanish painter who looked at regular portraits and said, “Yeah, but what if we move the nose… over there?” He basically invented Cubism and never stopped experimenting.
Routine Vibe? Messy maestro with a paint-splattered calendar.
He worked every single day, treating creativity like oxygen. His studio looked like a technicolour tornado had hit it — and he loved it that way.
🔁 What You Can Steal: Forget waiting for inspiration. Create through the chaos. Doodle. Sketch. Make weird things. Repeat. Perfection is overrated — Picasso would 100% approve of your mess.
🪞 3. Frida Kahlo: The Pain-Painting Powerhouse
Who? Frida was a Mexican artist famous for her bold self-portraits, wild eyebrows, flower crowns and painting her emotional and physical pain with raw honesty and surreal beauty.
Routine Vibe? Healing through habit.
After a bus accident left her in lifelong pain, Frida turned her bed into a studio. She painted with a mirror above her, using her art as both therapy and self-expression.
🔁 What You Can Steal: Art doesn’t have to be “happy.” Let your pain (or your awkward moments, heartbreaks and quarter-life crises) fuel your work. Your truth is your magic.
🏃♂️ 4. Haruki Murakami: The Running Novelist
Who? Murakami is a Japanese novelist whose books are filled with jazz, cats and surreal dreamscapes.
Routine Vibe? The Marathon Monk of Modern Literature
He wakes up at 4 a.m, writes for 5–6 hours, runs 10 kilometres and goes to bed by 9 p.m every day. Yes — every day. Discipline is his secret sauce.
🔁 What You Can Steal: Creativity loves rhythm. You don’t have to run marathons, but a regular routine (even just 30 minutes a day) trains your brain to get into the creative zone faster. Think of it as creativity cardio.
🌵 5. Georgia O’Keeffe: Desert-Dwelling Flower Whisperer
Who? Known as the “Mother of American Modernism,” O’Keeffe painted dreamy, oversized flowers and haunting desert landscapes. Basically, she made the natural world look intensely dramatic and cool.
Routine Vibe? Solitary desert goddess with paint-stained fingers.
She left the noisy art scene of New York and moved to New Mexico, where she drew inspiration from silence, bones, cliffs and desert skies.
🔁 What You Can Steal: Sometimes your creativity needs a little nature. Or silence. Or a good escape. Step outside. Take a weekend away from your screen. Let the stillness reboot your soul.
💡 Final Thought: Steal the Routine, Not the Art… You don’t have to paint like Picasso or write like Maya Angelou. But you can borrow their habits — the quiet hotel rooms, the morning routines, the permission to create from joy or pain. Your routine doesn’t have to look “artsy.” It just has to work for you.
🚀 Your Turn: Which of these creative routines sounds like your vibe? Or do you have a delightfully weird habit of your own (midnight sketching? upside down journaling? shower songwriting?)Tell us in the comments — we want all the juicy, quirky details!
