We talk quite often about the importance of routine, and how by having a routine, we actually set ourselves free, especially our minds. And it is in that vein that Mason Curry shares his two books Daily Rituals. His second is focused entirely on Women at Work, sharing the routines and preferences of creative women who lived and created over the past four centuries. I thoroughly enjoyed his second book, even more than the first which I also found great inspiration. It was refreshing to see so many women living their lives in a variety of different ways, but all in which they discovered worked well for them and the craft they most loved. Not all of the ideas resonated with me, but it was wonderful to get into the minds for a moment of these women and how they approached their days. I highlighted vigorously from beginning to end, and would like to share 34 daily routines to consider to enable your creative ideas to flow freely and without withdrawal. Some will speak to you, some will not, but each one is inspired by a woman's routine which is shared in the book: Daily Rituals: Woman at Work - 143 artists on how they paint, write, perform, direct, choreograph, design, sclpt, compose, dance, etc. ~Be sure to tune into the audio version of the podcast where much more discussion takes place on each point.  1.Begin with a hot glass of lemon water Designer Elsa Schiaparelli woke up at 8 am, sipped lemon-juice-and-water and a cup of tea for breakfast as she read the papers, handled private correspondence, made telephone calls and gave the menus of the day to the cook. 2. Wake up early if that is when your creativity is most fruitful —Lillian Hellman would wake up at 6am. —Marie Bashkirtseff would wake up at 6am —Maggie Hambling wakes up at 5am each morning "I get up between three or four o'clock in the morning, because that's my best writing time." —Octavia Butler 3. If spending less time with people fuels your creativity, embrace it fully "I enjoy people best if I can be alone much of the time. I used to worry about it because my family worried about it. And I finally realized: This is the way I am. That's that." —Octavia Butler in 1998 4. If traditional "holidays" don't work for you, create your own, or dive into what you love. Coco Chanel worked six days a week, and dreaded Sundays and holidays. As she told one confidant, "That word, 'vacation,' makes me sweat." 5. Greet the day in a habitual way that sets the tone for a great day 6. Live your ideas, don't talk about them "People would sit around and talk about things constantly. I never really went in for that. If you talk something out, you will never do it. You can spend every evening talking with your friends and colleagues about your dreams, but they will remain just that —dreams." —choreographer Martha Graham 7. Keep a small journal next to your bed to capture ideas "I always have notebook and pencil on the table at my bedside. I may wake up in the middle of the night with something I want to put down." —American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay 8. If you work at home, carve out a part of the day to get out of the house and just absorb inspiration or let go of the day completely  "In the nocturnal evening, I get the hell out to some movie or damn play and I come back and sleep like a rock." —Frida Kahlo 9. Figure out the ingredients that are needed to let the ideas find you To develop a new work of choreography, Agnes de Mille needed 'a pot of tea, walking space, privacy and an idea'. 10. Don't feel obligated to keep the same schedule when you are in the middle of creating your art or craft Margaret Bourke-White required long periods of solitude to write, with as few interruptions as possible." In an interview with a Life photographer Nina Leen, Leen remembers after asking her if she would have lunch with her, "She told me she was writing a book and there was no hope of a lunch for several years. 11. Don't feel bad for loving your work and working on what you love beyond the tradit