Are there steps or tasks that are common to every creative process?

It's not a part of the process that creative types have in common, but the fact that there must be a process. While the shower principal and those "aha!" eureka moments are inspiring, they don't exist without the foundation of thousands of hours of research, work, intrigue and devotion. The conscious mind must be worked to exhaustion for it to ultimately rest quietly. Only then can the subconscious mind be heard. My absolute favorite take on the creative process can be divined from Peter De Vries who said "I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine o'clock every morning." It's not nine o' clock for everyone, but everyone at some point finds themselves 'on the clock.'

I guess what's truly universal in any creative process is you have to work for it.

This is hard for me to answer, but in my case it involves a lot of thinking. I try to find inspiration in everyday things and in nature. Sometimes I draw people on the bus or on the tram. I also enjoy observing people.

You have to see it. You have to chase it. You have to capture it. You have to feed it. You have to grow it. You have to have to release it.

Artistic creativity. In drawing or painting, your subconscious mind can project an image on the blank sheet or canvas. You just sketch the outlines and complete the work using your talent as an artist. Brainstorming: you go around a circle of people who each make a contribution or present a new idea. At first without criticism. Just get the ideas stated out loud. Then work with and refine them. A model: You diverge, then converge. Ichak Adizes’ PAEI model of four management roles:  1. Producer, worker, gets the job done.  For effectiveness, for results achieved in measuring how hard he works. 2. Administrator, for efficiency.  To organize, schedule, and control the system. 3. Entrepreneur, creative risk-taker, the initiator of action, creating the vision.  Recognizes, exploits opportunity in the environment. 4. Integrator, to build a team of people. Four types of thought: 1. Reverie or free association of ideas, (This is our spontaneous and favorite kind of thinking, personal complacencies and humiliations.) 2. Decision making, (The homely decisions forced upon us by everyday needs.) 3. Rationalization or finding reasons or arguments for going on believing as we do, (This is stimulated whenever someone questions our belief and opinions.  Distinction: Do we rationalize a “good” reason, a plausible excuse for remaining of the same mind or reveal the unconscious “real” reason.) 4. Creative thought or reason. (This kind of meditation begets knowledge.) Thinking, from The Mind in the Making by James Harvey Robinson, 1920.  Pages 620-627, A Treasury of Science, 4th Ed., Harper and Brothers, New York, 1943, 1958.  “The Five Faces of Genius: Creative Thinking Styles to Succeed at Work” by Annette Moser-Wellman, 2002.  1. Seer --- the power to image. 2. Observer --- the power to notice details. 3. Alchemist --- the power to make connections. 4. Fool --- the power to celebrate weakness. 5. Sage --- the power to simplify. Solving Complex Problems. The Adizes Method for interest groups to meet and solve a problem.  The Adizes Method follows the phases of the creative process.  The Adizes Method is adapted from John Dewey’s creative process model: 1. Defreeze, 2. Accumulate, 3. Deliberate, 4. Incubate, 5. Illuminate, 6. Accommodate, 7. Finalize, 8. Reinforce.

The element of the creative process that is universal is the reality that one must do a lot of something in order to generate enough material such that some of the material generated is deemed by others as "creative." That rarely happens without some amount of "pre-creation." Creativity is typically a lot of work. It generally doesn't happen accidentally. Malcolm Gladwell wrote all about this in the book Outliers, which I highly recommend.

I've been doing a lot of reading since seeing your question, and there a dozens of articles about this and most of them agree that creative people take naps, and get up early in the morning to work. When I was at my highest peak of creative productivity, I never napped and tended to work late at night into the wee hours. Another habit that comes up a lot in these articles is working every day for a set minimum amount of time. For instance, working a minimum amount of four hours each day. I do think that for creatives, it's important to keep that muscle toned, whether your your work is 'good' or 'bad' that day. If this is regarding your own creative process, just find what works for you and stick to it. Thanks for the a2a.

I subscribe Tannen Christensen answer. Only, if you come to talk to something that have to "flow" in the moment you make it, say a jatz session with others, say a collective painting, say -why not?- a collective graffiti, you have to connect with the others in a while, say make steps 2 to 4 in a minute, and feel the feeling of the others.

There isn't a formula for that process. Every person is different. I think it's helpful to read more about what creative people are doing. But it's more critical to actually start creating as soon as possible. Creativity can only improve by practicing.  I don't know about other people. For me, sometimes I have to hit the wall multiple times to come up with something I think is 'better'. And painful as it appears, things do start to look smoother.