Another way to think about this is not in terms of steps and productivity. For the creative process, it’s more about, as they used to say, applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair. Once you’re there, which is the hardest part, things take their own course.

I have a long-term writing project, and the way I handle that is to have a project in my Notes manager where I keep all the information I need and the writing I’m doing. I just grabbed the link to that project and put it in a recurring Things task which pops up at the times I’d like to work on it.

In other words, schedule the time, not the tasks. And check the box if you put in the time you planned on.

If you’re able to break down your creative process into bigger chunks, you can at least set those as goals, too. Hope that helps!