Join me in my live two-hour class and discover the Five Things I’ve Learned about how to transform initially fleeting thoughts and ideas into fully-realized creative work that I can both share and celebrate with others.

Hello. My name is Joe Randazzo. I’ve been procrastinating professionally for more than twenty years and I can’t wait to share this class with you that we’re calling Five Things I’ve Learned About Work, Creativity, and the Voices in My Head. 

If you’re like me, the hardest part of the creative process is not necessarily the Work Itself: It’s the voices that speak up when it’s time to do the Work.

They tell us that the timing is wrong, that this idea already exists, that there’s other things we should be doing. They remind us that we forgot to send our mother a birthday card and they urge us to get up and make a snack right now and then sit down and eat that snack until we get tired. 

Sometimes they tell us we have no business making anything creative at all. 

A few years ago, I began to wonder why these voices were so loud when I was alone, but almost never showed up when I was working in a collaborative setting: with other writers in a room, or on set, or brainstorming with friends and colleagues. 

Was there a way, I wondered, to trick my silly brain into thinking that I was working with a full staff of collaborators, and not just agonizing alone with my personal demons?  

It turned out, there was. There is. That’s what this two-hour class will be about. 

We’ll cover these five main principles: 

  • You’re not blocked. You’re outnumbered.
     Believe it or not, most of the blocks that arise when you’re trying to work have nothing to do with You. They’re disparate voices and concerns all vying for your attention. 
  • Treat your work like you’d treat someone else’s work.
    You’re probably much more conscientious and on task when it comes to that thing you’re doing for your boss or friend who asked for your help. Your own work is only going to get better when you start giving it the same attention and respect. Even if you have to fake it at first.  
  • Every resistance has a job.
     Deep down, those voices and resistances actually want to help. The issue is they’re showing up in the wrong place at the wrong time. We’ll talk about how to identity and reassign them with everything you do. 
  • ABS: Always Be Scoping
    In addition to assigning the right job to the right part of you, you must be on an endless mission to shrink down each aspect of said job to its smallest, most attainable part. And then do it again. And again. (And again.) 
  • Talking to yourself is actually the best way to stay sane.
     I submit that these voices – these staffmembers – are actual, literal versions of you with something real to say. Ignoring them, pretending they’re somehow separate from the you that’s sitting at your laptop or drawing in your sketchbook, is the thing that’s making them resistant. So let’s talk to them! Out loud. A lot.  

I’ll be demonstrating different aspects of this process (which I call “The Lonely Studio” in my professional practice) on myself, and hopefully with one or two of you, as well. So bring along a project or idea you currently feel stuck on. (I should also take a moment to say that this process does incorporate techniques I’ve learned in therapeutic practice, but I myself am not a therapist, and this is not meant to be used as such.)  

Besides all of that, I promise you that this class will be fun and weird. Our brains are strange! And difficult! And often annoying! But just like the Bad News Bears or the cast of Slow Horses, when managed well, our brains have many unexpected talents that we could not create anything without. 


Thanks for your time, and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Yours,

Joe