The Quiet On Set Method™
A Mindset Framework That Saved My Creativity & Sanity
When I was twenty-six, I lost my mom to brain cancer. A decade later, my dad died of a sudden heart attack after years of cycling in and out of alcohol rehab. People called me "resilient," but I didn't feel that way. On the outside, I kept up appearances – continued to chase my dream of being a TV writer, stayed close to friends, worked out daily, went to therapy. But inside, I was running on survival mode – creativity paralyzed, nervous system in a tailspin, and self-doubt whispering that maybe I'd never feel whole again.
Watching a tumor take over my mom's frontal lobe is what first sparked my obsession with the brain. I devoured neuroscience books, sat through brain cancer conferences, and studied how trauma rewires us. Years later, during one of my dad's stints in rehab, I learned more about the amygdala – a primitive part of the brain that chases quick rewards and traps us in fight, flight, or freeze even when no real danger exists. It can even misinterpret creative challenges like criticism, rejection, or failure as life-or-death, which floods the body with stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol and shuts down clear thinking.
Hollywood was the stage where my grief and my fascination with the brain unfolded – and what I saw was an industry stuck in survival mode. People who weren't in real crisis behaved like they were: constant stress, scattered energy, reactive choices. Brilliant creatives who came to LA with talent and vision yet end up trapped in creative-adjacent careers – close to the dream, but not in it, questioning their worth at every turn. And I was on the same path, determined to climb the TV writers' ladder, until I realized the system wasn't nurturing creativity, it was draining it – teaching us to operate in chaos and pressure instead of presence and flow.
A year after my mom passed away, I quit my job at a prestigious production company and moved to Brazil for love (so Liz Gilbert of me). I'll save the full saga for another time so we can get to the framework, but here's the truth: life never sticks to the script – it interrupts, rewrites, and edits without warning. Without a mindset to ground you, it's easy to lose clarity and perspective, making it hard to connect the dots of your life and draw meaning from what you've been through.
Even in Brazil, where I thrived for five years, I still felt behind on the 'real dream': my own TV show. I thought my detour and life challenges had cost me my moment. But what I know now is this: challenges and detours don't dilute you; they deepen you. They don't distract from the dream; they prepare you for it. And when you leave a little room for improv, your dreams expand in ways you couldn't script.
From Chaos to Action
After years of life's improv, The Quiet On Set Method™ was born.
This mindset framework weaves three defining storylines of my life – the study of the brain sparked by personal loss, the behind-the-scenes lessons of Hollywood, and the ache of creative atrophy – into a simple mindset tool that helps you quiet the noise, reconnect with yourself and your creativity, and take action toward the life you actually want.
It happened like this: one day, while spiraling in my own thoughts, it hit me – the two most chaotic places I've ever been are on a movie set… and in my own mind. And yet, on set, chaos never wins. There's a process, a series of cues, that transforms scattered energy into focused momentum every single time. I borrowed that process and applied it to my mindset… and it changed everything.
And just to be clear: this isn't woo. It's neuroscience. And it works.
The Quiet On Set Practice: Quick Start Guide
Here's how it looks in real life:
You set your alarm 15 minutes early to do something for yourself – maybe even read this article. But the moment you sit down, your mind starts to spiral. Your phone pings. The thousand things you didn't get done yesterday start piling into your head. You're trying to enjoy your coffee and set the tone for a day full of potential, but your mind is already falling straight into chaos. By 7am, you're convinced the day is ruined. You feel like a failure, yet again. Meditation didn't stick. Gratitude journaling didn't stick. And now you can't even get through an article about taking action without feeling completely stuck in a mental storm.
This is the moment to stop in your tracks and walk yourself through these five simple steps:
Quiet on Set — Cut the noise. Get still. Get present. I actually want you to say this out loud, shout it if you can. You are commanding your mind to be silent. Then take 4 slow breaths (longer exhale than inhale) to flip from fight‑or‑flight into the parasympathetic "calm" response. This quiets the amygdala and brings your prefrontal cortex (focus + judgment) back online so you can think clearly.
Roll Sound — Tune into the internal chatter. Notice whose mic is hot – the inner-critic, perfectionism, fear? Name it to tame it (labeling emotions lowers limbic reactivity), then make the active decision to turn those voices down and amplify an encouraging mantra (e.g., "Small progress is still progress." "I am capable of doing this. Just one scene at a time."). Repeating supportive self‑talk strengthens those neural pathways and builds resilience.
Roll Camera — Focus on what matters now. Pick one "main scene" for the next 30–60 minutes and single‑task. This reduces switch cost and preserves working memory. Reframe setbacks as information (failure = growth), then "find the light": jot 2 things onto a gratitude list to orient your brain toward abundance and possibility.
Slate — Get aligned. Quick check: Does this action match your values and your season of life? Tiny realignments reduce cognitive dissonance and decision fatigue.
Action — Take the step. Make one small, visible move (send the email, write the paragraph, set the timer). Concrete progress triggers dopamine, which boosts motivation and makes the next step easier. Stack wins; momentum compounds.
That's it! Clear, fast, and grounded in how your brain actually works.
And beyond science, it's spiritual. Nearly every faith tradition includes these elements in some form – silence, discernment, gratitude, alignment, and faithful action. Which makes me believe this process isn't just practical, it's deeply human.
How I Use It
I don't always use every step in every situation, but this method has become part of how I live.
At first, I used it as a mindset reset during my lowest transitional moment in life. Later, it became a creativity reset, the way Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way has been for so many. Eventually, it turned into a career reset, helping me pivot into copywriting and reminding me that diversifying wasn't "giving up" – it was growth.
Now, as a new mom, when the noise of life feels endless, I find myself using at least one of the five steps every single day:
Toddler meltdown: Quiet On Set. Take a deep breath. Respond gently instead of reacting.
Identity crisis ("Who the heck am I now?"): Roll Sound. Remind myself there is no "old me" or "new me." I haven't disappeared – I've expanded. I'm a mom, a creative, a writer, a leader… all the things.
Trying to make breakfast, text a friend, and journal while doing lunges across the kitchen as my workout: Roll Camera. Focus on the most important thing in the moment rather than spreading myself thin.
Feeling off but can't articulate why: Slate. Remember the last time I felt really in sync – and do more of what created that feeling. Usually, it means I'm momming so hard I need to carve out time to write, or I've been writing nonstop and need more quality time with my son and husband.
Baby wakes up early from his nap while I'm obsessing over a blog post that's 90% there: Action. Hit publish. It's good enough – and if I don't do it now, it won't happen for another week.
So that's it, that's the Quiet On Set Process. Truth is, I've been sitting on this for almost five years, convinced that if I posted about it, someone like Mel Robbins would swoop in and write a bestseller about it before I could (and that she'd write it better). But here's the good news: I used this framework to get over myself and write my own book proposal… and I'm almost done.
So I want you to be brave and try this method out. Tomorrow morning, take five minutes. Journal through each step for one minute. Do it for seven days. It might not feel like much at first, but alignment builds quickly. And when you're aligned, joy returns to the work. The universe responds. Doors open. Momentum builds. Before long, you're not just dreaming of the life you want – you're living it.
That's the power of the Quiet On Set Method™.
