Dear Mel,
I had no idea when I started listening to “The 5 Second Rule” that 9 days later my world would get turned upside down and I’d lose my sweet dog, Jayne.  When I first started listening to your book, I openly wrote about how I knew it was going to change my life…I was so exited about it and the changes I was making in my life, I was getting up earlier, I was getting to the gym, I was getting things done even if I didn’t feel like doing them…I felt really great…I was up earlier in the mornings & taking my dog on a walk before going to the gym…I wasn’t hitting the snooze button anymore, I was taking care of business!!  I had two days under my belt of establishing a morning routine and then suddenly that evening, out of the blue, my dog got gravely ill and early the next morning, we had to make a decision to let her go.  From the moment my husband & I made the decision, to the drive to the vet to be there when they stopped her heart, to deciding to reach out & connect with a young couple in the waiting room who had just said goodbye to their dog, to the day spent sitting alone on the floor of our office telling friends & loved ones that we had to say goodbye to our goofy girl, to collecting all of her things around the house, to writing a letter to her Vet thanking him for being there for us all these years, to finding the desire to eat for the first few days or even get out of bed, I called upon The 5 Second Rule so many times, I can’t even count.  Moment by moment, it helped me through this very difficult time and I am truly grateful. I somehow believe the Universe knew what was coming & sent me your book & this tool to assist me in grieving and to help me move on through my life.  My sweet Jayne was with me for just over ten years, she was incredibly obstinate & incredibly loving, she slobbered all over the place & made my house filthy and now she has left an enormous hole in my heart.  This loss has brought my husband & I even closer together and “The 5 Second Rule” has given me the courage to keep on moving!  

Thank you Mel Robbins, I hope to one day thank you in person!
 
All my love & gratitude,
 -Mandy

I gave my friend Paul a book that I love for his Birthday.  It's called "The Slight Edge", I love this book because it helped me get very clear on how I want to improve myself and my life.  I am always so gung-ho when I read something that gets me focused.  I am someone who loves planning and making lists & writing out goals!  As I list the things I want to change in my life, there are similar things that I have "focused" on before, but have had no success at long term change.  I always believe that my being focused will be my motivation...but then I buy the Cadbury Creme Egg at Ralphs because it's Easter time & they won't be around forever and it's just one egg!  But, that snowballs into justification after justification and before I know it I put back on the few pounds I worked so hard to lose or I gain back more than I lost.  And then I say to myself, "Okay Mandy, you just need to spend more time on your Goals, they aren't specific enough to motivate me!"    

Then my buddy Paul asks me if I listen to audiobooks, I said yes.  So he shares a book with me that he thought was a compliment to "The Slight Edge".  He gave me the audio book of "The 5 Second Rule" by Mel Robbins on Audible.  I listened to the first chapter and thought, ok one of my goals is to either read 10 pages a day or listen to 15 minutes a day, so it's helping me stay on track with my goals.  Well, today I listened to Mel talking about how she invented the 5 Second Rule.  She spoke of a very difficult time in her life when she knew she should be making better choices, but she lacked the motivation to get out of bed in the morning and to take action and change.  And how one night she saw a commercial with a rocket launch that counted 5-4-3-2-1 liftoff, which gave her the idea that the next morning to get herself out of bed and not hit the snooze button, she would do that countdown, 5-4-3-2-1 GO and she did it and she got out of bed!  It reminded me of what I will do at the gym in Crossfit classes or the circuit training classes when I am completely exhausted, as much as I want to stop the torture, I rest briefly and countdown 5-4-3-2-1 and I get back to the exercise.  I could relate it to my real world experience and I thought "Ok, I'll keep listening, I kinda understand how this can get me out of bed and motivated to do things, which is fantastic & I'm excited, but how can this keep me from doing things that are destructive?"  

As Mel explained how our frontal cortex (I think that's what she said) works and that 5-4-3-2-1 GO is meant to keep you from thinking and talking yourself out of action...well, I heard angels singing!  She also said that motivation is not the answer, it's finding a way to just shut up my brain and take action.  So, those times when I'm driving home and all of a sudden Taco Bell pops into my mind and I say to myself, "Ok you can go, I'm happy or I'm sad or I deserve it for breathing air and I haven't had a bean burrito in awhile...I will be strong and good tomorrow!"  Now when it pops into my head, I can say, "5-4-3-2-1 GO HOME and eat something healthy!"  She says that there is this Myth that you have to be motivated, there are some things in life we don't want to do.  This rule will help you push yourself to do the things that you don't feel like doing.  There is a 5 second moment where your mind talks you out of doing something, a 5 second window between my instinct to change & my mind screwing me over!  In the early chapters of the book, Mel said that once she created the 5 Second Rule, she made a promise to herself & she asks the reader to make the same promise, "If I knew that I should do something that could change me for the better, I promised myself that I would use the rule to push myself to do it regardless off how I felt."  

So I am making that promise to myself!!  Now, I am both excited and afraid to make this commitment to myself.  I'm excited to get more done and not procrastinate and make significant changes in my life & my career, but if I am honest, I am scared to let go of my poor eating habits and my justifications and my "Oh just one more, I'll be better tomorrow".  I will no longer have an excuse to hide my head in the sand & be weak - but, I feel strength in knowing that I am choosing to arm myself with a tool that will propel me toward my goal of losing weight and being healthy.

In the past, I have found it hard to make today matter and be motivated, that each choice I make will matter.  I have found consistency in going to the gym lately, but it's not because I am truly motivated to go or that I think it matters, it's been my friends, they keep me coming back!  But, I have not been able to find a motivation to lose weight & eat better, there is nothing I find in the short term that can keep me on-track and focused long term.  Well, now I don't have any more excuses, I can't blame my age, my early menopause, being on the birth control pill, my big bones, my slow metabolism, my weightlifting - the "excuse" is the truth - I put too much crap in my mouth and there is nothing important enough to stop me!  Well, I don't need any motivation or anything that is "important enough" - I simply need to make the commitment to myself to use the 5 Second Rule!

So, here I go - wish me luck on this journey!  There is nothing to hold me back, except myself!  I hope I can inspire you to read this book and start using the 5 Second Rule.  I look forward to sharing my journey with you, please share your journey with me!

P.S. I used the 5 Second Rule to write this post, I was inspired to take action, so I sat down & wrote it...win number 1!

​:-)mandy

I am thrilled to finally share The Garage Sale with you all.  You can stream it (for free) and use the choose your own adventure storytelling or watch the linear version and see all of the Acts back-to-back Here is the link: https://www.thegaragesalemovie.com (best viewed on Firefox) So much talent, so much creative awsomeness...hope you enjoy it!

I am very excited to share this with you!  “Everything”, the short film I did last summer with Michel Gill & Kristin Dattilo was released on-line today.  The film & the story it’s based on was the topic of an Op Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal today.  To date the film has been in 14 film festivals.

 I am so proud of my work in the film and I am honored to have been a part of this project & the fight for compensation for bone marrow donors! It is inspired by the true story of Doreen Flynn, a mother of 3 girls with a rare blood disorder, who were in need of bone marrow transplants to survive. Doreen & the Institute for Justice fought successfully to legalize compensation for donors. Now the Dept of Health & Human Services wants to re-criminalize compensation for donors.

Link to 15 minute film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uumPxbe5B0g

 Link to article in WSJ:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/pay-bone-marrow-donors-save-lives-1471992096

I love Vault Crossfit in Van Nuys!!  Did I say a bad word...Crossfit??!!  Did I ever think I would say the words "I love my Crossfit gym"??  Heck No!!  But, I can say it with absolute confidence & conviction...I LOVE this gym!

They offer a variety of classes, Dynamics (killer cardio/circuit training), Gymnastics (learn how to handstand walk & rope climb), Spin, Mobility (super stretch class), Olympic Lifting and of course the traditional Crossfit classes.  But the classes are not the real reason for coming to this gym...it's all about the coaches & the people!!  This is the most supportive wonderful community of people.  Everyone takes the time to learn each others names & encourage each other to push themselves outside their comfort zone.

You don't have to be super athlete to be a part of this community & get amazing results (inside & out)...the coaches will help modify anything that you are unable to do, while continuing to help you get stronger, so maybe one day you can do a muscle up, or a pull up or a handstand walk!  Maybe that will be me one day!?!?  

​Come join our team at Vault Crossfit!!!!  
4th Anniversary for APRIL 2016 SPECIAL: 40% off you & a friend
Facebook Page
Vault Crossfit Website

I am so excited to share this play with the world!  We workshopped it last year and I am so very fortunate to have the opportunity to be a part of the West Coast Premiere. 

Tickets are available now! March 12-April 24, Fri & Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm @The Raven Playhouse in NoHo http://dirt.brownpapertickets.com 

​A beautifully poetic play, it's funny, it's heartbreaking & it's quite fascinating! The cast is wonderful & the direction is phenomenal.  

Co Production with SRS Studios & Rogue Machine Theatre.

I had a blast playing Barbara the over-sharing inept Car Sales Manager who worked at Shaquille O'Neal Motor Cars in Orlando!  

I had the pleasure of shooting 2 days on the episode.  One scene where Randall Park & Constance Wu give Barbara the silent treatment and a second day of shooting with SHAQ! Randall & Constance were uber professionals and so welcoming to a stranger on their set and Lynn Shelton directed the episode, she was awesome!!

The crew were so professional and everyone seemed so happy to be working on such fun show!  

And then there was the day with SHAQ...he was the king of the set...so unbelievably generous to everyone!  And he is FUNNY!!  He gave everyone nicknames & got all of us actors signing "Shaquille O'Neal Motor Cars" at the top of our lungs.  
​
He was self-deprecating too...Shaq asked another actor to tell him about a film he had done, the actor was a bit reluctant to talk about it & SHAQ poked fun at himself referencing the fact that he had been in SHAZAM.  

​He also asked if he could take the giant office chair they had made for him home with him...I'm pretty sure that he meant it and that chair is in Shaq's house!!  :-)

A perfect play comes along every now and then.  A play that every time you read it, you read it with fresh eyes and an open heart. And with each read, you find yourself falling deeper and deeper in love with the characters & the writing.  

I think Catherine Butterfield's new play TO THE BONE is that kind of a play.  And I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to explore the wonderful world she has created.  Characters that are filled with depth & passion & flair and heck who doesn't love the chance to do a BOSTON ACCENT??!!  

This is the third time I am doing a reading of this play, a play that I dream of being able to do a run of, and I am so excited and challenged to share this wonderful tale with the audience.  

​I am thrilled to be directed by Mary Lou Belli and to be working with Stephanie Erb, Jennice Butler, Caitlin Gold, & Alex Smith.  I take this moment to share the love I have for this project & the love I have for this writer!  I hope this isn't the end of this character for me, but if it is I am truly grateful to get at her one more time! Go Sox!!!   XOXO