Shonda Rhimes- Work Doesn’t Work without Play

Any regular reader of IBG will know we are super fans of the amazing, writer, producer, glass ceiling shatterer and all round titan, Shona Rhimes. But just in case, for some strange reason, you haven’t been acquainted with her greatness yet, Shonda Rhimes is the writer and creator of a long list of block buster TV series such as Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to get away with Murder…to mention just a few. The woman slays on a per second basis and we continue to feel inspired as we follow her journey.

So, of course when we heard of her recent Ted Talk “My Year of Saying Yes to Everything”, you know we had to listen and share with you. In this Ted Talk, Shonda takes us through a range of emotions. She starts us of by telling us how one word- saying “Yes” helped her conquer her fear and created a new way of life for her and her family

‘And a crazy thing happened: the very act of doing the thing that scared me undid the fear, made it not scary….“Yes” changed my life.

She then gives us a glimpse of what it really means to be Shonda, a titan whose shows are watched in multiple countries all over the world

“I’m responsible for bringing about 70 hours of programming to the world. Four television programs, 70 hours of TV …. three shows in production at a time, sometimes four, 350 million dollars, campfires burning all over the world. You know who else is doing that? Nobody, so like I said, I’m a titan. Dream job”.

But this talk isn’t about just how great she is or why we should all take a leaf out of her book, the heart of this talk is about finding what lights your creativity, being in a centered place so you don’t miss out on what life is about and get all caught up in doing instead of living.

“It’s just something we forgot. The hum, the work hum, the hum of the titan, that’s just a replacement. If I have to ask you who I am, if I have to tell you who I am, if I describe myself in terms of shows and hours of television and how globally badass my brain is, I have forgotten what the real hum is. The hum is not power and the hum is not work-specific. The hum is joy-specific. The real hum is love-specific. The hum is the electricity that comes from being excited by life.The real hum is confidence and peace. The real hum ignores the stare of history, and the balls in the air, and the expectation, and the pressure”.

She concludes her amazing talk by saying;

“I said yes to less work and more play, and somehow I still run my world. My brain is still global. My campfires still burn. The more I play, the happier I am, and the happier my kids are. The more I play, the more I feel like a good mother. The more I play, the freer my mind becomes. The more I play, the better I work. …..”