She’s built an empire as the “titan” behind huge television shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder. A few days ago Shonda Rhimes gave a powerful TED Talk called My Year of Saying Yes to Everything (This is an obvious topic of expertise for her, since the release of her book Year Of Yes: How To Dance It Out, Stand In The Sun and Be Your Own Person).
Just in case you have been living under a rock and are not sure who we are talking about, Shonda Rhimes is responsible for around 70 hours of television per season, with three TV shows in production—sometimes four and working budgets of over $350 million dollars at any given moment. She admits it; she loves work more than play. But when addressing the audience at TED 2016 she focused on the importance of a certain kind of “hum” that drove her creativity and work ethic.
“It wasn’t until I started making television that I started working. Working and making and building and creating and collaborating, that I discovered this thing, this buzz, this rush, this hum.The hum is more than writing,” said Rhimes. “The hum is action and activity. The hum is a drug. The hum is music. The hum is light and air. The hum is God’s whisper right in my ear. And when you have a hum like that, you can’t help but strive for greatness. That feeling, you can’t help but strive for greatness at any cost. That’s called the hum. Or, maybe it’s called being a workaholic.”
That hum was alive in her 18-minute TED Talk which was delivered in a rhythmic spoken word style. And yes, it was as impressive as it sounds.
Like a moth to a flame, she brought the audience into her hum. She spoke about how being a workaholic was incredibly rewarding, but also how it began to drain her and limit her time with her children. The over-driven workhorse said these things made her feel like she was losing her hum, and without it she started to feel lost. She called it “homeless and hum-less”. But, she credits her children with helping her to turn it all around.
“They were 12, 3, and 1 when the hum stopped. The hum of the engine died. I stopped loving work. I couldn’t restart the engine. The hum would not come back. My hum was broken,” she said. “I was doing the same things I always did, all the same titan work, 15-hour days, working straight through the weekends, no regrets, never surrender, a titan never sleeps, a titan never quits, full hearts, clear eyes, yada, whatever. But there was no hum. Inside me was silence.”
That’s when she decided she had to say yes to more than just work. So when her toddler asked her to play, she said “yes” when she normally would’ve said no. At first putting her cell phone away caused great anxiety. But after the anxiety subsided, something wonderful happened. The hum came back.
But you must be wondering, what exactly is the hum?!
“And now I feel like I know a very magical secret,” continued Rhimes. “Well, let’s not get carried away. It’s just love. That’s all it is. No magic. No secret. It’s just love. 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.”
Thank you Shonda. For introducing us to the reality of what really matters. The love and joy in our lives. Watch the talk below:
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