Six Words of Advice from Shonda Rhimes

Stephanie Womack
Jan 18, 2016
2 min read

I recently came across an article that mentioned a book called The Best Advice in Six Words: Writers Famous and Obscure on Love, Sex, Money, Friendship, Family, Work and Much More by Larry Smith. Smith, an obscure writer to me, gathers up these famous people and asks them about the best advice they have received or could give in just six words. One of those pieces of advice came from Shonda Rhimes, you know that not so obscure writer, producer, and mother that DOMINATES Thursday nights. Here’s what she said:

For aspiring entrepreneurs, or even just aspiring better people, I know it’s tempting to get caught up in all the dreaming and vision planning. Don’t get me wrong, all of that is a part of the process, but none of it matters if you’re not willing to do the work it takes to make it happen. You see, “do” is an action word. Your dreams and goals require your action. Here’s the thing…it takes nothing to dream, to get lost in your thoughts of what could be. It’s comfortable to dream in the privacy of your own mind. Have you ever heard the saying, “The devil’s in the details”? It exists because it takes intentional work to get through the details of accomplishing life changing goals. What if I told you your DREAM, DESTINY, and DETERMINATION are in the details? Well, they are and now you need to be a part of figuring out some of those details.

So, I started thinking about this in terms of what you need, and that's really to know that you are enough and can do this, whatever THIS is. Here’s the challenge: Think of six words that you can adopt as personal affirmations. Here’s just a few to help you get started:

1. Solitude begets gratitude which begets favor.

2. Fearlessly embrace the lessons of failure.

3. Attack that which makes you uncomfortable.

4. AT ALL COST, REBRAND YOUR FEAR