Many, ranging from gangsters to politicians, have been credited with the quote, “You’re either at the table, or on the menu.” Make sure you are at the table. If not, you will likely end up on the menu. Do you ever feel as if you are being served up as chopped liver when those around you look and taste like sirloin? Are you striving to do something important in life, and find that you have not done what you set out to do? Perhaps you are not at the table. Whenever I feel like yesterday’s bread, I go to the kitchen and cook! Why? Because I choose to be proactive. I am choosing to do something rather than wallowing in my funk. It is in this moment, that I remind myself that I have choices, and that I choose to be at the table rather than landing on the menu. It is better to choose what we want rather than have someone choose for us. While the latter allows us to blame others when we fail, proactively making our own choices allows us the freedom to go where we want to go… to reach heights we never thought we could scale. After all, it is easier to move beyond our own shortcomings than to allow others to place us where we do not want to be.
When you get a place at the table, who will you invite to join you? Be careful now. That is not always an easy choice. Whatever you do, choose those persons who believe in you, who accept you with all your wild and wonderfully creative ideas, and who root for you no matter what. The number of seats at the table does not matter. It just needs to matter to you. I am far more likely to excel, create, and live life to the fullest, when I am surrounded by persons whom I choose to be near. Who will be along for your journey? The choice is yours.
