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. Have you ever felt you were being served up as chopped liver when those around you looked and tasted like sirloin? Are you striving to do something important in life, and find that you have not done what you set out to do? Whenever I feel like yesterday’s bread, I go to the kitchen and cook! Why? I am choosing to do something rather than wallowing in my funk. It is in this moment, I remind myself that I have choices, and I choose to be at the table rather than landing on the menu. I’d rather choose what I want rather than have someone choose for me. While the latter allows me to blame others when I fail, making my own choices allows me the freedom to go where I want to go… to reach heights I never thought I could scale.
When you get a place at the table, who will you invite to join you? That’s 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.
