MONEY: How to take your seat at the table of prosperity

Imagine if life were a table with seats around it and as long as you were alive, there was a seat at the table for you. Having a seat comes with responsibility, and at the end of your life you would be asked to give an account of what you did with that privilege.

If that moment was today, what answer would you give? Would you prove that you were worthy of the seat you were given?

We complain about life a lot. We complain about our jobs, salaries, the government and the world. We blame our parents, our spouses, and the education we did or did not receive. Sometimes we even blame God. We give all sorts of reasons why we cannot get our act together. Now I am not saying that some of these reasons do not have merit. They do. However, there are some people who go beyond complaining and decide to make the changes they desire to see. The vast majority of complainers, however, are on the sidelines. While some of the things we complain about are beyond our control, there are things we complain about that are a result of our own choices. Complaining is easy because it distracts us from doing things differently, but action is what taking your unique seat on the table is about. It’s about discovering what truly gives us fulfilment and makes us grow. It’s about making the change we need to make.

USE YOUR SPECIAL RESOURCES

Everybody was given something that they can use. Will you use it and develop it, or simply go with the flow? Going with the flow is buying into how life is supposed to be rather than what it can be. We have been so conditioned to think in a certain way that we do not recognise what we have. We get caught up in the career title and we cannot see what we are really good at is working with people among other natural skills. When you go with the flow, any work opportunity that comes your way has to align to the title and money, rather than the impact you could make and the joy that comes with it. So the career becomes this shell covered up with nice cars and fancy club memberships. We are trapped, only that the trap looks like it’s made of gold. Title with no substance. The seat at the table is about substance, not your title. There are those of us who are so controlled by a regular income that we never explore that thought that is telling us to start a business. We give in to fear and other people’s perceptions, year in and year out. Then there are those of us who just show up at work to earn money and it’s obvious. You give nothing of your true self in your role (which is actually what would make you stand out and help your case in a salary review). We wonder then why we live pay check to pay check, yet our only motive for working is the pay check. To stop the rat race would mean we have done the work of connecting with a different motive which most of us are not willing to do. There are some of us who will do anything, and I mean anything, to ‘make it’.  We will lie, cheat, steal, manipulate or step on others to get it done. We wonder how someone else with so much less looks so content and peaceful and secretly envy them. Or how others who have “made it’ in line with their core values and integrity seem to have a natural inner confidence we envy and cannot acquire with shortcuts. There are those of us defined by circumstances rather than letting those circumstances lead to growth. Failure and hardship is part of developing the muscle to fully utilise your seat on the table.  Your challenges will not look like somebody else’s because you were not put here to nurture the same muscle. Therefore, stop comparing yourself with other people and be bold enough to walk your own journey.

DEFINE YOUR PURPOSE

I’ve mentioned just a few ways to occupy your seat at the table, but your seat at the table could be anything. It could be about becoming a stay-at-home parent, vying for a leadership position, mentoring, writing a book, going back to work, starting a business, etc. Only you can define it. So this year let’s commit to taking our seat at the table. Let’s try to discover what that seat is and understand that it will never look like somebody else’s seat. Let’s understand the resources that came with the seat. Maybe drawing comes naturally. Other resources may have been added  along the way e.g. networks, skills, etc. Let’s accept how the seat will stretch us. Let’s enjoy the blessing of the seat without feeling guilty. Let’s grow. Let’s make an impact in our own ways and above all, take our seats at the table.

Waceke runs personal finance and entrepreneurship coaching programmes. To sign up, email her at [email protected] | Facebook.com/centonomy