2: A focus on the PRESENT instead of the PAST.

Isn't it true that most people are FINGER-POINTERS?

Isn't it true that most human beings love to BLAME their problems on other people and things?

The problem with this kind of thinking is where it takes us or, more truly, where it does not take us.  Imagine what would happen if every human being that ever lived thought that we are total prisoners of the past, and therefore that "it's someone else's fault."

The most enlightened, empowering times of our lives are those moments when we discover that "it is partially my fault, and there is something I can do about it."  All other conclusions about the problems in our lives often lead to hopelessness and despair until we realize that the only person we have any control over is our own selves!

So what does all of this have to do with Latent Cause Analysis?


Everything! 

Latent Cause Analysis (LCA) is a direct, overt, even BLUNT attempt to focus people on themselves as part of their problems instead of allowing them to point their fingers at other people and things.

 At the end of the inquiry, Latent Cause Analysis REQUIRES people to answer the following question:

What is it about the way I AM that contributed to this problem, and what am I willing to do about it?

Let's return to the bucket full of gadgets that are laying on the floor of my office.  If you recall in the last post, I explained that a lot of my behavior is the result of the way I was raised.  My father was a product of World War II, and my mother was a Pennsylvania Dutch home economics teacher.  Certainly, I suggested, they are part of the causes of the bucket full of gadgets laying on my floor.

But what good is it to "blame" my parents, or any other thing that has already happened?

Wouldn't it be so much more productive if I would stop for a moment, in response to the bucket full of gadgets on the floor, and look at myself (instead of my parents or other factors)?

Wouldn't I be better off, for the rest of my life, answering:

What is it about the way I am that contributed to this box of gadgets laying on my floor, and what am I willing to do about it?

Please note what has happened with this line of questioning.  Instead of focusing on the past, this question focuses us on the present.  Even more, instead of focusing on other people and things, this question focuses us on ourselves.

Latent Cause Analysis focuses people on the way they are at present, which, if not corrected will continue to cause problems in the future!

Important Points:

• Most people are "Finger-Pointers."
• Always thinking that "it's someone else's fault" leads to hopelessness and despair because we convince ourselves our lives are totally outside our control.
• The most important question to answer in a Latent Cause Analysis:  "What it is about the way I am that contributed to this problem, and what am I willing to do about it?"
• Latent Cause Analysis focuses on the present, instead of the past.
• Latent Cause Analysis asks people to look at themselves instead of blaming their problems on other people and things.

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