After a recent speaking engagement on the east coast, I was routed to fly home through Atlanta, eventually on to New Orleans. When arriving in Atlanta, the departure screen for my flight indicated a delay — which is not at all unusual, of course. When I arrived at the departure gate, “delay” turned to “cancelled” because of a mechanical failure. This happens. 

cancelled_flightOne fellow then approached the gate agent with the look of a bull rushing a red cape. He launched into a tirade blaming Delta for not getting him home to New Orleans, thus keeping him stuck in Atlanta for the night. The thing is there was still one more flight departing Atlanta for New Orleans that evening. While the rest of us were re-booking on this last flight out, he was still at the counter fuming, and he missed out.

Some people seek to blame as if they’re bloodhounds tracking a scent because they’re obsessed with assigning fault to someone or something else; yet the source of the problem is staring them in the face.

Blame is always externalizing in that it places the onus for fixing what happened or what went wrong elsewhere. This creates inertia by keeping the focus on the problem, thus there’s no forward movement, leaving the solution lost somewhere in the ether.

Adverse circumstances may very well not be our fault, but we’re probably going to have some responsibility for fixing them.

Realizing and embracing this mindset means we’re well on our way to turning pro in life.