CAC stands for choice, action, consequence. If you are a creative writer, check out last week’s post. If you’re anyone else, this post is for you.

Use CAC to

• accept past choices, actions, and the lessons you can learn,
• explore options, plan, and act, and
• elicit feedback and buy-in.

The method is simple:

1. Apply the character’s algorithm and given conditions to a set of options.
2. Assess or predict the flow of choices, actions, and consequences.

Character’s Algorithm & Conditions

Think about a novel. The author writes the story based on everything they know about the main character (the character’s algorithm) and the circumstances that exist at the time the options become available (the given conditions).

The character’s algorithm includes

• backstory,
• individual traits,
• group traits,
• talents,
• flaws,
• motivations,
• goals,
• obstacles,
• relationships, and
• long-term environment.

The given conditions include the environment, relationships, stressors, needs, constraints, and anything else that might impact the character in the moment.

In life, every person and organization has its own character’s algorithm. Every set of options has its own set of given conditions.

Retrospective CAC

Inevitability

Inevitability is the sense that past choices made, actions taken, and resulting consequences were necessary or unavoidable.

The ending of a novel feels inevitable when the reader understands the character’s choices, actions, and consequence in the context of the character’s development and the story circumstances.

In life, someone’s past feels inevitable when their choices, actions, and consequences are viewed through the lenses of their actual development and circumstances.

Let Go & Learn

Use CAC retrospectively to avoid shaming, blaming, or obsessing over the past. When evaluating the past, focus on the specifics of the point in time when options were available. At that point:

• What were the available options?
• What was the person’s (or organization’s) algorithm?
• What were the given conditions?
• Based on those answers, were the choices, actions, and consequences inevitable?

If the past was inevitable, let it go. Otherwise, recognize where a lesson exists, learn it, and then let the past go.

Prospective CAC

Individuals and organizations can use CAC prospectively to evaluate options and predict outcomes. When considering potential choices and actions, focus on the specifics of the present. Right now:

• What options are available?
• What is your algorithm?
• What conditions impact you or your options?
• Based on those answers, which choices and actions are likely to bring your most desirable consequences?

When you repeatedly align decisions and actions to best consequences, you shift your algorithm. Future outcomes become more desirable and occur more often.

Use CAC to communicate your position. Others may be persuaded or may raise previously unconsidered elements of the algorithm or conditions. Either improves the process.

Clear Your Roadblocks

Every time you employ CAC, your perspective sharpens. With a bit of practice, you might just:

• let go easier,
• be more decisive,
• act more mindfully,
• convince more people, and
• improve future outcomes.