Lost Identity Analysis

A Personal Root Cause Investigation

Joey Motokado

"There I laid on the couch, the usual spot, sucking on a THC vape pen, about to grab another snack, before a TV commercial changed my life."

Pencil sketch of a man sitting on a couch with his dog

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The Book

Lost Identity Analysis is a memoir built on a methodology. It applies an adapted version of TapRooT root cause analysis — a structured investigation system used in occupational health and safety — to the most personal incident of the author's life: the complete loss of his sense of self.

Ten chapters. Ten areas of investigation. Each one examined with the same analytical rigour applied to a serious workplace incident — and each one ending in formal findings and corrective actions.

The investigation spans relationships, places, people, and patterns across three decades. It asks how a man who was once comfortable in any room ended up unable to leave his house. And it follows the answer all the way down to the root.

A grandmother who survived displacement and never lost her warmth. A dog who got him out of the house when nothing else could. A pandemic that accelerated what was already breaking. A connection that existed entirely on a screen. A partner who tried to teach him things he was not ready to learn. A year in South Korea that proved he could start from nothing. The sports that gave him belonging every time he had to start over. The friends he kept at arm’s length. The career he lost in a polygraph room. And the parents whose framework he inherited — and is still learning to outgrow.

About Joey

Joey Motokado is a training development professional from Strathmore, Alberta. Over the last decade he has gone from writing safety courses to directing market development and business strategy for one of Canada’s leading online training companies. The through-line has always been the same: figure out what is needed and become that.

His career began in occupational health and safety, where he built training content that has reached hundreds of thousands of workers. Along the way he learned root cause analysis, investigation methodology, and the principle that surface causes are almost never the real ones.

In December 2022, a TV commercial forced him to see what he had become. In January 2023, he pointed those professional tools at himself. This book is the result of that investigation.

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Get the Book

How does a man who was once comfortable in any room end up unable to leave his house? This book follows that question all the way down to the root.

Lost Identity Analysis is for anyone who has ever looked in the mirror and not recognized the person staring back. It is part memoir, part investigation, part corrective action plan — written for people who are done accepting surface-level explanations for how they got where they are.

If you work in safety, training, or human performance, you will recognize the methodology. If you have ever lost yourself, you will recognize the story.

Available now on Amazon.

Amazon.ca Amazon.com

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Speaking & Inquiries

Joey speaks to audiences who are tired of the usual self-help platitudes — people who want a framework, not a feeling. His talks draw on a decade in occupational health and safety and the personal investigation that became this book.

Root Cause Analysis for Real Life How a workplace investigation methodology can be turned inward to understand the patterns, decisions, and environments that shaped who you became.

The Investigation You Owe Yourself Why surface-level explanations keep us stuck — and what happens when you treat your own life like a serious incident worth investigating.

From Safety Professional to Subject A candid look at going from writing training content for hundreds of thousands of workers to becoming the case study. What the OHS world can teach us about personal accountability.

Available for keynotes, workshops, panels, and podcast interviews.

Reach him at jmotokado@gmail.com