THE CARNOUSTIE EFFECT
Today, a colleague of mine mentioned the CARNOUSTIE EFFECT - something I have never heard before.
And immediately, I could relate it to so many different occasions in my own life, both professional and personal.
I am surprised this is not a common board-room terminology, thrown around by consultants and CXOs / senior management all year round to explain what was going on (before throwing up their hands in despair).
If you have heard about this for the first time .. let me introduce you to the very interesting and pretty much universal phenomenon!
THE CARNOUSTIE EFFECT ...
... is a term arising after the 1999 Open Golf Championship at Carnoustie, Scotland, when the world's greatest players, many of whom were reared on manicured and relatively windless courses, failed to play to theoretical par for the distance and were frustrated by the unexpected difficulties of the Carnoustie links compounded by the weather.
Even the winner finished six strokes over par. Complaints about the difficulty of the ancient Carnoustie course, which is played over every day by local residents, were loudest from the most fancied professionals. Their frustration inspired the phrase.
The Carnoustie effect is defined as "that degree of mental and psychic shock experienced on collision with reality by those whose expectations are founded on false assumptions."
This being a psychological term, it can be applied to any undertaking which goes wrong when unsuspected difficulties are encountered. The term has been used of military operations which have gone awry after being started in expectation of easy victory, as well as to money lost on stock markets when gains had been anticipated.
Think about it. WE go through life based on our assumptions and more often than not, the assumptions are not just wrong but they are false. When we face reality, we are surprised, we are shocked, we are disappointed, we feel cheated, we feel defeated. The emotional and mental toll is huge. The way we react to that surprise pretty much defines the strength of our motivation to go forward and face the situation.
As they say, life is not what happens to us; it is how we react to what happens to us. Life is about how we face life.
Life is about how strongly we can ignore the Carnoustie effect. How strongly you can overcome it.
And ultimately how can you avoid it entirely !!
The Carnoustie effect - "that degree of mental and psychic shock experienced on collision with reality by those whose expectations are founded on false assumptions."
I must say, I love the use of the words 'psychic shock' and 'collision with reality' in the definition !! Quite colourful and visually charged definition :)
Your thoughts ???
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