The Suck Factor

If there were only one thing that were crucial to success, I think it would be this: the devout acceptance that everything sucks. You cannot escape The Suck Factor.

Whether you’re a professional athlete, actor, writer, banker, lawyer, teacher, photographer, guide, trucker, you can be guaranteed of two things: 1) You will always have days that suck; and 2) The sucking is a test — a threshold guardian — that, if passed, will deliver you to a higher state of functioning. Of course, if you quit, well, then the Suck Factor won.

I’ve had several discussions lately along the lines of, “I’m really not psyched with where I am right now. What do you think?” While wanting something better is always worthwhile and a great driver of continuous improvement, I don’t think true progress can happen over the long-term without the happy resignation that nothing is perfect and it takes a f&^% load of work to make it fantastic.

When I was between 18 and 25, I think I was a pretty normal person, searching for “the perfect [insert noun here].” However, now 34, I’ve accepted that pretty much anything can be made fantastic so long as I accept the Suck Factor.

Sure, the Suck Factor of working in a coal mine in Siberia is pretty high. So would being famous enough to make the cover of People, not to mention gun-in-the-mouth embarrassing. The Suck Factor of being a novelist with ten bestsellers, I guess, would be pretty low, but that fantasy ignores the truck load of work it took to write the first two. The trick is to either find something with a tolerable Suck Factor, or to accept a higher Suck Factor now, for a lower one later. Most importantly, let’s not delude ourselves into thinking the Suck Factor can be escaped.

Toward that end, I think there are four important ideas that can help:

1. Be Prepared to Endure. Positions in life with apparently low Suck Factors will be in high demand. That means competition will be fierce. Thus, the initial Suck Factor will be HIGHER than average — writing and sweating and crying before any of those books become bestsellers, for example. “You are NOT a beautiful and unique snowflake,” so accept the fact that you’re going to have to work your ass off.
2. Momentum is Your Greatest Ally. Need to make a change? Do NOT hit the brakes and start pedaling in the opposite direction. That wastes all of the potential energy you had while heading the wrong way. Instead, pedal harder and SPEED UP. Wait for the exit, and then accelerate into it. 
3. Ideas are Nothing Without Execution. Just like hitting the brakes kills momentum, waiting for direction before pedaling only leaves you camped at the intersection while other cyclists yell at you for blocking traffic. START PEDALING. The direction, at first, is irrelevant.
4. Don’t Trust the Psych. Passion is for beginners; inspiration is for amateurs. Kill the fantasy. Fairy tales are for kids. That initial excitement is from novelty, not this-is-for-me truth. Passion is feverish and free; love is calm and hard-earned.

It takes, on average, almost ten years of hard beatings to get your black belt in Brazilian Jujitsu. That is a rather high Suck Factor in my opinion. But can you imagine the joy of learning and knowing something so intimately? Do BJJ students, intent on their black belt, run and skip onto the mat every day? I think not. The Suck Factor is part of the deal.

A real black belt in anything will be just as difficult. If it’s worthwhile, it’ll be the hardest thing you ever do. The Suck Factor will loom, perhaps daily. Accept it.

Related Posts

1. Positive Pessimism
2. "Do I Suck Too?" : How to Tell in One Easy Question