by Scotty Fargo
Aristotle was all for the embodiment of excellence, characterized well by his quote, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” This article serves as a reflection of what I have learned as a cadet at West Point about the importance of deliberately embracing the suck in the pursuit of excellence. I define ‘the suck’ as an obstacle that presents the opportunity to challenge oneself.
The idea of embracing the suck has become somewhat of a platitude in the military and as such it has lost its deeper meaning. Embracing brings forth the notion of committing oneself to something completely. It is much deeper than simply attempting or accepting, but rather, it is enthusiastically pursuing something. That activity needs to be challenging. West Point, like many other training environments in the military, facilitates an environment where students can leverage many opportunities to embrace the suck. It creates a space dedicated to the pursuit of excellence through challenging experiences. West Point defines this as the Leader Growth Model, which is “the continuous cycle of gaining new knowledge and capacities by engaging in challenging experiences.”
I would have grown more by actively participating in my development and deliberately embracing opportunities to challenge myself. I offer the perspective of someone who did not get it right. I spent too much time going through the motions of trying to “get through” the suck, instead of deliberately embracing the opportunity. This is not a call to do anything differently, but rather to think differently about what we do.
Reframing embracing the suck induces exponential growth. Practical Wisdom by Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe illustrates the importance of doing the right thing the right way. Schwartz writes:
Aristotle’s Ethics was not an abstract discourse on human good or “right” behavior. Its subject was what we needed to learn in order to succeed at our practices and flourish as human beings…Aristotle called these traits “excellence” (arete) often translated as virtues…[and] the virtue at the heart of his Ethics was practical wisdom.
Framing is crucial. It is not about what specific challenge (suck) we embrace, but rather how we embrace it. Embracing the suck in the pursuit of excellence requires us to pursue virtue for the sake of virtue, not for the sake of appearance or accomplishment.
Cadets spend four years where their primary focus is self-development, but often fail to take advantage of the staff and faculty that are committed to our growth. In other words, we are not deliberately embracing the suck. In our society there is a culture of pursuing hard things for the sake of accomplishment and accolades, as opposed to a commitment to continuous improvement. I feel like we hold a similar perspective when it comes to embracing the suck. Often we embrace the suck trying to “get through it” to reach the metaphorical finish line. This attitude holds us back from reaching our highest potential.
Reframing embracing the suck offers a way to combat the ever-present imposter syndrome. There is no opportunity for growth too small or insignificant. It is easy to focus on realizing success in an individual challenge and miss the greater significance of doing challenging things. Many cadets spend their time “making it through,” but not deliberately embracing the suck. On one hand, this is a positive because it inspires motivation in the direction of excellence. However, this motivation is not as refined as it could be. This motivation is not enough to inspire me, other cadets, or officers and soldiers to put in the constant effort required to become our best selves.
We should not accept motivation that aligns the pursuit of excellence towards accomplishment (graduation) instead of towards continuous improvement (self-actualization). We need leaders committed to the latter. Cadets excel when the task and purpose are explicitly clear. The issue is that life does not have an explicitly clear task and purpose. As leaders, we will need to use practical wisdom to make tough decisions in “morally ambiguous situations.” Furthermore, to be the best leaders possible, we must cultivate an intrinsic motivation for our excellence, which aligns with the idea of pursuing virtue for the sake of virtue. It is common to respond to unsavory challenges by framing them as insignificant. This moral disengagement is the antithesis of the framing we should pursue. As Jocko Willink writes in Extreme Ownership “Leaders must own everything in their world.” It is essential to own our individual development and motivation every day.
At the end of the day, we do not get to choose what challenges we will face, only how we respond. The ability to choose the right response is something that must be developed. Choosing to deliberately embrace the suck and do hard things for the right reasons will help align our lives with serving a higher purpose. Every moment is an opportunity to grow towards being a leader that truly embraces the suck. I hope that we can all take advantage of the opportunity to live for a higher purpose through service, to pursue virtue for the sake of virtue, and wholly embrace the suck.
Jason “Scotty” Fargo is a member of the West Point class of 2024. He looks forward to starting flight school at the US Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Novosel.
