Embrace the Suck — The Reality of Credit and Collections

There’s a phrase I’ve always loved from Jocko Willink: “Embrace the suck.”

It’s simple, raw, and absolutely true…especially in the world of credit and collections.

Let’s be honest, our job isn’t glamorous. It’s not full of many thank yous or high fives.

It’s full of excuses, delays, and “the check is in the mail.” But that’s exactly why we do it, and why we’re built differently.

The Suck Is the Work

When the phone rings and it’s a customer dodging your call. That’s the suck.

When you’ve got a $75,000 balance aging past 90 days and sales is begging you not to “upset” the customer. That’s the suck.

When you’re untangling a payment mess that’s half human error, half wishful thinking. Yup, that’s the suck too.

But here’s the thing: the suck is the work.

Anyone can celebrate cash flow when things are running smooth. Real professionals show up when it’s messy. When it’s uncomfortable. When everyone else would rather hide behind an email chain.

That’s where the real value is created — not in the sunshine, but in the storm.

Discipline Equals Collections

Jocko says, “Discipline equals freedom.”

In AR, discipline equals collections. It’s the follow-ups no one else wants to send. It’s the daily review of aging reports before your coffee. It’s holding your ground when sales pressures you to “just give them another week.”

You can’t control when someone pays, but you can control your process. Your consistency. Your standards. Every time you document a conversation, send a reminder, log a dispute, or enforce a policy — you’re building freedom. Freedom from panic. Freedom from chaos. Freedom from that “end-of-month scramble” that everyone else lives in.

Find the Calm in the Chaos

Embracing the suck doesn’t mean enjoying it. It means owning it.

Leaning into the hard stuff until it becomes muscle memory. You start to see patterns. You start to anticipate problems before they start. You become the calm voice in the storm. The person who doesn’t panic when things go wrong.

Because in credit and collections, things will go wrong. That’s not failure. That’s reality. The professionals who thrive are the ones who stop fighting it and start mastering it.

Final Thought

Credit and collections isn’t always fun. It’s not always fair. But it IS absolutely necessary.

If you can learn to embrace the suck, to push through the uncomfortable, repetitive, and thankless parts, you’ll find something better on the other side.

Control. Consistency. Confidence. That’s what separates the good from the great. You can’t eliminate the hard parts of AR. You can only master them.

Embrace the suck! That’s where the growth happens.