I spent years waiting for things to "happen". An opportunity, a client, a stroke of luck. I kept looking at what was already in front of me and thinking: when will this be mine?
Only later did I realize the error. Opportunity was never the problem. She was already there, standing still, indifferent — like a cow in the pasture. The problem was me, waiting for her to come to me.
The cow is neutral, not generous
The cow doesn't wake up wanting to give you anything. It grazes, chews, exists. It's not hostile, but it's not generous either. If you want milk, you have to go there, sit on the stool, and get it.
This is the distinction that changes everything: opportunity is not the same thing as result. The job opening exists — but someone has to insist. The customer exists — but someone has to call. The idea exists — but someone has to take it out of the drawer and put it to work.
Thinking that the world owes you milk just because the cow is there is the first mistake. And it's a costly mistake, because it keeps you standing still while others learn to milk.
The three ways to deal with the cow
Over time, I noticed that there are only three ways to react to an opportunity sitting in front of you:
Staring. This is the most comfortable and most expensive position. People talk about the cow, they speculate about the milk, but they never leave the place. In the end, the hunger remains the same.
Try once and give up. You get close, get kicked — literal or metaphorical — and conclude “it’s not for me”. The initial kickback is confused with a final verdict, when in fact it is just part of the process.
Back every day. It's the only position that produces real milk. Not because she's more talented, but because she's the only one who continues to appear after the first kick.
The cow does not distinguish between these three people. Give the same milk to those who know how to express it. The difference was never in her — it was always in whoever approached.
Where this usually fails
Most people don't fail for lack of cows. It fails because it confuses two different moments: the moment of seeing the opportunity and the moment of acting on it.
Seeing is easy. Everyone sees the vacancy, the untapped market, the obvious idea that no one has yet executed well. Taking action is where most people get stuck — because taking action requires boring repetition, dirty hands, and accepting that the first results will be poor before they are good.
It wasn't until I started treating "acting" as a discipline—not a moment of inspiration—that things began to change.
What changed for me
I didn't stop seeing opportunities as other people's luck. I started to see them as work that had not yet been done by anyone — including me.
This changes the question I ask every day. I no longer ask “why hasn’t this happened to me yet”. I ask "have I been there to take it?" It's a more uncomfortable question, but it's the only one that really moves something.
The cow is still there. Always has been. The only thing that needed to change was me.
The cow does not give milk. We you need to express her milk.