Written By Eugene Morgan
“People always have that tendency to put off working on a problem to tomorrow,” Milton Erickson.
Working on a problem isn’t always fun and games. When we put off working on a problem, it stays in front of us. It never leaves our sight. It hovers around the top of our heads like flies—waiting for us to do something about it.
When a problem is dealt with, it’s no longer in front us, it’s behind us; we have noticed it lessened our anxiety level; we have realized that we have made the problem bigger than it actually was; and we have felt the weight of the problem lifted from us. So whatever the problem was, we got through it, since we have experienced working through it before.
Erickson is implying, in the above quote, that the capacity in us can help us deal with the problem. Notice that Erickson says “working on a problem;” not fixing or solving a problem. He wants us to begin the process of working on a problem today; thus giving our full attention on the problem today.
If today was tomorrow and will be yesterday, then there is nothing we can do about tomorrow and/or yesterday, but we can about today!