Watch out for the 'Big Ben' problem

Don't miss out on cool things just because you can see them any time

In the book Happy Money, Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton describe a fascinating study: People who lived in London for an entire year reported visiting fewer landmarks than visitors who had been there two weeks. If you’re in London on vacation, Big Ben is a must-see. But if you live in London? Well, you can visit it any time…which often means you never visit.

Dunn and Norton coined the phrase the “Big Ben problem” to describe this tendency. We often miss out on things that are available at any time, even though we’d seize the opportunity in a more limited time frame.

I’m sure we can all identify the “Big Bens” in our lives. Despite living in the Murray Hill neighborhood of NYC for 7 years, I didn’t go to the top of the Empire State Building until after I moved away…and was visiting for the weekend. Almost any region has some sort of cool attraction or natural wonder that people spend lots of time and money visiting. If you live there, you, personally, don’t have to spend that kind of money!

So why not make it a goal to avoid the “Big Ben problem” over the rest of the year? There are 5 months until New Year’s, which means you could go to five “must-see” local attractions if you aimed for one a month.

You probably already know the big ones in your area, but if not, do a quick search. The Internet is full of lists like “Top 10 things to do in Cincinnati” or “Must-See Attractions in Providence.” Pretend you’re sending an email to an out-of-town relative about what they should make time for. Then, as you’re coming up with weekend adventures, pull one from the list.

Or maybe you could even hit one of these attractions on a weekday! After all, if you live there, you don’t have to travel or make a hotel reservation or confine your visit to a peak travel time when you’re off work (but so is everyone else). Indeed, for a number of attractions you could just choose a time when the lines would be smallest. When you’re a tourist in your own town, you get to see cool things — but also avoid the hassles of actually being a tourist. That’s a win all the way around.