Could Trash Cans Hold the Secret to Happiness?

This essay originally appeared in the Monday morning newsletter on 1/13/20.

Matthew Hussey is a life coach and popular Youtuber with 1.9 million subscribers. He is dubbed “the world’s leading dating advice expert for women.” Which, TBH, elicited an eye roll from me. However, I listened to this podcast interview with him and found myself loving his message. I took away a lot from the episode, and there was one story in particular that stuck with me.

At the end of the podcast, Matthew talked about visiting Disney World for the first time as a kid. What he remembers can sound strange… because it has to do with the trash cans. 

According to Matthew, the trash cans were different depending on the part of the park you were in. There was a futuristic one in TomorrowLand and one covered with bamboos near the Indiana Jones ride. Matthew was amazed by this. It meant someone cared about the experience so much that even trash cans were taken into consideration while designing the park.

As he started working with people on relationships, the trash can memory resurfaced with another meaning. Matthew realized that while something like Space Mountain is definitely a memorable part of a Disney trip (you even get a picture to take home!), you only ride it once or twice. But you use the trash cans every 30 minutes. It’s a good thing that someone cared about the trash cans because it was a regularly occurring, given opportunity to interact with customers. To relate this back to his work, Matthew made the analogy that relationships are defined more by the “trash cans” (little things) instead of the “Space Mountains” (the big, once-in-a-while things). 

I really liked this analogy. When relating it to my personal circumstances, I realized I could apply it to two areas of my life besides relationships: my daily routine and my professional persona. 

For my daily routine, I thought about those “trash cans” that I come in contact with on a day-to-day basis. Could I optimize any of these things for a better daily experience? 

We cannot spend our lives waiting for that trip or a new job or for when we are in a relationship (“the Space Mountains”). If we are trying to cultivate happiness, we need to find ways to fall in love with our regular day-to-day life. It’s a daunting task, but maybe this trash can analogy can help us uncover ways to spark daily joy. For example:

• Let’s say you have a long daily commute to work that’s less-than ideal. Have you tried using the time to listen to audiobooks or podcasts or to call a friend?
• Maybe coffee is something you drink every morning and that brings you joy (hi, me!). Consider investing in the type of coffee machine that you would be excited to use every day. 
• Knowing that I bring lunch to work almost every day, I threw away my old Tupperware that was falling apart and purchased this pretty salad bowl when it was on sale. Such a small thing, but I smile each time I use it.
• Think about the areas of your home that you spend the most time in.  What are tiny tweaks you can make? Whether it’s decluttering, bringing in candles and blankets to make it cozy or rearranging the furniture, think about how to optimize the everyday space for your usage. 

I also liked the analogy for a professional setting. It made me think about those given deliverables at work that I produce on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Am I consistent with the quality of work that I’m producing with these given touch points? Am I using them to consistently communicate the type of employee I want to be? I’ll end with a quote by Samuel Johnson that sums everything up nicely: “It is by studying the little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.”

Don’t underestimate or overlook the little things. Little things have a lot of power and can bring a lot of happiness to our relationships, daily life and work. 

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