Celebrating Business Class

A friend recently asked me if he should upgrade to business class. My initial reaction was to mock him for spending so much money. It was quite the opposite to what he hoped for - he probably felt because he could now afford to fly business, I'd respect him more. That was not the case, but as I thought about it more, this mocking reaction of mine wasn't great and brought a ton of other problems.

Instead of celebrating him reaching this milestone, I was mocking him. Why? We both studied together and dreamed about working at consulting companies mainly for the flights and hotels, that too at company expense. And now that we could afford it ourselves, why was I mocking him?

Well, spending money on luxuries isn't something that was encouraged for me and my friends, most of whom grew up in middle-class families. That belief continues even though our circumstances have changed, and while that belief served us, it's not serving us anymore

By not celebrating these milestones, we look for a new goal and end up in this perpetual pursuit for the next best thing.

A big reason we chase things is to signal to others. You don't need to be a "show-off" but if you think about it, each one of us cares a lot about what our friends and family think of us. This drives a lot of our behaviour.

By celebrating milestones, you make others realise that they've come a long way and that might help them to take a pause and maybe avoid the endless pursuit.

They'll also realise the irony that these milestones don't matter. My friend had a great flight but apart from inspiring me to write this, I couldn't care less whether he flies coach, business, or private.