Think about summertime experiences like going to a concert, visiting a theme park, or taking a vacation.
At the airport, you may be standing in a security line while others pass through the PreCheck line with minimal delay. You may pass by an airport lounge. Those people get to wait for their flight in the lounge, while you sit on the bench in front of the gate. Boarding the aircraft, you notice people seated in first class while you make your way to your seat. Those people are flying first class, while you are in main cabin.
At a concert or sporting event, you might notice some people enjoying the show from the front row, or from a private box with catered food and drinks.
Arriving at a nice restaurant, you may pass by a sign for valet parking on the way to the self-parking lot. Valet parking is a thing that other people do, but not you.
Checking in to a hotel, you may be staying in a standard room, rather than a suite. But someone will be staying in the suite on their trip.
Walking around the pool area at a resort, you may see another party or group that has reserved a cabana.
All of these are examples of people in life who are doing the slightly better version of the thing you are also doing.
My ambition in life is to be one of “those people.” Those people who are having a more pleasant, more convenient, more expensive version of the same activity or event.
I don’t mean all the time, of course. I want to experience the airport lounge and to fly first class. I want to have great seats at a concert. But I do want to have the experience of being “that guy,” at least once.
I love saving money as much as the next person. I like a good value for my money. Up to this point (close to 40), I have lived my life in the economy seat, the economy car, the cheapest hotel rooms.
Would spending more increase my overall enjoyment of the experience? I want to find out. Would spending 10x more make me 10x happier? No, I don’t believe it would.
I am interested in finding out which experiences where a moderate increase in cost makes the overall enjoyment much better for me.
This leads into different concepts in economics such as: diminishing marginal returns, opportunity cost, and maximum utility. I like that stuff.
Rather than going through life with the mindset of “that costs too much, I would never do that”, I have the mindset that “what do those people know that I don’t know? Is it worth it to do what they are doing?” I would like to find out, at least once, for myself.
