From my experience there is a strong correlation between people who sit in the middle seats on airplanes and how interesting they are. You can even add in an extra dimension of time in seat and how necessary the route is. For example, people who fly on the middle seat to Hawaii from the lower 48 are probably doing it for leisure instead of doing it for business. Taking the Hawaii example further it seems like people who have the money to be in Hawaii but opt to not pay extra for an aisle or window seat have something special about them.

I believe the these people do not care about their comfort for a known period of time in order to experience unknown comforts later. In other words, delaying pleasure in order to experience greater amounts of pleasure later. This willingness to endure temporary discomfort isn’t just about airplane seats, it’s a pattern you can spot everywhere once you start looking from relationships, to finances, to careers. To me it feels like a the opposite of gambling where you are the house and you win every time: you lose 6 hours of comfort on a plane for the gratitude of being in Hawaii for 7 days. Kobe Bryant sacrificed countless comfortable mornings of sleep, enduring hours of discomfort in the gym to achieve greatness on the court.

This trait might also explain why some people seem to consistently “level up” in life while others stay stuck. The person who is fine with the middle seat might be the same person who lives with roommates in their early career to save for a house down payment, or who drives an older car while investing the difference. They’re mathematicians of their own happiness, calculating the net positive outcome of their temporary discomfort.