The Burj Khalifa's spire adds 200 meters of uninhabitable height purely for the record. What 'spires' have you added to your own life — achievements, credentials, possessions — that serve no purpose but to be seen?

Architects call it 'vanity height' — the gap between a building's highest occupied floor and its architectural top. The Burj Khalifa's vanity height is roughly 24%. Industry average for supertalls is 30%. We build empty space to claim a number. Humans do the same: degrees we don't use, titles that don't reflect responsibility, possessions that never leave boxes. The spire isn't inherently wrong — symbols matter. But knowing which parts of your life are structure and which are spire lets you choose deliberately.