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_{Exploring 0 to 1 and 1 to N, distraction, and screen time}

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

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_{One idea to experiment with:}

0 to 1 and 1 to N

Even while brimming with excitement and wonder at the dormant adventures that come with new beginnings, early stages are slow and painful.

Painful, because we don’t have the ability to see through to the end, causing us to float in a void of uncertainty.
Slow, because we constantly stop to research, redo, or reconfigure our initial efforts.

Starting anything new is going from 0 → 1.
From no context, no experience, no preset knowledge—to a place where infrastructure begins to take shape: roads paved, paths marked, bridges built.

However, getting the infrastructure is slow going because we’re inefficient at the start.

We gather too many resources, trying to vet which will serve us best.
We research every alternative with exacting rigor.
We move at an uncertain pace, cautiously assessing our new environment as we explore.

In the journey from 0 → 1, we also suffer from delayed feedback.
We make a small adjustment, hoping for a positive response—but there’s nothing, radio silence.

Like saving, investing, or learning anything for the first time, it’s not until much later that you find yourself hand-in-hand with the results you so desperately wanted from the start.
You’re not sure if your approach works, because you’ve never done this before.
There’s no archival history to query offering that coveted reassurance, no mental map to light the way. The room is dark, your hands are on the wall, and you’re fumbling as you make your way.

And worst of all, you’re projecting the current experience into the future, believing this clunky, inefficient, painful experience must be how it will always be. This unchecked internal pressure creates a swirl of narcosis that causes 0 → 1 travelers to jump off the path, permanently.

Going from 1 → N is different.
It’s exploring with infrastructure.
The lights are on in the once-dark room.
Paved roads guide you to your destination.
It’s fast. It’s liberating. But it’s not easy and doesn’t happen without the pain shouldered in the 0 → 1 phase.

As a new-ish parent, I’m living this in real time.

Prior babysitting experience? Sorta helpful.
But it’s not the same.
As new parents we went into this blind, 0 → 1.

We’re still in the part of the process where feedback from our systems is murky at best.

We don’t know the knock-on effects of soothing techniques.
We don’t know how long teething fussiness lasts.
We don’t know if sleep regression ever ends.
We don’t know how much tummy time creates a baby Einstein.
We don’t know a lot.

And because we have no prior comparison—no other children—we don’t hold the knowledge of experienced others in our own minds.
And when the reassuring advice and encouragement comes, our minds elevate the classic “easy for you to say” rebuttal:
“But you didn’t have the mix of ingredients we have. So how do you know?”

Of course, parenting is a different domain than learning to invest.
But broadly speaking, I think the idea carries and outlines two primary archetypes of the 0 → 1 / 1 → N journey:

1. The Infrastructure Archetype

Here, you're building a path from A to B.
Once it’s built, you know that walking the same path will consistently get you to the same destination.
It provides near-certain predictive power, earned through repetition that produced low variance results.

This is mainly pertinent to skill acquisition.

2. The Adaptive Archetype

This one fits better with parenting—and other higher-variance domains.
By embarking on many 0 → 1 journeys, you develop a “I know I’ll figure it out” mindset.

If you’ve traveled extensively, navigating foreign cities where you don’t speak the language and don’t have cell service, then stepping into a new country fits this model.

You haven’t walked these streets before—but you’ve walked streets like them.
That’s your 1.
You’re faster and more efficient in the unknown because you’ve accumulated tools to deal with the uncertainty.

Uncertainty still exists, but your 1 → N confidence alchemizes the uncertainty into adventure.

Each day as a parent is another rep into the adaptive archetype, which reframes the struggle into adventure. The days are hard, but we’ve dealt with hard days before, so we know we’ll figure it out.

Whatever skill you’re developing, whatever you’re trying to learn, whatever phase you’re in, keep reminding yourself that it’s a game of reps. That to win, we must accrue reps and we must avoid predicting outcomes from an incomplete infrastructure.

_{Two quotes on distraction:}

Distractions pollute the air around us, and steal minutes from hours, hours from days. Instead of forcing focus, avoid distraction. Walk the other way.

_{Three questions on screen time:}

1. How much time do I spend on my phone each day?

2. What if I deleted that app, or silenced those notifications that capture most of my time?

3. What do I want to reinvest this time into?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at [email protected]

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

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