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_{Exploring frictional cost, cynicism, and schedules}

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

What’s inside?

• One tool 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 tool to experiment with:}

Frictional Cost:

Cost is a frictional obstacle between us and a decision. If the cost exceeds our threshold, we avoid the purchase or decision. But if the cost or friction is inconsequential, we pass go. 

Here, a useful question is born: How might we engineer frictional cost into our lives? Frictional cost to help us dodge the puddles that soak our shoes on a daily basis. 

I’ll share a personal example.

It’s not directly related to money, but I think you’ll see this principle effective in many arenas. It’s a habit pattern that might ring familiar to you, and one that costs me a lot of precious time.

I’ve had a terrible habit of subconsciously, and frequently, “checking” email or social media for updates. Have you ever been there? Opening the app without thinking, pulling down the email slot machine to see what reward might wait on the other side.

Yes — slot machine.

Social media and email apps have an addictive slot machine programmed into them. Pull down on the screen and the wonderful waiting wheel spins, and on the other side of that spinning waiting wheel is a vast world of variable possibilities.

The variable piece is very important. Without it, the habit dies out. It’s this variable reward structure that keeps me, and maybe you, hooked into these apps like a Skinner rat. Our brains release more and more dopamine as the rewards are variable and unpredictable. With increasing futility, we pull the lever more and more, seeking the reward, which in modern society is a new email, a new post, a new notification, or a new status update.

The dispersion of these outcomes glues us to the machines and hijacks our time.

In radar we investigated the danger of small purchases; how our guards don’t catch the small dollars that slip through, and the giant craters these small dollars leave in our lives when stacked together.

Well, time is the same. 

Spending an hour on a task is a detectable radar event. You see this as a real commitment with a real time cost. But 30 seconds to a minute never registers — just like the small expense. 

The story ends the same here: disregarding the small pieces of time eventually deletes the day. Distraction by distraction, notification by notification. And the less time means less opportunity to employ that time productively on the projects that will produce meaningful differences in our lives. 

This plague of “checking” has been the thief of my day.

Constantly rolling the dopamine dice, anticipating any new reward that might be waiting.

But alas, the beauty is in the control. The ability I have, that you have, to exercise agency over the problem. And since no one’s forcing me to check email or social media, turning the frequency dial is my choice, every time. While this is a controllable, it’s become a subconscious, automatic habit.

This is where we need a little friction as a mechanism to block ourselves, from ourselves. We must engineer a friction barrier that makes it painful and difficult — socially, physically, or financially — to engage with the previous routine.

Here are some friction building blocks to consider:

Social Cost: You confess to a spouse, friend, or social media following each time you fall into the bad habit. 

Time Cost: Delete apps to force yourself to spend time to re-download the apps when you want to engage, place the phone in another room, adding time to go retrieve it, etc.

Financial Cost: You have to pay someone for missing the mark, or engaging in the bad habit.

To avoid the email checking plague, I am keeping my phone out of my pocket. That’s it. It’s such a tiny time cost to walk into another room and get my phone, but it works. Sitting on the couch? My phone’s in the kitchen. In the office writing? My phone’s not with me.

Being aware of the little time expenses means saving hours in aggregate.

What are your small time costs, and how might you design a little friction to prevent them?

_{Two quotes on cynicism:}

Don’t let a cynical perspective invade and establish a blockade against your money progress.

_{Three questions on schedules:}

1. What if I scheduled the activity I want to do in the margins of my day?

2. Where am I relying on motivation and discipline and feeling instead of simply following the orders of a schedule?

3. How might a schedule add purpose to my day?

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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