Introduction: What is thinKING?

I have something to tell you.

… because it quietly changed the world.

Forever.

If you only read three small ONE BIG story in your life — it should be this.

1Story No. 1

2Story No. 2

3Story No. 3

But put the cork back in the champagne — we won’t celebrate now.

We have work to do, because there’s something very strange here.

Three completely unrelated stories.

But wait!

Take a step back.

They have something in common.

Let’s take another step back…

See?

They are the answer!

Answer to what?

The most important question, ever.

A question that no man can answer, not even:

• Plato, Homer & the ancient Greek religion
• Christianity, Islam & medieval’s popular religions
• The Gilgamesh Project & today’s modern ideologies

A question that humanity has been searching for the answer to, since… the beginning of time.

It’s THE question.

The question, that — without further ado — sounds like this:

What is the secret of immortality?

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Ladies and gentlemen! Please allow me to introduce the answer — in only one sentence.

There are only two (so far discovered) ways to become immortal:

Be a king — or be a kingmaker.

“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.”

—Benjamin Franklin

Two words. Two immortality. One way to achieve both.

… and this, my friend, is the real king.

The king has a name

Yes, diamonds are forever. Just like Santa Claus. Or Amerigo Vespucci.

We all know them — they’re kings.

But without the real king, they would be:

• just a rock
• some ashes
• and a scary green garden dwarf

The real king is the one who has true power. It is what made them famous, respected… immortal.

The real king, who is none other than:

Content.

Because, as you know (cliché alert!) content is king.

No shit.

Breaking news!

No, it’s… it’s more. I can hear Apple’s screaming: revolutionary!!!

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I know, I know — get the fuck out of here with my trivial bullshit.

But listen to me!

It won’t be the usual “content is king” nonsense — I swear.

So don’t click away.

Wow, that was close. I almost lost you.

Now that we’re past that, I’ll write it down again:

Content is king.

In fact, it always has been.

All that happened was: the internet. Today, everybody has an encyclopaedia in their pocket. But the world has always been about content, since man’s awakening to consciousness.

Just think of the stars in the sky:

Or our planet among them:

Or the people on it:

Where there is man, there is content.

And when we think about eternal masterpieces, there is one civilization that is absolutely crushed it:

Ancient Greece.

Let’s see:

• The Histories by Herodotus — one of the most famous history books… for more than 2500 years
• Republic by Plato — one of the world’s most influential works of philosophy and political theory
• Aesop’s Fables — thousands of years old tales that contain so much wisdom that we still quote them today

… and who doesn’t know Iliad.¹ As we know it today: young Brad Pitt with his shirtless body Troy.

It’s a skill.

And the ancient Greeks understood this skill very well.

“Admittedly the current burst of improvement dates back only to the Renaissance, which was preceded by a dismal period of stagnation, in which European scientific culture was frozen at the level achieved by the Greeks.”

—Richard Dawkins

Just think about Socrates.

… who was the teacher of Plato.

… who was the teacher of Aristotle.

… who was the teacher of Alexander the Great.

Pretty insignificant guys, right?

And they were each other’s masters!

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

As you may have read about me: I really hate practicality without theoretical knowledge. But they were different…

• Socrates was the founder of Western philosophy
• Plato was the founder of the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world — and often cited as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality
• Aristotle did so many things I won’t even begin to list them

… oh, and Alexander the Great — a picture is worth a thousand words.

What was their secret?

• Talent? There were plenty of other talented people who are rotten and forgotten by now.
• Inheritance? Genetically, they were not a family.
• Luck? Please.

They were just extremely efficient at accumulating knowledge content.

No wonder Aristotle is called the philosopher of reason — the synonym of thinking.

They did great, historical things… again and again.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

—Aristotle

So perhaps it is fair to assume: they knew something we didn’t.

They were all kings — or kingmakers.

… which has burned their names into our minds for thousands of years.

And not just in one person. In everyone’s.

• just like the idea of “Olympics”
• or the word “Europe”
• and the “Trojan horse”

Yes, ancient Greece was the perfect kingmaker factory.

… and thanks to it, when you read “Trojan horse”, you can see it right in front of you.

It’s magic.

That is why I will present my thinking model with this story.

And that’s why the design of DiMOLNAR became Greek.

Because, even though 2500 years have passed, everyone knows what I’m talking about.

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.

—John F. Kennedy

Thinking is a skill.

But don’t think that this skill only worked in ancient times. As you will see soon, the human brain has long been unchanged. What worked thousands of years ago, still works today.

… and this can be observed in the top companies:

… in the oldest religions:

… or in the winning political campaigns:

And if it’s in the toolbox of the businessmen, religious leaders and politicians at the highest level, you can be damn sure that it can also be found in the organizations they manage — whether it’s:

• a city-sized webstore
• a city-state
• or a whole country

Is this a good thing?

Unfortunately, sometimes it falls into the wrong hands.

But fortunately, other times it lands in the right places.

It doesn’t matter if it happens on a micro or large scale.

It doesn’t matter if it took place yesterday, today or tomorrow.

It doesn’t matter if it’s used on clay tablets, basalt steles or bronze discs.

It works!

And it works fucking effectively.

It’s one of the most influential skill (of the two) in the 21st century.

Just think about it: who is the most influential (private) person in the world today?

— Elon Musk.

And how did he become that?

— Rocket science.

And how did he master rocket science?

— Content!

“It’s self-taught. I don’t have an aerospace degree. I’ve read a lot of books and talk to a lot of smart people and have a great team.”

—Elon Musk

Welcome to the information age

Everything that surrounds us is content:

• the books you read
• the talks you listen to
• the team meetings
• the previous Youtube video you watched
• your grandma’s recipes
• an Oscar-winning documentary
• a viral blog post
• the Superbowl ads
• your friends’ latest tweets
• the presidential campaign
• your kid’s textbook

… and this guide? Content.

Words. Ideas. Information.

It’s all content.

Anything that entertains, educates or just blows your mind.

It’s much more than blogging, video-making or podcasting. My art and craft of reasoning is happening on “paper” — but it could’ve in person, in meetings, podcasts, public speaking or even in the metaverse.

The point is the thinking.

… and its principles are universal, whatever the medium.

• the facts
• the reality
• the truth

Let me show you.

1First, the illusion.

IDE VALAMI COGNITIVE BIAS KELL, MINT A METROBAN NEW YORK TIMEST OLVASO EMBEREK EGYETEMISTAK VAGY KOZEPISKOLASOK? BASIC ERRORS IN HUMAN JUDGEMENT.
If you want to create peace, you need looooong sentences, lots of commas, and some calm association — like a tree house, a bed full of pillows, a crackling fireplace… and maybe a book in your hand. It’s snowing.

In this case, the consumer will get comfortable, calm down, visualize — and relax.

2Then, the reality.

If you want to create stress, you need speed.

Short sentences.

Zero commas.

Emotions.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

A fast truck. Loud noises. Countdown.

In this case, the consumer can feel the high stakes — and pay attention.

It can happen:

• in a conversation
• in the shower
• on paper

NO-MATTER-THE-MEDIUM. The principles are the same.

Thinking is an easy-to-learn and hard-to-master skill. But as long as you follow the rules of information processing, you will be well prepared.

… and with content, you can build something much bigger.

A brand.

What is a brand?

It’s the core. The essence. The brain inside the skull (skull = content).

There is a quote that says it all.

“Good advertising builds sales. Great advertising builds factories.”

—Bill Bernbach

In this context:

• the advertising is the content
• the factory is the brand

… but this is far from just advertising or branding.

It’s like the puzzle pieces (content) that fit together to form one big picture (brand).

The brand is the whole, which is more than the sum of its parts.

Just as human life is more than the collection of muscles and bones.

Let me ask you something:

• If Isaac Newton were alive and found a new law of physics, would you test it?
• If Thomas Edison invented a new technology, would you try it?
• If Elon Musk launched a new product, would you buy it?

You don’t know the product — heck, it doesn’t even exist yet —, but you are already hungry for it.

This is the power of personal brands.

The brand is the sum of its content:

• All the discoveries (infinitesimal calculus, laws of motion, universal gravitation, …) that Newton found.
• All the inventions (phonograph, motion picture camera, lightbulb, …) that Edison patented.
• All the products (PayPal financial technology, Tesla cars, SpaceX rockets, …) that Musk created.

… and everything that comes to mind when you think about them:

• emotions
• thoughts
• gossips
• names
• benefits
• smells
• words
• stories
• memories
• hope

Everything.

It’s THE idea.

You build the idea (brand) with information (content).

… and with a brand in your head, you can change the world.

“Money doesn’t change the world, ideas do.”

—Naval RAVIKANT

It can make you:

• a billionaire
• a celebrity
• or a rockstar

Everyone got a brain. All you need is to think — and content.

Content is king.

Brand is the kingdom.

… but you are the real king.

But — as I promised — the clichés lasted until now, because let’s be honest:

Not all content is king.

The king… and the plethos

Yes, content is king.

Sometimes.

The problem is… not every content is king. In fact, most of them are not.

99.99%.

You’ve probably noticed that there’s a lot of fucking noise.

If you want to stand out, consuming is not enough.

There is an old saying:

“You are what you eat”.

It’s true — both literally and figuratively.

To show how true the assumption is, we should quote Waldo, “the most gifted of the Americans” according to Nietzsche, and the “master” of Walt Whitman.

“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you eat it, will you become it? Yes! Your body can only work with what you give it.

Including your brain.

“You and I are not what we eat; we are what we think.”

—WALTER INGLIS ANDERSON

Think about the QWERTY keyboard layout.

It’s everywhere — on your phone, laptop, television.

But there’s a different kind of keyboard layout where typing feels like your fingers are dancing with each other:

• 20% less effort
• 68% more accuracy
• 74% faster typing

Yet, everyone uses QWERTY.

Or the English language.

Everyone speaks it — it has become the universal language.

Even though there is one that:

• artificially created as a universal language
• independent, not the native language of any nation
• you can learn in 200 hours (compared to 2000 hours of English)

Yet, now you read in English.

Why?

There is a never-ending battle between product and marketing people about it.

“It’s not creative unless it sells.”

—David Ogilvy

VS.

“In the end, you win through superior craftsmanship, not marketing.”

—ROBERT GREENE

… and between theoreticians and practitioners.

“He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.”

—Leonardo Da Vinci

VS.

“In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.”

—Benjamin Brewster

I’ll tell you a secret:

You need both.

Because theory (without practice) is illusion, and practice (without theory) is blind. Pointless or mindless.

You need to build the marketing in the product.

Like SpaceX:

• 0$ in ad spend
• just a few, remarkable product
• achieves more than the next top 5 space program, combined

… including NASA.

That’s the goal.

“Which is better, engineers or scientists? Aren’t scientists better? Wasn’t Einstein the smartest person? I’m more like the gardener, and then there are the flowers. If there’s no garden, there’s no flowers. I could try to be a flower in the garden, or I could try to make sure there is a garden. So I’m trying to make sure there is a garden, such that in the future, many Feynmans may bloom.”

—Elon Musk

Even if you sell something, the consumers will only give a shit to the something.

As James Clear said:

“Good marketing can sell once, but only a good product can sell twice.”

It is not enough that you can sell. You need SOMETHING to sell.

And if you think about it, you constantly need something to sell:

• selling your product
• selling your idea
• selling your vision

… and even selling yourself.

“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.”

—Mahatma Gandhi

Things should sound completely the same in your head than they do outside.

It’s translation — from the world, to your brain.

Watching, reading, learning… doesn’t matter. What matters is that in the process, you should lose as little as possible.

• It’s not just consumption
• Nor is it just creation

You need both the power of the ideas — and the wisdom of making them reality.

Thinking, execution.

Inner world, outer word.

Both.

So who is the king after all?

The king

The mastermind who crafts the idea — and then makes it happen.

Thinking & building.

Not one or the other. Both.

A king is not in the news. (S)he is the news.
A king doesn’t predict. (S)he is the shaper of the world.
A king doesn’t seek the attention, (S)he controls it.

In a business sense:

1. The king consumes content to feed the brain — books, advices or other king’s ideas.
2. Then, the king turns the contents into king — thoughts, ideas, inventions.
3. Therefore, the king becomes a real king — like the richest man in the world.

… so eventually, if you can create a king, you are the king.

Content consumer < Thinker < King.

They do the same — on a different scale.

A king is someone who can change the world… just with their ideas.

But how?

To change the world, change people’s behavior.
To change people’s behavior, change how they think.
To change how they think, learn how to craft and build ideas.

“The world we have created is a product of our thinking.”

—Albert Einstein

The rewards?

Kids will love you — even when they grow up.

Women will love you — even when you die.

Everyone will love you — even if you have never lived.

And eventually… you can become immortal.

“Anything with the power to make you laugh over thirty years later isn’t a waste of time. I think something like that is very close to immortality.”

—Stephen King

Sounds good.

… but Houston, we have a problem.

It’s much easier said than done. It’s FUCKING hard.

This is where our patterns come into play.

The art & craft of Thinking

• Are you single — or married?
• Are you reading this from the U.S., India or Hungary?
• Are you a social person — or do you prefer to be alone?

I don’t know.

But I know that you hate hunger. Lack of sleep. Pain. The taste of earwax. The smell of stinky socks. Youtube ads.

People are different — but not as different as you think.

Our brains (and how they’re functioning) are the same.

This blog is about exactly that… the general principles behind the brain information processing.

In other words:

The way of processing information that the human brain loves so much that it sets the body in motion.

All the invisible factors that affect us, but we cannot see. And everything that we feel, but… are not told.

Welcome on DiMOLNAR.

“The mind is just like a muscle — the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets and the more it can expand.”

—Idowu Koyenikan

The secret workout plan of our brain.

… and the mission to CRAFT (AND IMPLEMENT) GREAT FUCKING IDEAS.

But not just one. With this knowledge under our arms, we are trying to achieve what we call:

Systematic inventive thinking.

Badass.

… but what the fuck is it?

Well, here’s an inventor.

One day something very strange happened: he had an idea!

So he set out to make it happen.

He’s happy, because he created something truly epic — a masterpiece.

This puts him in the top 1%.

Then he creates a new masterpiece!

But… nobody likes it.

… because it’s not a masterpiece.

And he doesn’t know why the first was a masterpiece.

In this case, the idea is the boss — a one-hit wonder.

But if he can repeat it, then he obviously has a system to create great fucking content.

In this case, the inventor is the boss — a king.

This is systematic inventive thinking.

Or, by another name:

Kingmaking.

… and this is how you can become a king.

Systematic inventive thinkers share common habits.

And if you understand a pattern really well, you can reverse it.

Again and again.

I summon Aristotle to remind you what he said.

Aristotle, pls.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

—Aristotle

So all we have to do is:

Understanding the principles behind great fucking thinkers. And then becoming a great fucking thinker yourself.

It is astonishing that everyone who achieves creative success does so with intuition and subconscious.

“It’s like washing a pig. I’m serious. It’s exactly like washing a pig. It’s messy; it has no rules, no clear beginning, middle, or end; it’s kind of a pain in the ass, and when you’re done, you’re not sure if the pig is clean or even why you were washing a pig in the first place. Welcome to the creative department.”

—Luke Sullivan

We are here to change that.

If you look around the web, everybody shit the tactics out of themselves, because it is the easiest to reproduce — the shortest, the fastest, the most convenient.

But it fucking bothers me that no one is talking about the underlying principles.

Just tactics, no system thinking.

But if you know the principles, and you can use them systematically — and maybe sprinkle a few techniques on it at the end — you’ll have the perfect ice cream.

The bad news: There is no single, perfect recipe.
The good news: There are general patterns that always work.

When you improve yourself, these patterns are multipliers. They will not guarantee greatness — but they will increase the chances.

This is not marketing!

If the king is ugly as a frog, marketing just makes it a frog in a suit.

In contrast, the patterns turn the frog into a prince.

Without principles: You’ll always be like you create for the first time. Random.
With principles: You can create much faster, easier… and more successfully.

Yes, there are some things we use unconsciously to create ideas.

It’s called creativity.

… but it’s only 1% of the creation.

For everything else, here’s DiMOLNAR.

“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”

—THOMAS EDISON

The great library

So there are patterns behind creativity.

… and these patterns are reeaaaally precious.

But, where are they?

To my disappointment, nowhere.

• “It’s creativity, it cannot be taught”
• ”If it could be passed on, everybody would use it”
• “Every creator is unique”

No patterns.

I fucking see them, we all see the power they have, but officially they “don’t exist”.

Phantoms… phantoms everywhere.

Those who use them don’t bother to tell them — or they just hide their secret.

Whatever the reason, I couldn’t find a framework to improve my thinking, my motivation, my productivity… or just polish my ideas.

So I created it.

• hundreds of books
• thousands of videos
• millions of words

… and 10 years of hard work, here it is.

A framework to creativity. To self-improvement. To productivity. Goals. Motivation. Cognitive biases. Habits. Health. Decision-making. Happiness. Success. Greatness.

DiMOLNAR is the Great Library of Alexandria… for thinking.

It’s the “greatest hits” of kings.

… packaged into a step-by-step process that anyone can use.

There are hundreds of blogs with tactics. Here, you can learn the common patterns of the winning ones.

The biggest tech algorithms change from day to day. The human brain has remained unchanged for thousands of years. Everything you will learn is evergreen.

Learn once… know it for the rest of your life.

Call it however you want:

• growth
• evolutionary psychology
• habits
• invention
• artwork
• branding
• science
• influence
• thinking
• creativity

It’s about us, people.

Our physical system — the brain.
And our mental system — the ideas.

We’ll explore everything to invent yourself.

Like mental models. Or cognitive biases. And Aristotle’s model of thinking.

I will introduce you to Richard Thaler, the “father of behavioral economics“. And William James, who is the ”father of psychology”. I have already mentioned Herodotus, the “father of history”. I will mention Robert Cialdini, the “grandfather of influence”.

… and I swear I don’t have a father complex.

Freud will tell you. Or Daniel Kahneman, the first psychologist to win a Nobel Prize… in economics.

Thanks to Richard Dawkins, who made me love the theory of evolution. Thanks to Charles Darwin, who created the theory of evolution. And special thanks to James Clear, who were the epitome of inspiration with his legendary book: Atomic Habits.

“Your body adapts to what you eat. Your mind adapts to what you consume. Your soul adapts to what you love.
What you feed yourself today is who you become tomorrow.”

—James Clear

That’s why I named my model “the EAT framework”.

In his honor.

“If I had seen further than others, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.”

—Newton

As you see from the list, this journey will be strongly science-backed (from academia to pop-science). But I will not bore anyone with experiments. These will be links only.

It will be deep, not wide. Just a few articles… in 3 big parts.

The good news?

It will be fully learnable — for everyone!

Remember the Greeks, from Socrates to Alexander the Great.

You’ll be able to use it in any industry — Hollywood, Madison Avenue, even Wall Street.

No matter if you are:

• Content creator
• Teacher
• Marketer
• Screenwriter
• Designer
• Lawyer
• Composer
• Startup founder
• Parent
• Influencer
• Showrunner
• Politician
• Producer
• Game developer
• Lobbyist
• Product manager

It’s for the 1% of the population (creators) who turn content into king for the 99% (consumers).

You probably already use 1-2 principles. Maybe you know a lot of them. But I will put them into a crazy-effective system.

Oh, and it’s all completely free.

(however, you can speed things up if you support me)

Who is DiMolnar?

Are you skeptical?

So am I.

That’s why I worked on it for a decade:

• studied psychology (inner world)
• applied marketing (outer word)

… to learn and practice everything that I found (here’s my story):

The theory and practice of building & selling.

My goal is to understand it better — through writing.

Do these patterns work?

This blog will be the proof. If you read it, that’s a good sign. If you are not here, it means I’m talking to myself like a fucking insane. Whatever the case, the model is not perfect — there will be mistakes! Help me to correct them, find patterns, dead ends… and solutions.

I’m not a scientist. I’m just fucking curious. Some of the principles come from research. But most come from personal observation. Casual reading. Work. Everyday learning. Content consumption. Personal experience.

“You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.”

—Daniel Kahneman

I did not invent the principles.

I’m a nobody — with an extreme interest in the human brain and its ideas.

These principles are the basic laws of nature.

I just found them and organized them.

… and I sprinkled a little (1%) creativity on them, to have fun along the journey.

Although I will illustrate the principles through writing (hence the fact that you are reading right now), they are everywhere — in sports, movies, laboratories… literally everywhere.

If you want to learn them, follow me on twitter, instagram and email, because I’ll present them a little differently everywhere. Same principles — different formats, insights and examples.

I’ll only write when I have something to say. Your email storage will be safe from me.

BUT!

If you’re going to continue reading this blog, I have to warn you.

Disclaimer

We will break the magic!

This game is all about attention. And kings exactly know how to keep their attention — and use it. For hours. Days. Decades.

Just think about:

• the epic books you consume on Sundays instead of create
• the marathons of Harry Potter instead of work
• or the late night binge-watching sessions on Netflix, knowing that tomorrow you’ll be washed shit

Kings don’t eat them — they made them.

If we reverse their patterns, it will break the magic.

If you don’t want to ruin the kings… stop reading!

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Okay, I’m just kidding.

You will enjoy the content the same way, because we have a paradox.

We all think ads work — but not on us.

I have bad news.

These are your patterns, too. It doesn’t matter if you recognize them or not, they will affect you.

Believe me, I know a lot about them… but they don’t give a fuck, they affect me.

Remember the diamond story?

Look at my wife’s hand.

The principles work, even if you know them — or maybe I’m just stupid?

Probably both.

… but the former is backed up by a lot of research.

Which monster is bigger?

Same size. Your mind is just playing tricks on you.

“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they’ve been fooled.”

—Unknown

Accept it, as early in your career as you can:

There’s no immunity.

That is exactly why they are so dangerous.

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”

—Oscar Wilde

This knowledge will unleash something.

Please, for God’s sake, take it very seriously!

Just because you can’t see the patterns, they are here — like gravity. It’s a fucking powerful force.

If you learn it, you’ll get superpower.

Seriously.

„Yes, books are dangerous. They should be dangerous — they contain ideas.“

—Pete Hautman

You can use it to make the world a better place — or mass manipulation.

The difference is intention.

• The hammer is one of the most useful tools in the world… or a perfect weapon.
• Trucks are the most important link in the trade chain… or mass murderers.
• Nuclear power is the cornerstone of civilization… or Chernobyl.

Every invention can be used for both good and bad purposes.

This applies to our thinking model, too.

Demagoguery, sanctification, dehumanization — they all work, but they are much easier to use for bad than good, so I won’t write about them. Let’s leave that to politics.

You need to choose!

There are two types of people in this world:

• those who create problems (destroyers)
• and those who solve them (builders)

“Libraries were full of ideas — perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.”

—Sarah J. Maas

I want to be one who builds, not destroys. And I want to be a lighthouse for people like me.

We play in the creator economy, not in power games.

So I ask the question:

Which are you?

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If you’ve cast your vote — let’s begin the show.

Enjoy the circus!

Welcome to the Academy of Greatness.

“Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought.”

—Blaise Pascal