Philosophy Behind Hive Academy

Know why the battle is essential before you begin. Then, begin. 

Once upon a time, there was an ancient righteous man. 

He had such a pure heart and soul… 

When people looked at his face, it was enough to elevate their mood for all that day.

People came to him asking about the most challenging questions and problems they could not solve: health, money, relationships, threats, business…

His answers were mysterious and not often explicit…

He could say some short story, cite a few lines from a bible, sing a song, or give a slight hint. 

And most often, it helped to understand the solution, or somehow the problem was solved itself…

People of his time were sure that a righteous man sees the past and future, but he mostly remained silent to avoid discomforting others.

One young guy decided to discover the secret of that wise man…

He wanted to understand what he did to achieve such a level.

One night, he approached the man's hut, stepped up on an old bench, and silently looked inside the window.

The young guy saw the housemaster smiling and in a good mood. 

He had finished his supper, washed his hands, and came to the table full of books.

A wise man took a small leather journal and started intensively writing something there…

He wrote and wrote… and suddenly started crying.

The young guy was confused about what made the older man cry because a few minutes ago, everything was great.

But the older man was writing and crying.

Then a young man took a close look and saw how the master's tears were falling on the pages of that journal…

The guy was shocked…

At that moment, the bench moved to the side, and with a loud noise, the young guy fell.

The wise man heard the noise and went outside.

“Don’t be afraid,” - said the old man, looking into the frightened face of the guy…

And continued:

“A lot of people came to me to get help… They asked different questions. 

But through the years, nobody came with the question you came tonight.”

He took the young guy to his home, gave him some tea, and said:

“Every day, I write in my journal whatever I did wrong or did well during the day.

I think about my past and future and analyze my decisions, day, and emotions.

I also write about how I could better help others. 

I think about the struggles of others who come to me. 

Sometimes, I cry, and the tears go down my writing lines. 

When they fall, they remove all the ink from the page. 

The page becomes blank again, and so are the struggles of the people…”

The Transformative Power of the Easy Journaling Method & Hive Academy 

It is more about how growth is done.

This story is symbolic, but true transformation and internal growth require effort and “work.”

Despite this, more often than not, tricky roads lead to beautiful destinations…

There is a reason why I created this community and journaling method. 

In today's chaotic world, the power of independent thinking is unparalleled. It's a tool that can empower you to navigate through life's challenges with confidence. 

I know… 

For someone who gets used to relying on others—the government, parents, other people—rather than on inner strength, it can be frustrating to be “independent.”

By independent, I don’t mean to be an egoist or do whatever comes to mind. 

Understanding 'Independence' in the Context of Personal Growth

I consider myself an independent thinker who can rely on inner power and be the master of life no matter what happens outside. 

It gives enormous strength. 

I am a religious person and believe in one G-d…

(By the way, our community is religion-neutral: it works for Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and not religious people in the same way.).

But the other thing is that even G-d is not responsible for my growth and free will.

Have you ever heard: “God helps those who help themselves? ”

The universe gives me all the resources, life, brain, and heart.

But what I and you do with all these things at the end of the day is our responsibility.

We have free will.

I can’t outsource full responsibility for my life, decisions, habits, relationships, emotions, thinking, and problems to other people.

I learned these things and am talking about them the hard way.

I procrastinated on many essential things, gave up too soon, and did not believe in my possibilities.

Deep inside, unconsciously, I thought someone would come and save me.

Some mysterious rescuer (read: friend, spouse, parent, government, organization, G-d, religion, some guru, better circumstances and opportunities) will do all necessary work, thinking, soothe me, or make an important decision and change.

“No one is coming to save me; no one is coming to make life right for me; no one is coming to solve my problems. If I don’t do something, nothing will get better.”

— Nathaniel Branden

Please note that I am not saying you don’t need help from other people or positive communication with the outside world…

The Hive community is not just a place, it's a support system. It's a place where we help each other thrive, where your journey is not a solitary one.

However, I learned that I was not unique in my outlook on life.

Things started to change when I took responsibility for my life, stopped outsourcing my thinking to others, and improved the way I thought.

So, all these methods you discover on your journey in Hive are about becoming a better objective thinker.

To sharpen thinking skills about different aspects of your life.

Our goal is to start thinking more clearly and, as a result, behave in a different way, which I will talk more about soon.

But the act of thinking is a complex activity in itself.

I am not talking here about automatic thinking that occurs on autopilot but about mental activities that require some effort, such as evaluating, judging, calculating, comparing, interpreting, wondering, imagining, identifying, observing, reflecting, analyzing, visualizing, supposing, and meta-thinking (thinking about thinking).

It is a way of thinking that can help change and improve your life.

Good news is that this type of thinking doesn't require you to have a PhD, be a professor, or have a significant IQ.

But as Henry Ford famously said: 

“Thinking is the hardest work, which is probably why so few engage in it.”

And there is a scientific biological explanation of why it is so.

Our body is an incredibly complex mechanism that tries to minimize the energy it uses to preserve its survival.

While you sleep, your brain uses around 20% of body energy.

When you are awake and active, it uses more energy; when actively thinking, it uses even more.

This is why chess players and people in intensive intellectual professions can lose 4-5 kg of fluid during their activities.

That's why being overwhelmed with problems or complex decisions and continually thinking about them can lead to exhaustion and loss of energy. 

Because of this, our brains leverage various strategies to minimize thinking and reduce energy loss. 

Some of such strategies are:

• Habitual thoughts—When we continue making the same decisions in a similar situation, always thinking they are the best, without giving conscious thought, these reactions become habitual thanks to repetition.

• Unconscious automatic behaviors - when you do the same things unconsciously without giving a thought. For example, it is a good thing to cook your favorite food on autopilot repeatedly. Without such automatic behavior, we would need to think hard about the processes too often and have no power for other essential tasks. But it can be a terrible pattern if someone wants to get in shape and automatically eats too many donuts every evening and promises himself that the next day will be different.

• Generalization is when our brain simplifies some concepts and sees local situations, outcomes, and events as accurate in all similar cases. For example, if a person gets hurt by his friend, he decides that making new friends is dangerous from now on because all future friends will do the same.

• Guessing and wishful thinking occur when our brain estimates or supposes (something) without sufficient information to be sure of its accuracy.

• Blind spots and ignorance occur when our brains do not see important information, don't pay attention to it, or deny it.  

When used on autopilot without proper changes, such brain strategies can lead to failed dreams, unnecessary risks, mistakes, broken relationships, misunderstandings, losses, mental problems, underachievements, procrastination, getting stuck on career paths, and other negative consequences. 

That's why your thinking determines the level of your success in every area of your life.

You are what you think.

Hive Academy and Easy Journaling Method are about elevating your mindset and using journaling as a tool.

This is the main reason why I created this community, project, and this method.

I don’t see value in journaling for journaling.

At the same time, I don’t say that journaling is all you require to solve your life challenges and problems.

You also need proper action, luck, help, learning, and collaboration with others, which you can get from the Hive community and me.

But before taking action and rushing, some thinking in a journal can help.

So, for example, after making a mistake, it can be an excellent habit to analyze it in a journal and not repeat it twice.

Journaling helps to express your thinking, strategize, ponder, relax, and reflect.

As a mirror shows the reflection of your body, a journal helps to reflect your thoughts. 

It is hard to look at our faces without a mirror. 

Similarly, reflecting on thoughts that continuously flow inside one's head can be very difficult.

And the moment you put your thoughts and ideas on paper, you get a more objective look.

That's why journaling is a process of learning a new way to see yourself and the world around you.

What it does is raise your consciousness.

Let me give you a quick example.

Minor Assignment for 5-10 minutes

Think about any relationships with a particular person you want to improve. 

Ideally, it should be love relationships, but it can also be essential friendships or relationships with parents, siblings, or children.

Whatever comes first into your mind, choose it.

If no relationships come into your mind, select relationships with yourself (you can continually improve them).

Now divide the page of your journal into 2 parts. 

On the left side, write all the good and positive things you do for the other party (or yourself if you choose relationships with yourself).

Write at least 3-5 things that express your love - so you see positive results from doing it to others.

After you finish, go to the right side.

Look inside yourself, and remember you sabotage your relationships with others.

Nobody will see it. 

It is for your eyes only.

Remember what you did or said that made the quality of the relationships worse.

Be honest with yourself and write a few things you can stop doing (or doing something in other ways) inside relationships that can improve it.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of the other side.

You may need to pay more attention to the needs of that important person.

Are you sending critical statements to the other side?

Stop for a few minutes, do this simple exercise, and return.

The moment you start doing such exercise, what is done is that you are beginning to break automatic behaviors.

You become more aware of the situation by putting it in front of you on paper.

Just realizing and seeing things as they are can change the way you think about and act in such situations.

This exercise can seem simplistic… 

Yet many people don’t think about doing such a simple exercise and would prefer conflict.

To be correct but not wise…

That is why, for example, it is not enough to read self-help books for growth and transformation.

Let’s say I picked up a strong self-help book and read it in a few days.

I was so inspired and motivated by the content that I did not do any exercise advised in a book or write a single takeaway to remember.

More often than not, in this case, such motivation disappears very soon, and no change occurs.

Great information and ideas should be remembered or taken action on.

So what do we do? 

In search of additional mental pleasure, we picked one more cool book or watched one more video on the internet.

Time passes, and we get smarter but stay in the same place.

As I touched on the topic of self-help books, I want to give you an example of how often people neglect the importance of quality of thinking.

One of the most famous self-improvement books, Think and Grow Rich, has a section about accurate thinking.

Interestingly, many people like this book, but only a tiny percentage of people love part of it about accurate thinking.

They simply don’t think it is so important.

Many readers liked things like visualization, intense desire, setting goals…

However, too few appreciated the accuracy of the thinking topics in the book because of the reasons you now can understand.

That's why journaling can help to put those ideas you receive from external sources of information into action.

Think about thinking (do metathinking), and make your judgment more accurate.

Writing down something causes our mind to concentrate on that thing intensely.

It can change your thoughts.

The process of conscious writing forces particular neurons in our brain to group and make new powerful connections.

This can change behavior, influence our beliefs, and, as a result, our actions.

When you commit to your goal or an idea in written form (which most people don’t), you are more likely to honor that commitment.

It works because people who commit on paper want that idea or goal congruent with their self-image.

Even if the original incentive or motivation is removed after they already agreed and committed, they will continue to honor the agreement.

That's why writing by hand is crucial in a digital age of gadgets.

My strong computer science background and knowledge of technology make me an even bigger believer in analog writing.

The process of writing by hand sharpens thinking and makes it more clear.

It triggers connections in our brains that we have used for thousands of years since writing appeared.

With all that has been said about improving thinking, it is essential to note the goal of the Easy Journaling Method.

There are different types of journaling….

The goal of Easy Journaling and Hive community is your growth and positive change in life.

Journaling is just a tool that I found very powerful.

It is all about:

• a new set of actions and habits, 
• getting new perspectives on life and problems, 
• getting new bright ideas, 
• coming to a better emotional state, 
• making better quality decisions that bring you more happiness and overall life satisfaction.

This method is a set of personal development tools for journaling, which you can use to coach yourself and create your dream life.

I consider myself pragmatic, so I created this methodology for my personal development. because I wanted to see results and change

I can’t journal for 3 hours a day just to journal and not take action or change my life…

That's why products about the “law of attraction” were and probably still are so popular.

Using the law of attraction techniques, people visualize their lives changing and think that checks of money will automatically flow into their lives or dreams come true while sitting in the room!

The Easy Journaling Method is about something other than that.

Because in this way, from a helpful habit, journaling can become a destructive and toxic waste of time.

Thinking is not the same as overthinking! 

After proper thinking, there is action.

That’s why all the training you will discover on your path to becoming a Journaling Wizard is practical and designed for real-life action.

Below is a simple illustration showing that journaling can improve thoughts, which lead to new actions, feelings, and results, and then the process repeats.

The task is not only to make you think better, but also to create a behavior change.

The bottom line is this:

Remember that the world will think for you if you don’t think for yourself.

What (that is crucial for your success) you don't understand about yourself or the world will eventually work against you.

It is your responsibility to understand it if you want to influence your life and future.

We have very little control over outside world events and people's behaviors, reactions, and emotions.

But we do have the ability to influence our lives, which always starts with the way we think.

And after you positively improve your life, think about what you can do for others around you.

For your families, friends, city, Hive community.

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And If I am only being for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" - Gillel