Olle Lindholm

Things I believe

2026-03-22T10:59:00.490991+00:00

People need people

We meet people for a reason, a season, a moment or a lifetime.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with a group.
Say nice things to others. Show gratitude to the people around you.

Perfect is boring

Test, get feedback quickly. Readjust as needed.
Be present. It's the greatest gift you can give to others, but also to yourself.
Two things can be true at once. Strong opinions, held loosely.
Your availability is your best ability: “80% of success is showing up".

Attitude is a choice

Mind is a muscle: grow your mindset.
Have fun with it.
Scared? Think: What would 10-year-old Olle do?

Take your own needs seriously.

Start with the basics: Sleep, food, drink water, exercise and meeting friends. Build from there.
Compare yourself to yourself.
Practice identifying your thinking traps. Where do you get stuck?
Practice self-compassion. Would you talk like this to your best friend? Be kind to yourself.

Strong opinions, held loosely.

Learn from others. See what they have already figured out. Test it for yourself. Pick what is useful. Remember: do more of what works for you.
Broaden your behavioural repertoire: learn to do more things, in different ways.
Increase cognitive flexibility: think in various ways depending on what the situation requires. Use mental models.

Boundaries are your friend

Remove before you add. Remember via negativa.
Communicate assertively, work with boundaries. Boundaries make you surprisingly creative.
Listen more than you talk.

Live what you teach

Life is the greatest teacher. Be generous. Pay it forward.
Life is a lifelong journey of learning. Till the die I die. Which hill am I willing to die on?
Do the things I want, with the people I want, whenever I want, for as long as I want.

Inspiration & thanks

So many people have inspired this page. Friends, family, mentors, teachers, supervisors, but also other writers across the internet. A special thanks to:

Their websites inspired the making of this page. Check them out and the Indieweb principles if you're interested in learning more. Thank you!

Over to you

Which values and principles matter to you? Please do share them, I am genuinely interested in this kind of work. You can contact me here if you want. Cheers and take care!

Book club books

2026-03-15T18:41:22.141354+00:00

I've been part of a book club since 2022. Thought I'd share the books we've read so far. As a record of sorts. Enjoy!

Dune by Frank Herbert¹
The City We Became N.K. Jemisin
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark
The Actual by Inua Ellams
The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Carrie by Stephen King
Your Wish is My Command by Deena Mohamed
The Assertiveness Workbook by Randy J. Paterson
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Department Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
All Fours by Miranda July
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert²
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life by Suleika Jaouad
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab (currently reading)

They're all good books for a book circle. We've had some fruitful discussions, tasty meals, and a whole lot of fun. It's an excellent excuse to hang out. I am really grateful for the book club.

I'm always keen on getting more book recommendations. If you have any good books, please let me know.

I didn't finish this book. I "cheated" and watched the two movies instead.↩
I didn't finish this book, I got about a third way through and lost interest. I wasn't the only one in my book club to do this. Only one person finished it.↩

Go with a group

2026-01-10T11:24:43.865088+00:00

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with a group.

I've always been very fond of this quote¹ because I think it entails so much wisdom. It also reflects my own experiences with personal development.

Bear Blog

I recently switched over my personal website to Bear Blog. Not only am I a fan of the business philosophy behind the platform, I'm also pleasantly surprised by the supportive community.

I enjoy the way we're travelling as a group. Everyone is doing their thing on the platform, and we're learning from each other. I've been tinkering with CSS and playing around with different fonts. It's fun to fiddle around with my site like that!

With Bear Blog, I feel like I'm getting back to the simplicity and joy of blogging, which had been lost on me for quite some time.

Book Club

I joined a book club back in 2022. We've had an amazing run so far. I'm reading books I would never have picked up for myself, and I'm having discussions that make me think, too. Besides, we're having a blast hosting our dinners and we're creating a lot of fun memories in the process.

Writers' group

I've been a part of this group since 2019. We've supported each other's writing for seven years now. We follow a simple set up that works for us.

One person writes.
One person moderates.

How it works: The moderator creates a prompt. It's often a short, fun writing exercise to do before the session. We read it out loud before we workshop the writer's text.

The writer submits a text for the workshop. Everyone contributes. Only constructive feedback is allowed. We build each other up, not the other way around. Writing is difficult enough as it is. (On the whole, we tend to be our own worst critics.) That's about it.

The psychology program

Finally, the psychology program.

My classmates and I are entering our final year already! I can't believe we're already here. I wouldn't have come this far without them. We study together, help each other out, and have a jolly good time, even amid the stresses of exam period.

Which community are you part of? Are you travelling solo or with someone else?

Remember:

If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go with a group.

Look around for communities to join, or start a small group yourself. It can make a big difference.

I first came across this quote on Sean D'Souza's website Psychotactics.↩

My three words for 2026

2026-01-04T18:40:48.971529+00:00

Every year, I select three words to serve as guideposts for my efforts.

I take time to reflect on the past year, what worked and what didn’t. I try to gain a clear picture of what I want the next year (and beyond) to look like.

Sometimes, the words come from specific goals I’ve established. Other times, they come from core values I want to live by.

1. Need 🌱

What do I need?

It's a difficult question to answer sometimes. And it can be all too easy to overlook. Take your own needs seriously.

2. Apply 🎯

How will I apply what I've learned?

This year is all about applying myself to where my efforts are most needed.

Professionally, that includes my master's thesis and client work. I'll also be applying for a psychologist-in-training (PTP) position this year, which is exciting.

On a personal level, it's about nourishing and maintaining healthy relationships with family, friends and loved ones. It's also about healthy habits, such as exercise, eating home-cooked meals etc.

3. Embrace 🤗

Who or what will I embrace?

Embrace the future with warmth and optimism. Embrace the opportunities and the people you meet along the way, because you never know how long the moment will last.

Over to you

What words do you want to have an eye on this year? I'd love to hear about them :)

My three words over the years

2012: Listen. Act. Inspire.
2013: Live. Learn. Do.
2014: Dream. Create. Explore.
2015: Well-being. Kaizen. Leadership.
2016: Start. Observe. Adapt.
2017: Growth. Self-respect. Contribution.
2018: Simplicity. Primility. Creativity.
2019: Jump. Recharge. Improvise.
2020: Ask. Build. Sleep.
2021: Move. Think. Connect.
2022: Block. Finish. Breathe.
2023: Process. Win. Shine.
2024: Accept. Commit. Direct.
2025: Trigger. Practice. Balance.

Style guide

2025-11-15T11:17:32.976508+00:00

Writing is the medium through which I express myself. It allows me to explore new ideas, people, and perspectives.

Constraint is freedom – it supports creativity. Every playground needs its rules, just as every writer needs her toolbox.

This style guide is a reminder of what writing means to me: what I use it for, how I use it, and why I want to write. The choice is yours what to do with it. Enjoy!

Have fun

Write about the things that interest you. Look for that spark. Let curiosity guide your writing and follow those intuitions at every turn. Where will they take you?

If writing drags you down, choose to write about something else instead. You can always come back to it later. That's the beauty of writing.

Be Gorgeous and Daring

Do you remember when you learnt English for the first time?

I stood in front of the mirror and read passages from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I played with the words coming out of my mouth, figuring out their meanings and chuckled at the sound of "muggle" and "Hufflepuff".

The sound of language is a joy, so is the act of writing. Be Gorgeous as you listen to the pieces you write: please read them out loud, read them out loud, read them out loud!

Also: Be Daring. By that, I mean you write about the topics that matter to you. You stand for something, e.g. you stand up for people's rights to be who they are and the freedom to express themselves (even if you don't always agree with them).

Write for one person

Mostly, you write for yourself. By writing it down you preserve your thoughts and can come back to them later. This way, you can better spot how your thinking (and writing) have evolved over time. Writing is memory.

Sometimes, it's useful to change your perspective. If so, write for a friend. Picture the two of you sitting at a café, sharing your favourite hot drink, and discussing ideas that matter to you both. That's the tone I'm aiming for with my writing. Write for one person.

DO NOT write for search engines, AI, or "customer avatars" aka the masses – such guidelines are remnants of your past career in marketing. You don't need them now - let it go.

Write in plain English

Use short, familiar words over unnecessary jargon.

Only use jargon if you absolutely need to, and when and if you use it, always include a brief explanation so any novice reader can understand what on earth you're going on about.

There's nothing as disrespectful as alienating readers by using "big" words that they don't understand. You also risk losing them quicker than you can say the word "flamingo".

Be aware! DO NOT use big, complex words to make yourself sound smart. It's not worth it, and ironically it has the opposite effect. (Do YOU even know what you're talking about?)

Write as if you're explaining something to a ten-year-old. That's the real challenge. You worry that you will "dumb things down", but try it out and see what happens. You'll be surprised.

Writing in plain language is daring. You can't hide behind big words or abstract terms. You're doing everyone – least of all yourself – a huge favour!

So:

Have fun
Be Gorgeous and Daring
Write for one person (even if that one person is you)
Write in plain English

Above all, respect the reader and respect yourself. Everything else will be fine if you do that.

Swedish style guides

I also write in Swedish (although not on this blog), then the following resource is handy:

Myndigheternas skrivregler - åttonde upplagan

Editing tools

A few of my favourite editing tools are:

Hemingway Editor
Readability checker
Lix calculator – Swedish readability index

PS. This is a first draft. That's OK, Olle. Your style guide doesn't have to be perfect. Neither do you. You can always come back to it later. Break some rules ;)

Last updated: 15 November 2025, from my home in Sweden.

Happy Pride

2025-08-03T11:15:02.833949+00:00

I remember when I walked in the pride parade for the first time. It was some 15 years ago, and it meant a great deal to me then and it means a great deal to me now.

Representation matters. If you can see it, you can be it.

Walking around the city, feeling like you can be yourself without any excuses or fear of harassment. It is truly a wonderful feeling and something worth celebrating.

I am lucky to live in Sweden, where LGBTQ rights are protected and looked after. But I am not naive enough to understand that society can change. And it can happen in Sweden, too.

That’s why we need to keep marching, making our voices heard and lifting up those who need it the most.

Everyone has the right to be who they are and love whoever they want. It’s a hill I’m willing to die on.

Happy first Bear anniversary

2025-06-28T12:24:16.149448+00:00

I moved away from the Wordpress drama to the Bear blog community about a year ago. I couldn't have been happier.

I have found a community of fellow writers and bloggers who, like me, want to grow and learn. More importantly, I've found the joy of blogging again. Who would have thought?

I decided to upgrade to the lifetime subscription. I intend to stay on this platform for a long time, writing about my experiences and sharing what I learn along the way. I am looking forward to the journey.

Take your own needs seriously

2025-06-11T10:06:50.937820+00:00

My dental hygienist noticed something was wrong.

“Olle, are you okay?” she asked me. “Are you under a lot of stress at work?”

I lied and told her everything was fine. She sighed as she continued to clean out my gums, washing away the blood that dripped from my mouth.

I climbed the career ladder faster than most, and I saw no need to stop. I worked late nights, and thought about my job all the time.

After a while, my job took over everything. It robbed me from valuable time with friends and family, not to mention other fun activities. My life was out of balance, but I was blind to it.

What was worse, I became bitter – both towards myself and those around me. In hindsight, I hid parts of my identity to those I worked with. I couldn't bring my full self to work. Perhaps I experienced minority stress without knowing it.

These changes happened over several years. Like a slow-burning disease, they crept up on me. I refused to take my own needs seriously, and I ignored the early warning signs. In the end, I paid the price for it.

"The body keeps the score," as they say.

I finally went to see a therapist, who helped me get better.

And it led me to where I am today. Now, it's my turn to help others.

Consumption vs creation

2025-06-06T11:44:06.477332+00:00

I consumed a lot in May, perhaps more than usual. TV shows, YouTube videos, blogs, web courses, songs, and a play. I watched, read and listened to it all.

There's nothing wrong with consumption per se, but it's not the most fun role to play. Consumers are passive; they sit on the couch, waiting for the screen to light up so they can be fed all this information. The danger is that others will prey on your eyeballs to make money.

What's the function of consumption? When I look at my own consumption, it falls into three broad categories:

Entertainment
Distraction
Learning

1. Entertainment

I love good stories and storytelling. I really enjoyed The Pitt, The Last of Us, The White Lotus and The Sex Lives of College Girls. These shows made me laugh and cry and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Sports also falls into this category. The excitement after watching Sweden lose out against the US in the ice hockey semi finals... well, that was a surprisingly tough pill to swallow. I didn't think I would care that much, but apparently I did.

2. Distraction

Consumption serves as a way for me to regulate tough emotions. I watch funny or emotional clips when I'm anxious, sad or stressed (usually clips from musical artists or Graham Norton interviews).

Consumption in this context helps to distract me from thoughts or emotions by filling up my senses and directing my attention elsewhere (often to a screen). It works for a while. Until it doesn't. (In which case, going to the gym or calling a friend is a better option.)

3. Learning

This part is seductive. I'm a sucker for blogs, courses, educational videos, online forums and Reddits that discuss tech, psychology, history, personal growth/finance, and nearly any topic under the sun.

I fall into this consumption rabbit hole A LOT. The theme varies, lately it's been privacy or tech-related.

I had a major Roam Research and Obsidian phase, where I would watch videos and read articles for hours. I told myself I was being "productive" but the truth was that I was just keeping myself busy. Mainly searching for "the perfect system" or chasing "the hacks" or top tips. Could this consumption pattern also fall under bucket 1 and/or 2?

Recently, I finished a few web courses as part of my clinical training. Although the videos were informative, it felt like consumption. I watched a bunch of videos and answered a few multiple-choice questions afterwards. I learned a bit from them, but I doubt the information will be stored in my long-term memory.

Balancing consumption with creation

You need both consumption and creation in your life. It's a fine balancing act. But it's more fun to create, to share your voice, and to spark a conversation. It's also way more scary and perhaps that's why so few people do it.

Some of my consumption patterns are clearly a way for me to escape reality for a while and to numb difficult emotions. That's OK, as long as it's not the only strategy I use. That's no bueno in the long run.

When I create, I generally feel better. More active. In charge. "Engaged" as the online gurus would put it. Of course, I like the combination of consumption and creation. Mixing it up, letting one/several inputs affect my outputs. I could toy with a consumption to creation ratio here if I wanted, just to keep things in check.

Consumption pulls me in. It's easy, comforting, and to an extent relaxing. Until it isn't. Until I feel that my life passes me by. That's when I know it's time to get up from the couch, bring out a pen and paper, and start to write. It's a signal that I need to connect with others and the world around me.

My privacy journey

2025-06-09T22:49:12.156571+00:00

Last year I started my privacy journey. I wanted to take control of my data and support companies that align with my values.

It's easy to go overboard with privacy. An important part of my own journey has been to find a balance between privacy and convenience. One way to do that is to think through your threat model.

Ask yourself questions like:

What do I want to protect?
Who do I want to protect it from?
How likely is it that I will need to protect it?
How bad are the consequences if I fail?
How much trouble am I willing to go through to try to prevent potential consequences?

What I've done so far

I've secured my online accounts with a password manager and an authenticator. The password manager creates and stores strong passwords for me. The two-factor authenticator adds an extra layer of protection by sending me codes. Both tools have been game changers. I recommend them to all Internet users, regardless of threat model.

I've also bought an encrypted email service. Not everyone might care about this precaution, but I want to support companies in line with my values.

"If you're not paying for the product, you become the product" as the saying goes. These simple steps have helped reclaim parts of my online privacy. They’ve made me feel more safe online.

Nothing is of course perfect. And we'll never be 100 % secure. But it's important to think about these questions, and to take action. Vote with the tools you use, and the companies you support. I'd like to believe that it can make a difference in the long run.

Privacy resources

I am grateful to the privacy resources offered by A Caffeinated Blog. Their post was the starting point for my own privacy journey. Thank you!

I've found below resources to be particularly helpful.

The ultimate personal security checklist

Awesome Privacy

Where are you on your privacy journey? Which tools do you use and what has helped you the most? I'd love to hear from you.

Olle Lindholm

Things I believe

People need people

Perfect is boring

Attitude is a choice

Take your own needs seriously.

Strong opinions, held loosely.

Boundaries are your friend

Live what you teach

Inspiration & thanks

Over to you

Book club books

Go with a group

Bear Blog

Book Club

Writers' group

The psychology program

My three words for 2026

1. Need 🌱

2. Apply 🎯

3. Embrace 🤗

Over to you

My three words over the years

Style guide

Have fun

Be Gorgeous and Daring

Write for one person

Write in plain English

More on this topic

Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story, by Ursula K. Le Guin.

The Elements of Style, by EB White and William Strunk Jr.

On Writing Well, by William Zinsser

On Writing, by Stephen King

BBC News style guide, by BBC news staff

The UK Gov style guide

Swedish style guides

Myndigheternas skrivregler - åttonde upplagan

Editing tools

Happy Pride

Happy first Bear anniversary

Take your own needs seriously

Consumption vs creation

1. Entertainment

2. Distraction

3. Learning

Balancing consumption with creation

My privacy journey

What I've done so far

Privacy resources