Erik Thor
My name is Erik Thor and I’m a pioneer in the field of personal growth, individuation, and personality psychology. People know me for the thousands of blog posts and youtube vlogs I’ve published over the years, and for my authentic tone of voice. My content has reached tens of millions of people over the years and the most important thing for me is that I can inspire other people to become their best version of themselves.
What I Do
Coaching
Do you need help with something? I offer coaching for Patrons and supporters. I have monthly drop-in sessions and one-on-one sessions for 50$ patrons or higher.
Vlogging & Blogging
I make videos and write blogs and articles exploring psychological, and philosophical topics.
Research
I engage in research on neuroscience, psychology, neurodivergence, and on Carl Jung’s theories on Individuation.
My Ideas
Individuation psychology
- Individuation is the path of coming to your own and becoming your own person
Don’t look for experts to tell you what personality type you should seek to model or how you should live your life. Learn to trust your own gut and make your own decisions and learn who you are through experience. - Personality is a spectrum – not a box
Don’t try to type yourself using binary scales or 1s or 0s. See the nuances in your behavior and recognize the situation you are in and notice your development and changes over time. My approach to personality psychology is to understand you and your unique choices and where you are at, not to force you to fit inside one scale. - You will consistently overcome your boundaries and limitations
It’s easy to say that “This is just who I am.” but time has proven over and over that you’re capable of change and that you’ve been able to overcome your own expectations many times in life. My goal is to help people achieve self-transcendence and to help people write their own rules.
My life philosophy
- Don’t aspire to success. Aspire to be the best version of yourself.
Instead of trying to fit an ideal or measure up to other people, stop comparing yourself to other people and start focusing on what you want for yourself. - Don’t look for happiness behind screens – look for them in the trees
Reduce screen time, and time spent at home staring at the walls. Get out into the world. There’s so much to see and experience in life. People often think of the real world, the outside world, as boring, and mundane, but there’s a hidden magic there if you know where to look. My videos and content have the goal to inspire you to get out and connect. - Embrace minimalism and the smaller things in life
Notice the finer details and the texture of things. Find gratitude and happiness in the smaller things. Don’t aspire to big goals, aspire to happiness and joy in everything that you do. You don’t move a mountain by trying to push it all at once. You move it by finding the small shiny rocks and pebbles and carrying them over where you want them.
Who I Am
- I’m Gifted and Neurodivergent
I never had a normal or conventional mind. I had an advanced vocabulary at an early age, started school early, got to skip classes and read at an advanced level. But I also had many struggles fitting in and had a very creative mind. I found it hard to settle or to be consistent in anything I did and was often in a rush. I had a philosopher’s hunger for life and answers. If I’d diagnose myself, I’d say I have the opposite of ADHD – an overdeveloped executive function, which means, I have an unnatural amount of focus. I can discipline myself incredibly easily – and show an unusual amount of focus in any work that I do. If I set a goal, I follow through, but I sometimes struggle to keep an open mind to options and alternatives, and sometimes, I get too rigid with myself and push myself too hard. Because of this, I’ve suffered burnout and exhaustion many times in my life. So I’ve worked hard to relax my rules and boundaries and developed a philosophy centering around balance and the importance of slowing down. - People don’t know what box to put me in
Everyone is in disagreement about what personality type or system best describes me and who I am. It’s silly because I already know I am a person with high cognitive flexibility, a passion for life in all shapes and forms, and a desire to experience every aspect and nuance of life. I aspire to learn to see life from many perspectives and to learn to cultivate many different talents. I’m a polymath, a jack of all trades, a generalist. - I have a complex background
I became politically active at age 12 and was active for a decade in various political causes focusing on sustainability, democracy, anti-war, and human rights. I studied philosophy and rhetoric and sociology at the university, up to a master’s level. I worked in customer service and later became a programmer. I started my YouTube channel in 2007 and started exploring the MBTI and Carl Jung around 2012. I made videos on personality psychology for several years and started making more content related to modern psychology, neuroscience, and neurodivergence this year. I’ve lived in Sweden and the Netherlands and am working to become a digital nomad.
About my coaching and therapy
I get a lot of clients, primarily ENFPs, ENTPs, and INFPs, but also INFJs. Most are neurodivergent, many are entrepreneurs, creatives, and self-employed. People come to me for my insight into Carl Jung and my knowledge of cognitive functions and personal growth-related topics. People seek me out to understand:
- How to learn to live for themselves and to make it self-employed, how to be more authentic, and how to overcome self-doubt
- How to manage the downsides of being neurodivergent, having HSP, being Gifted, how to achieve cognitive symmetry and more balance in life, and how to use your unique strengths and abilities to your advantage
- To learn more about their own unique personality and who they are, and to become more confident in their own self-identity.
- To explore personal growth, cognitive development, and how they can more effectively wield and connect to each cognitive function.
FAQ
Yes, but my sessions are not about me telling you what your personality type, is but how to use personality psychology and typology to learn more about yourself. In our sessions, you’ll get to explore the unique nuances of different functions and personality traits so that you can learn more about how you relate to each personality trait.
I don’t claim to be infallible, people like my work because I’m authentic and human, and modest in my approach. Many experts like to paint the picture of themselves as successful, perfect people, but I’m transparent with who I am and how I think and continue to change and evolve in my work. Criticism helps me grow, so I welcome it. If you have advice for me, I’m always happy to listen and try to learn from you.
People often claim only experts and authorities can be trusted to give you objective feedback about who you are. I’ve consulted many clients that have consulted numerous experts and left only more uncertain about themselves and more in doubt. Because of this, I’ve realized it’s more effective to empower my clients to think for themselves. People generally know themselves best, even if they don’t always know how to classify or define what it is that they experience. And ultimately, regardless of what I think, you have to learn how to live with yourself.
My goals
- To develop a personality psychology inventory that promotes the idea of personality as a spectrum, identifies areas for personal growth and self-development, and supports individual development.
- To explore neuroscience around personality and differences in people’s cognition, to gain a better understanding of what makes a person intelligent, and what unique forms of intelligence or aptitude that exist.
- To promote more collective harmony and understanding of each other and our differences. To help people connect and learn from one another.
- To encourage self-ownership and individual empowerment. To help people find out who they are and to teach people to live for themselves and to follow their own path in life.