Laura Gassner Otting 
I’m in a long distance relationship. A million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and man had not yet created fire, I was in a long-distance relationship with an adorable, kind, brilliant boyfriend. He was in Washington, DC, and I was in Boston. And every weekend, he would fly to me, I would fly … Read more
“You’re just not that important.” This was the best and hardest piece of advice I’ve ever unceremoniously received. It hurt. It was true. And it was a watershed moment. I’ve written blogs about saying yes. I’ve written blogs about saying no. The truth is that it doesn’t matter if you say yes or no until you decide what the hell you … Read more
I’m often asked how long it took me to write Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life. The answer is that I wrote the main corpus in about three weeks. This, of course, shocks people. The more complicated answer is that, while it took me three weeks to … Read more
We’ve all laid in bed having those fantasies. No, not *those* fantasies! (Well, maybe those too…) I’m talking about the ones that happen in the morning after your alarm pulls you out of your sweet, sweet slumber. The alarm rings out, jarring you awake, and your very first thought is, “Ugh, what if I didn’t … Read more
I’m so annoyed at all the “how have I aged” post on FB. “How am I aging? How have the last ten years hit me?” I’m getting older. I’m getting wiser. I’m getting braver. I am becoming more of what I never knew I could be. I am learning that there are multitudes within me. … Read more
Last week, I squirreled away in a sound booth the size of a bathroom stall for four hours a day, two days in a row. Eric, an effortlessly cool, long-haired millennial whose current job titles include an athletic trainer, fitness competitor, metal guitarist, and, of course, sound technician, sat outside of the booth. I was … Read more
I like to sit in the aisle when I fly. It gives me the illusion of control. Sure, I know right up in my cerebellum that if the plane goes down, it’s a fiery inferno for all of us — but still, the idea of having some control has always been my thing. Today I … Read more
I am on a quest. It’s a full-on, can’t be stopped, no-holds-barred quest to get you to live your best life. But, I’m not going to tell you how to live your best life. That isn’t for me to say. What I am going to do, however, is demand that you ask more of yourself. … Read more
We’re grown-ups. We have jobs. Those jobs were earned because we demonstrated competence in a task. That task is valued by the boss, and so the boss pays us. Seems logical so far, right? But here’s where it goes off the rails. We learn to derive our value from the continued demonstration of competence. And … Read more
There are four simple words that are ruining your life. Four simple words, seemingly meaningless when uttered as if they didn’t have the power to stop time and kill dreams. They are comfort coma-inducing as they innocently usher you down the path of procrastination justification. Four simple words: “I’ll be happy when…” Screw that. Why wait … Read more