Laura Gassner Otting 
Are you grateful? A few weeks ago, a friend, lamenting about missing travel, asked a question, “What was the last trip you took?” I couldn’t remember. Sure, I remembered the last trip that was cancelled: two glorious weeks of spring break, the first of which would be spent doing college tours with my son, and … Read more
My brain is broken. And yours might be, too. For the last couple of weeks, my teammates and I have gotten together in my open garage, with our rowing machines spaced six feet apart, to do our regular morning workouts, just as we’ve been doing since the pandemic began. But over the past few weeks, … Read more
Kurt Cobain died 25 years ago. I had tickets to see Pearl Jam at Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia on April 8, 1994. I was 23 years old and had been working in the White House at the time. Kurt Cobain was 27, and had just been found dead. For hours we didn’t know if … Read more
Stop trying to impress others. Brace yourself, future eye roll coming in hot in 5-4-3-2-1! Have you ever had the experience of Past You popping back up to mock the hell out of Current You by showing you, in your very own handwriting, just what a complete and utter tool bag you were? Well, I … Read more
I’d like to voice an unpopular opinion: I’m in favor of burning bridges. I learned something about myself recently that I found startling: I am a bridge burner. Anyone who knows me will attest that I am no diplomat. I do not find shared ground. I do not exploit commonalities. Blunt is my middle name. … Read more
Who did you need when you were younger? Last week, I got message on social media from a woman I’d only met once, at her sister’s funeral. I was close with her sister, Barbara, when we were both just getting started in our careers, working together to help create the national service program AmeriCorps. Barbara died … Read more
We were blind, but now we see. About a year ago, a bunch of speaker and author friends of mine were lamenting the fact that every single conference was going to be themed “ VISION 2020 !” We laughed and laughed, rolling our eyes, wondering how were we going to keep them all straight? And, … Read more
Walk away, loser. I know my worth. Do you? It’s important that we know our worth, our value, and NEVER apologize for it. Allow me to tell you a story about an actual conversation I had this weekend. Him: “I’d like to hire you to be my executive coach.” Me: “Sure, but I’m not cheap.” Him: … Read more
Michelle Obama admitted last week that she’s been dealing with low-grade depression. Girl, same. Low-grade depression: check! Mrs. Obama didn’t have to do this. But she did. And I’m doing so she opened the doors for so many of us to have conversations that we were afraid to have before. She opened … Read more
This opportunity almost didn’t happen… …but it was one of my highlights of 2019. Let me take you back: Whenever anyone posts about Limitless, I love to reach out. “Hi… I’m Laura. You’ve been posting about me and my book, and I figured I would say hello.” When I … Read more