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Laura Gassner Otting

Want to bring everything you are to everything you do? So do I. Let's do it together.

"I dared to try."

You know how January 1 hits and we’re all buzzing with big, brave energy? New year, new you. Vision boards. Resolutions. #ThisIsMyYear vibes. I pick a word of the year to guide me. This year? Adventure. But let’s be honest: Adventure doesn’t just show up. It shows up because we show up. So... have you been showing up? Have you been going ALL-IN? We’re halfway through the year. Let’s check in with a little self-talk truth telling: Did you stretch into that goal that scared you? Did you chase...

Snoop taught me to get high(er)

When Snoop Dogg talks, I listen, and you should too. Even if you don't respect the player, you've got to respect his game. And here's why: Snoop knows how to learn, to grow, to elevate, and to (yeah, I'm going to go there) get high. A few weeks back, I watched this clip of Snoop giving A$AP Rocky advice about touring with Rihanna. He didn't talk about setlists, green rooms, or jet lag; he talked about her. He talked about how being in the orbit of someone as magnetic, as dialed-in, as...

You should quit, but also keep going

This week’s Hello Truesday is a little bit of a paradox. I want to tell you to quit.But also… to keep going. Let me explain. Last week, I was off-grid. Like, truly off-grid. Hiking the Inca Trail in Peru with my family, surrounded by clouds, ruins, and precisely zero cell service. No inbox. No Instagram. Just mountains I never dreamed possible, muscles I forgot I had, and memories I’ll hold onto for the rest of my life. One moment in particular will stay with me until I breathe my last...

Traveling this summer? Here's how to manage the inevitable disruptions

With the exception of the pandemic, I’ve consistently logged somewhere between 150,000-175,000 miles each year for the past ten years. I spoke at a US Army Base in Japan, rode a camel across the dunes of Arabian desert, danced the night away in Cartagena, and am one of about 2000 women to run all six World Major Marathons. But, I also spent a cold and sleepless night on a concrete floor in a Tennessee airport, was curled in fetal position for 24 hours of food poisoning in Patagonia, got...

Worst Graduation Speeches Ever

Last week I told you about the wild spectrum of emotions that ricocheted throughout my body during my son's college graduation. But what I didn't tell you was how much it triggered my own "I need to be perfect" younger-self trauma. Did you think you had to have it all figured out the day you walked across that stage in your cap and gown? I sure did. I wish I could go back and hug 21-year-old me in her itchy graduation robe and say, “It’s okay to be stupid. It’s okay to not know. It’s okay to...

Oy, such naches

Four years ago I left half of my heart in Texas. This weekend, I sat in the stands at Rice University, watched him graduate from college. The ceremony took place in the same stadium where, more than sixty years ago, President John F. Kennedy stood before the nation and said: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…” Hard. Yes. That’s the word I’ve been sitting with since the minute we boarded the plane last...

Make room

You know how back in March I told you that you could make your own luck? Circling back today and telling you a story of how I just did that, and how you can, too. Sitting in the Nashville airport last December after an Impact Eleven speaker training event, Sheri Jacobs looked at me and said, "I know everyone in the association world, but they don't know I speak. I wish they could see me speak." And I asked her, "Then why don't you just have them come see you speak?!? Why don't you invite all...

Stop being so defensive

There’s a certain kind of panic that creeps in when you’re about to walk into a moment that feels just slightly—okay, wildly—bigger than your confidence. A job interview after years out of the market.A presentation to a room full of people who could change your life.A keynote with a mic pack and a green room… and suddenly you’re questioning the sanctity of your bowel control. You know you’re qualified. You have receipts, a résumé, war stories, whole career's worth of proof. And yet, that...

Leaving it all on the field

Last week I got a standing ovation. But, it wasn't for me.It was for my client.Here's what happend:One of my favorite things to do from stage is to thank a company for the work that they have done by telling them a story of how they have personally impacted my life. Thanks to VaynerSpeakers, I got to do just that last week for ViiV Healthcare, the world's largest HIV healthcare company, at the global leadership event.Forty million. That's the number of people living with HIV.Years ago, that...

Do It So You Can Dream It

I spent this past weekend running the famed Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, through the monuments and mayhem of Washington DC. I was lucky to get this bib because the event is done only by lottery, and it sells out almost immediately. But, I got the bib because a keynote speaker manager who follows me on Instagram saw this post I casually dropped after running the Tokyo Marathon last month and invited me to a complimentary bib. And, it was one of those “remember this moment” kind of runs. Somewhere...