Be Limitless with Laura Gassner Otting

Welcome to True Grit and Grace, a podcast designed to empower you to claim your resilience and thrive through life's challenges. I am Amberly Lago, a mindset coach, fitness expert, and bestselling author. Each week, I'll dive deep with the world's brightest leaders and elite performers to share tangible tools and practical advice to inspire you to keep your eyes on the prize and forge ahead. So get ready to conquer your fears, heal any trauma, lead with your heart, and elevate your life with grit and grace. Thank you so much for being here. Today on the show, I have Laura Gassner Otting, and I'm so grateful that she's here because she coaches people daily when they're at crisis points in their life. And I think so many of us feel like we're at crisis with what's going on in the world right now, whether, you know, we're pivoting our business or reinventing ourselves or figuring out what our priorities are. I think we're all going through a lot of change. And she really helps people to be limitless. In fact, her book is called Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life. And I'm so grateful that Laura's here to help us live our best life. She is a serial entrepreneur, an activist, a former White House political appointee. The knowledge and experience she's gained in interviewing thousands of leaders at crisis points in their lives and their careers have made her a highly sought-after speaker, consultant, executive coach, counseling change agents, entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders to get them past the doubt and indecision that consign their great ideas to limbo. Now, she delivers really strategic thinking and her wisdom and catalytic perspective And she talks to everyone from millennials to Gen Xers and boomers. And I'm just so grateful that she's here. So if you're having any, you know, decisions that you're trying to make, or just trying to figure out your way and, and pivot your business, I'm so glad that you're here to listen to Laura. So welcome to the show, Laura Gassner Otting.

Hello there. I'm so excited to have you on the show today. We are talking To the one and only Laura Gossner Otting. How are you?

I am great, Amberly. It is so good to be with you.

Oh my goodness. So I have to just say, we were trying to get together in person and you're on the road a lot. I'm on the road a lot and you were actually in LA. We were going to try to meet and LA traffic usually is 2 hours to get from from where I am to Beverly Hills. And so it didn't work out and we finally made it work. Now we're both kind of hunkered down at home because we're in the middle of this pandemic. And I'm so glad that actually we finally get a chance to talk. I'm so excited to share your pearls of wisdom with the audience because what you share is so needed right now. We were saying before we started recording, We were talking about your TEDx talk, your book, which I love, and it's called Limitless. And I think that's something we all need right now because so many of us are feeling stuck, maybe even having to reinvent ourselves and don't know what to do. So can you please tell us a little bit of who you are and how you got to where you are today?

Yeah, so my name is Laura Gassner Otting, but all my good friends call me LGO. You know, that's why on all the socials I'm, hey, LGO, because Laura Gasner Otting is a lot of names. So I became LGO by really a series of mistakes and failures and turnarounds and all the other things. You know, I have people who see me on stage right now and they're like, oh, when did you become such a badass? And how did you become so confident? And how'd you get such moxie? And I laugh because I feel like I could come on shows like yours, Amberly, and I could talk about all the amazing successes that I've had and all the great stuff. And it would be not only disingenuous, I think it would be actually harmful to your listeners to think that it's just like there's LGO magic that makes me LGO. No, it's that I went to law school thinking I wanted to run for office, and then I realized I hated law school and I dropped out and I joined a political campaign and I scrapped my way to Little Rock and to the White House and ended up working as an intern, as a volunteer. And then finally got noticed and got the job because I had this assignment that took me, you know, totally outside of my comfort zone where I would have normally hidden behind the pillars, but I was given help by a mentor. And then I went to go take a job because I fell in love with a guy who was gonna move to the city where the job was. And then I had a moment of rage and I decided to start my own business because I thought we could do it better and faster and differently. And then I sold that firm and I had a moment of identity crisis where I didn't know who I was. So I started blogging and then I got asked to do a TEDx and that TEDx got attention, and that attention got more opportunities to speak for money. And I was like, wait, tell me about this job where you get to speak for money. And then I wrote this book because I realized that everybody else on stage had a book and I needed something to have kind of credibility. So my entire path, and we can talk about it in more detail, was really based on just failing forward.

Yes.

And figuring out what I was made of. And each one of those opportunities, each one of those crises, just like we're living in right now, was a moment to reinvent and innovate and create the future that I wanted to have.

Yes. You've done so much. I mean, I was so impressed by the fact that you were working on getting Bill Clinton— you worked along with Bill Clinton, right?

I did.

I mean, that's freaking amazing. Who can say that they worked in the White House? That's huge. And so then you say you needed more credibility on stage, so you wrote a book. And I know that's kind of how it goes. It opens a lot of doors for you. I think sometimes, you know, some people do make a lot of money on a book, but really I think it's a very expensive business card. It really does, you know, give you opportunities to be on different stages and share your message. But just the fact that you were in the White House is unbelievable that you had those opportunities and you learned so much. And everything that you've been through, I can tell there's many qualities I love about you, but I love the quality that you have of grit because it seems your default wasn't, oh well, I don't think law school's for me. This really isn't what I imagined it. So I'm just going to give up and maybe I'll move back in with my parents and not go after my dreams. You're like, no, how can I pivot from this? And go after what my calling is. And so I love your grit. What is your definition of grit?

It's such a great question. You know, for me, grit is really just how hard are you willing to work for a thing that you care about? So in the 20 years where I did executive search, I was the CEO of my company for 15 years. So by the time candidates came to me, I already knew that they were qualified in terms of like, have they done the kinds of work that, you know, are they book smart enough? Do they have the experience? Do they have the credibility? I looked for 5 things. I looked for hunger, weight, tenacity, speed, and grit. 5 things always. So like you, like I zone in on people's grit because I want to know just how tough are you when everything falls to pieces? Are you going to be the same person at 2:00 AM on a Tuesday? Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

As you were at 10:00 a.m. on a Wednesday when we had that interview? That's what I want to know. And so I ended up working in the White House. I was 22 years old. I was a presidential appointee in Bill Clinton's White House, and I feel incredibly honored and lucky to have had that experience. But I feel even luckier that I listened to an unknown governor from a tiny state from the South who was running for president when George H.W. Bush had just won Desert Storm and had a 91% approval rating. And I got to hear that governor talk, give this impassioned talk about how there was nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed with what's right with America. And he offered as a policy solution this idea of community service, of community service in exchange for college tuition. And at the time, I was in law school, I was miserable, I was dating one of those guys you should never date, you know, the things that you do when you're in an unhappy place. And I looked around at my life and I listened to this governor speaking and I thought, that needs to happen. So for me, true grit wasn't, I want to get to the White House, I want that title, I want the fame, I want the fortune. It was, I believe in this idea so much that I'm willing to get really comfortable being super uncomfortable to make that thing happen. And I think for each of us, our calling is really based around that thing. What is the gravitational force in your life? What is the issue that you want to work for? What is the cause that you want to serve? What is the business you want to build? What is the bottom line that you want to inflate? Who's the family that you want to nurture? It could be anything. And if you're an entrepreneur, it could be yourself. So I think grit really answers that question of just how much do you want that calling? Just how hard are you willing to work for it?

I love how you talk about that in your book as well. And I agree. I mean, I think grit is when your passion and your perseverance come into play. And grit is, yeah, I can get lost in my work that doesn't feel like work. And I have to go, okay, I have been sitting here in my office, you know, working on my course or a podcast or whatever it may be because I love it. It fills my heart. It's my passion. And there's something that, you know, I have a lot of people that ask me, I don't know what my purpose is. How do I find my purpose? And I've never really had to look for my purpose. I've always just kind of done what feels good, what sparks my soul with joy. And I love in your book how you talk about calling and something called consonance. And I was like, what is this consonance? And I'm going to be real with you. I was like, what does consonance mean? When it says in your book, like, What is it? I have to read this. And I couldn't stop turning the pages because I was like, this is so good. Can you explain to us exactly what you mean by consonance?

Sure. So it's sort of funny that you say that because everybody goes, consonance? What's that word? I don't know that word. But the truth is we all know the word. We know dissonance, right? Dissonance is noise and anarchy and that sort of organ rejection when things don't work. And consonance is merely the opposite. It's when everything is in alignment. It's when everything's in flow. And I define it in the book as it's when the what you do matches the who you are.

What you do matches who you are.

Yes.

I love that.

So think about this. Think about those moments where the very best of what you do, the thing you love to do, and the thing at which you are deeply skilled is being called upon to solve a problem that you actually care about.

Yeah.

And you're being rewarded for solving that problem in some way that's either emotionally, karmically, financially meaningful to you, right? We've all had those moments. They may be a moment we're living in right now, or they may be like, yeah, I had a glimpse of that here in this job, or a glimpse of that in that job, or I can see other people who have those things. When the very best of what you do is being called upon to solve a problem about which you care deeply, and you're rewarded for it in a way that is meaningful to you, That's when the what you do matches the who you are, and that's when you're in consonance. And it feels good. Right? It feels great.

It just feels so good. Yeah!

It feels like you can run through walls. It feels like you can, you know, leap over buildings. It feels like you can walk through fire, right? Those are the moments when you're like, yes! This is what I was put on this earth to do. And my book is written to help people find their consonance. So, the first piece of that is calling. And, the reason why people feel like they don't have a calling is because they feel like calling has to be purpose, right?

Mm-hmm.

This, like, lofty, higher goal of purpose, as if purpose is only reserved for those people who are in India feeding the lepers, like Mother Teresa, right? Like, as if it's only reserved for the people who are, you know, building huts in Africa, literally giving the shirts off their backs.

Mm-hmm.

You see all these people on social media, you know, posting pictures of themselves with, you know, all the like little local children all around them. And it's like, yay, purpose. Well, it doesn't have to be higher or lofty purpose. It just has to be your purpose. So, you know, when I ran that executive search firm, it was an executive search firm that did work for nonprofit organizations. I felt like we were doing a lot of really good in the world, but that firm was decidedly a for-profit firm. Now, did I make less money than I would have made doing this work for Hilton Hotels or Coca-Cola or Delta Airlines? Absolutely. But I made enough money because what I realized is I'm kind of a princess. I do like nice things, but I also want to do good in the world. So my purpose was, yeah, I wanted to be able to do enough good. I want to be able to make enough money, but also my calling was to be an entrepreneur and build this company that innovated the way a service was provided to a sector that I loved. Mm-hmm.

I love that. And I love that you talk about your purpose doesn't have to be this huge big thing or your calling that, you know, for instance, my mom, her purpose in life was all she ever wanted to do was be a good mom. And that's what she does. And she does it beautifully. And I also love that you talk about when you find what you love to do and what just makes your heart alive and you're doing those things and you feel in alignment, it makes you feel Like you can like run through walls because a lot of my listeners deal with chronic pain or disabilities like me. You know, I have a nerve disease which leaves me in constant chronic pain. And a lot of times my husband will say, why don't you just stay home, put your leg up, when he can tell I'm in pain. And that's the last thing I want to do because when I'm out there being of service, whether, you know, I'm training a client, Or whether, you know, speaking at a conference, which he knows it's really hard for me to be on my feet all day.

Yes.

When you're at a conference, it's not just you get on stage for a little bit. Usually you're on your feet most of the day. You're doing a meet and greet, you're doing a book signing. But you know what? It makes me feel like I am living the life of my dreams and I can get through those things because I have that calling and I feel like I have a purpose. And it may be small. It may be I'm speaking to a small group. But it feels good and I feel in alignment and in flow. So I love that you talk about calling.

So my goal in life is for somebody never to say, well, it may be small or it may be just for me, right? Because I feel like we have this need to— there's so many people around us who purpose shame, right? It's like your purpose isn't enough, it isn't big enough, it isn't good enough, it isn't important enough. And I think your purpose is just your purpose. So maybe your purpose is raising your family. Maybe your purpose is getting through the day with your chronic pain and still having joy in your life for other people. Maybe your purpose is buying a Maserati and a beach house. I don't care because it's not my purpose. It should be your purpose. What I care about is that you're happy with your purpose. And the problem is, is that we give votes in our lives.

Can I just say thank you for saying what your goal was? Because that was huge. That like hit my heart. Thank you. Okay, I'm sorry to interrupt. I'm teary-eyed right now from you saying that, but go ahead.

Well, I just believe it so deeply. I've had so many people in my life who have said, you need to, you have to, you must, you should, like the little finger starts pointing. And then there's the, God forbid, like, well, you can't do this. Like, there's these assumptions like, oh, well, you know, you have this nerve damage, you have this leg injury, you had this accident. So clearly, then your purpose, you should be spending your life in service to other people specifically with that. Well, why? Why should you be defined by an experience in your life or a diagnosis. You can define however you want to be defined. So it's funny that you brought up consonants and the word in the beginning, because when I was first writing the book, it was originally going to be part of a guidebook series, and it was going to be called Purpose: Doing Work That Matters. And I got about 6 weeks into writing the book when I called my publisher and I said, listen, I am not the writer for you. This is not the book for me.

Mm-hmm.

I want to write this book about doing work that matters, but purpose is a bigger idea, and shoving this into your guidebook formula, it doesn't fit. Guidebooks are like chapter 1, problem, solution, chapter 2, problem, solution, chapter 3, problem, solution, and purpose is this bigger thing. And he said, you know, you're right, I agree, you're fired. Oh my God.

I was like, wait, what?

And he said, but I think you have a bigger idea here, and I think that we should publish it as a bigger idea. in hardback in the spring when big idea books come out. And I said, wait, what?

Wow.

I texted a friend of mine who actually lives in San Diego, and I said, Clay, like, oh my God, what am I gonna do? And he said, you're gonna call me. We get on the phone, we spend 45 minutes on the phone, and he's this incredible wordsmith and beautiful marketing packaging person. And he finally, after 45 minutes, he says, Lauren, what do you want people to feel like after they've read this book? And I said, honestly, I'm just so I'm sick and tired of everyone, all of us, being so limited by everybody else's ideas of what we can be, and who we can be, and what we can't be, and all the rest. And, I just want people to just stop listening to all that garbage, and just live their own best life already.

Yeah.

And, he said, so, you want them to be limitless, ignore everybody, carve their own path, and live their best life?

Mmm, powerful.

And, I was like, oh my God, I need to hang up the phone right now, and go write that book. And, the beginning of the call was going to be called Consonance, which, by the way, nobody would have bought, because nobody buys a book with a word that they don't know on the COVID It went from being called Purpose, Doing Work That Matters, to Consonance, to Limitless. Yes, it did. Ignore everybody, live your best life, right?

Yeah, because that's powerful. I was like, yeah, I not only bought the book, but I bought the necklace. Because when you are reminded of something throughout the day, whether it's a mantra or if you've got these really inspiring books on your bookshelf, It empowers you throughout the day and it made me feel limitless. But my girlfriend loved it so much that she's like, can I have that necklace? That I gave it to her. So I'm going to have to order another one.

Well, I will tell you that there's a woman who I actually write about in the book whose name is Tara. And Tara is on my rowing team. And the day that the book came out, she sent me a video and I was actually in Las Vegas when it came out and I was there with my family. She sends me the video and the video is a couple minutes of her saying, listen, I read the book, it reminded me of who I wanted to be inside and who I am when I am at my very best. And I wanted to find a way to remind myself of that every single day and what you mean to me and what the ideas in the book mean to me. So here, and then she rolls up her sleeve on the video and shows me a tattoo. Cover art, Limitless, and it says, be your own dog, on her arm. And she's like, oh, and by the way, it's right here next to my dead father's airplane fighter wings.

Wow.

Wow. Okay, so that was super meaningful, and that was the moment where I was like, I better get this right. Like, it's not just an up and down. Oh my God. I better get this right because she had tattooed it on her arm. So—

There's no turning back.

There's no turning back. So your friend, your friend stole the necklace right off of your neck, but you know, you could get a tattoo and then it's yours forever.

Oh my gosh. Well, you know, I've thought about getting a tattoo. Now I know. I've always wondered, what should I get? Now I could do a Limitless tattoo. That is a powerful story.

But I think each of us, and Amberly, you have this effect on your listeners. You know, they are listening to what you're saying and they listen to the kind of guests that you bring on and they listen to your story. And I have had a lot of people who tell me in quite humbling ways that they take inspiration from me, they take motivation from me, they take strength from me. And, you know, it is a heavy burden to carry, but it's also one that I feel so incredibly blessed every day To get to have as well.

Well, you are a leader and it shows in times that we're going through right now. You see people's true colors and you see those leaders that are truly great leaders who are going to step up or the people who say they're a leader and then they run and hide or they're all out for themselves. I mean, I follow you on Instagram and I see all that you do. You've been going on live for people. You've been, you know, working on your course coming out and you have been busy doing that. So you're doing something every single day to continue to be of service to those and inspire and offer tools for resiliency and showing how you can be gritty even though we're going through some uncertain times.

You know, I've been trying to do something live every day and I don't always get Instagram to work when I do it, but I've been doing it on Facebook. Today I actually got really emotional today and I just said, look, I woke up at 2 in the morning. I had like one of those death spirals of reading the news and it was absolutely awful and I didn't follow my own advice. Then I came across this incredible video of Ben Platt and the cast from Dear Evan Hansen singing, you know, You Will Be Found, and it's all about, I see you and you're not alone and I'm here for you. And I got so emotional about it. So I was just like, I'm not going to do my usual 25-minute live thing today. This is going to be a short one. I'm just telling you where I am.

Mm-hmm.

Where I am is I'm exhausted, I'm scared, this is hard. I will be back with my moxie-fueled inspiration tomorrow, I promise. But right now, here is a 2-minute song for you. And I just laid it and I just played it and I cried while I played it. And I've gotten so many texts from friends that were just like, thank you for keeping it real.

Yeah.

Because being gritty doesn't always mean being, you know, without fear. I mean, being gritty means having the fear and acting anyway, right? That's what courage really is all about. And If you can have grace while you're doing it, all the better. But I think that we are all scared. We're all trying to figure this out. And for me, the big message that I have for people is that we may not have control of everything that's happening outside of our homes right now, but we have control of what's happening inside of our homes.

Mm-hmm.

We have control over how we act. We have control over how we talk to our loved ones. We have control over the kind of work we do. We have control over the time that we take right now to decide When all this is said and done, we're not going back to normal. There's going to be a new normal. What do we want our lives to look like in that new normal? Who do we want to be in that new normal? And this press-pause moment is a great opportunity for us to start acting like that, to start really living into the kind of life we want to have, because we're not going back to whatever it was. We're going into something new, and it's up to us to decide what that's going to be.

Mm-hmm. I think it's an excellent time for people to really look at their priorities in their life and what was working and what wasn't working. And I have to say, I'm guilty of kind of being on a hamster wheel. I was just on this for the last 2 years ever since my book launched. I have gone nonstop and not even taken a moment to pause to go, oh, wait a minute, is this something I really, really want to do?

Mm-hmm.

Or am I just in the motion of doing it? And so this has been a really good opportunity for me as well to just kind of pause and go, how do I want to show up and what is my new normal? So I think that's beautiful that you said that. And I also love that you keep it real because I think that I can smell when people are not authentic. You know, you can just sense it. And I would rather somebody keep it real instead of trying to adopt some false positivity. I think that this is a chance for us all to stop and look at the emotions that are coming up and be gentle with ourselves as we let them rise to the surface and really look at those so we can move forward with a new normal. I think more than ever right now, your book is going to be so important for people to read. And it came out a year ago, right?

It came out a year ago.

A year ago.

Yeah.

And it was number 2 after Michelle Obama.

Isn't that crazy?

Holy crap. I am so excited for you. I mean, look, as a fellow author, I know how hard it is, the publishing process, then the marketing process and all of that. And I am just so freaking excited for you. Congratulations on that.

Well, thank you. It was very funny. I was in the midst of recording a podcast on April 1st, 2019, and Eddie Turner, the host, was like, oh, I live in DC and you're everywhere in DC. In fact, I see you this morning right next to Michelle Obama as a bestseller. And I was like, hahaha, that's funny. Happy April Fools. And he was like, no, no, no, really. You're number 2 on the Washington Post bestseller list. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. And he was like, Google yourself. Like literally, you could listen to the podcast with him. You can hear me in real time finding out that I'm a bestseller. Because it was so shocking, I couldn't believe it. And it is incredibly wonderful when anybody wants to spend even 5 minutes thinking about or listening to or reading about an idea that you put out there. And also, like you, I've been going nonstop for the year since the book came out. I've also never been so exhausted in my entire life. So it's wonderful, but it's also hell. And I think my next book is going to be called Wonder Hell, which is about this space where— You know, in that moment you realize the burden of potential that rests on your shoulders when you have to get it right, right? When your listeners want to hear what you have to say, they want to listen to your guests. When the people who follow you on Instagram, the people who read your book, the people who listen to you speak, they do some of the things you say, so you've got to get it right. And so this idea of wonder hell is this moment of the burden of this potential that you can be bigger and greater than you thought maybe you could be. And what do you do with that? And there's some people like you who have thrived in those moments, and then there are some people who drown in those moments. And so what can we learn from people like you who have thrived in those moments to really help us all to see that when we have these moments, these opportunities, glimmers, the vision of consonance, how do we run towards it instead of being cowed by it?

Well, girl, let me tell you, This morning I woke up and I was not feeling like I was thriving. I kept pushing that snooze button. I thought that during this time things would really get slow for me and they've actually gotten busier. And, you know, it surprised me that I have clients that I thought wouldn't want to train. They want to train more through Zoom because they're home. It's been more people have time to listen to, you know, The podcast or the books or whatever. And so it's been a little busier. So I think when you're in that moment of wonder hell, it's also, you have to figure out, like, I don't think there's ever a real balance, but trying to be balanced, especially now with kids home from school, being there for your family and homeschooling and still doing the things you love for, you know, work, and then still having time to do something just for yourself. I think that's so important.

It is. It's hard. And this is something I actually don't talk about that often, but I was bulimic in college. I was bulimic for 4 years and, you know, like needed medical attention bulimic. You know, I'm 49 years old right now, so it's been a very long time since I've recovered and I am not at all concerned about relapse. But, you know, as you may know, and I'm sure a lot of your listeners know, since so many people suffer from eating disorders, eating disorders don't have that much to do with body image. They have a lot to do with control.

Mm-hmm.

And I didn't feel like I was in control. It was the first time in my life I was away from home. I knew people, new surroundings. It was a complete culture shock. And I've noticed in the last few weeks, the same mania that gripped me then has gripped me now. And even though there have been lots of moments in my career where I haven't felt like I was in control, this lack of control is like nothing I've ever felt before.

Mm-hmm.

And so I'm finding that my workouts are harder. Relationships with my friends and my loved ones are more intense. I'm more prolific in my writing. Everything is just outsized. And there are a lot of people who are like, oh, you don't need to be productive during this period. Just sit in the corner and curl up in a ball and cry. And if that's what you need, awesome, do it. I'm so here for you for that. But there's also a lot of productivity shaming. Like, oh, well, you know, all these people tell you that you should be productive. You know, don't listen to them. For me, it's my way of dealing with the issues of the mania that needs to control something. So this is my way of being able to control, like, Finishing up my course and putting it out there and having 150 people volunteer to beta test it because they were excited for it gave me so much life in the last couple of weeks.

Yes.

That gave me purpose, that gave me calling. And so to be productive, and so I'm also busier than ever, but it's allowing me to channel the emotion and the lack of control. So I can totally understand why you have training clients that are like, absolutely, let's train and let's train harder, because it just helps to just have a focusing factor in your life, I think.

And I can see the relief because I have one client that she'd never used Zoom and we get on Zoom and I could see the screen came up and I can see the intensity in her face and then it started to soften. I said, you know what, let's dance. Let's dance right now.

What a gift you are to her right now.

Oh, thank you. Well, it's a gift for me. When I was stuck, I feel like part of the feelings that I'm experiencing right now of bring me back to my motorcycle accident 10 years ago, I was stuck, but I was stuck in a hospital bed. I couldn't walk. So I feel blessed because I have this perspective of, well, yeah, we may be shelter in place, but I can walk. I'm healthy. I have the ability to connect with my community and to clients and reach out to friends and FaceTime. But I so hear you and feel you when you say the intensity between your relationships Because it is, it is very intense and I think everybody's kind of figuring out what to do and how to get some of that control and thank you for sharing about your struggle with bulimia before, because that is the same feelings of just being out of control and wanting to control one thing and I've experienced the other night at 1 o'clock in the morning, I'm like, oh my God, why am I up? Like color coordinating my closet and all my books are now in color from the rainbow of all my book collection. And it's because it was giving me some sort of felt like I was in control. But I was like, wait, this is not the right kind of control. I need to go to bed. I need to go to bed. And then I can wake up and I can channel all of this into the challenge that I'm doing right now, the resilience challenge. And so I feel the same way. I'm like, can put my feelings and my emotions into the course that I'm creating. And you guys that are listening, I'm going to have a link for her book in the show notes. And also you can find the link for her course in the show notes. So make sure that you just get those links there. Before we go, I do want to ask you though, what is your definition of resilience?

Oh yes. So my definition of resilience, you know, people think resilience means bouncing back.

Mm-hmm.

And I think that that's short-shifting yourself. I think that resilience is bouncing better, right? It's not about falling down. It's not about getting up. It's who you are when you get up. It's what you learn about yourself when you get up, because I believe that failure is not finale. Failure's fulcrum, right? It's that moment in the failure where you learn and you grow and you innovate and you iterate and you figure out what you're really made of. You know, I ran my first marathon ever of my life about a year after running the first mile ever of my life when I was 39 years old.

Wow.

And in marathon training, you get to mile 20 and then you start backing off and you taper. And when I got to mile 20.1 in the marathon and on Marathon Monday it was 92 degrees, I didn't even know my name anymore. I was like so heat I didn't know what was going on. And I remember thinking, I wonder what happens now. Like, I haven't ever run this far before. I've been running for 3 hours in 92-degree weather, and I have 10K left. And I've run a 10K before, so I know there's an hour. And there's a voice inside your head that says, you're gonna do this. You're gonna run a marathon. You're gonna be a marathoner, and you're gonna get to the end, and someone's gonna put a medal around your neck and a heat sheet around your shoulders like you're a freaking superhero. I love that. And then there's another And then there's another voice on the other shoulder going, what are you, crazy? You're gonna die out here.

Stop.

What are you thinking? You could just stop right now. And both of those voices fight in your head the entire last 6 miles.

Mm-hmm.

And you have to make the decision to put one foot in front of the next over and over and over. And only one of those voices gets to win, and you have to decide.

Mm-hmm.

So for me, resilience is getting super uncomfortable in that space of discomfort So that you decide that the person who you want to be on the other side of it wins and not the person who you were before you started.

I love that. Okay. I said just one more question. I could talk to you all day. You're so brilliant. Thank you. What do you think for someone who wants to build their endurance? So not even necessarily for running a marathon, but in life with what's going on right now or when the work gets really hard Or maybe if they do want to run a marathon, because I think so much of it is your mindset, what you were just talking about. How would you suggest that someone strengthen or work on building their endurance?

I would say that you are not your last failure. You are your next success, right? Just one more. You know, I know you know this. Just do one more pushup, run for one more minute, do one more sit-up, make one more cold call. Have one more informational interview, watch one more TEDx, right? Like, just do one more because there's something in that one more that proves to you that you can keep going. And also, you're probably going to learn a lot in that one more also.

Wow, that's powerful. Thank you so much. I am so grateful that I finally got to connect with you. I'm going to have a link for your book, but if they're running right now, And they don't have time to look at the show notes, what's the best place they can reach you?

Super easy. As I said, my name is Laura Gassner Otting and all my friends call me LGO. So hey, like, hey there, hey LGO on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, on LinkedIn, and heylgo.com is a shortcut that gets you to my website.

Oh, thank you. And I can't wait to dive into your course too.

Well, thank you. And next time I'm in LA, even though we're only going to be like a half mile apart, We're gonna make the two hours between the places happen.

Yes, right. I can't wait for that day to be able to give you a big hug. So absolutely, I just appreciate you so much. Thank you so much for sharing.

Well, thank you for having me on your show.

Thank you so much for joining us this week on the True Grit and Grace podcast. Don't forget to hit that. Subscribe button, and it would be so awesome if you rated and maybe left a review. That would help too. And also, I have some exciting news for you. If you are ready to learn a mindset that will get you through any challenge, ready to really transform any limiting beliefs, and finally find the wellness routines that work with your lifestyle and keep your body healthy and thriving, you're in the right place. You're hearing this for all the right reasons because it's your chance, your chance to join right now. It's a 12-week course. It's so much fun because we're going to go live in a webinar with plenty of time for Q&A. It's called Your Unstoppable Life Mastermind, and there's going to be a daily mantra and a like-minded community to support you along your way to reach all those goals. So head over to amberlylago.com/mastermind and sign up now. Okay. Have a great week. And I hope to see you in the mastermind.