July 29, 2025

Mental Breakdowns & Moonshot Goals with Mike Massimino

39 minutes

We started this episode with tears, and somehow ended up in outer space. (Welcome to Laugh Lines!) This week, I had a completely unplanned “Menty B” (short for mental breakdown) about our daughter leaving for college. There are feelings. So many feelings. And mascara malfunctions. Then (try not to get whiplash) we take an emotional U-turn to bring on former astronaut and NYT bestselling author, Mike Massimino, to talk about setting big, bold, seemingly impossible goals.

Penn really dislikes goal setting, but he loves space. So he felt like an astronaut could help him be a better goal setter. Mike shares the truly wild story of how he overcame three rejections from NASA, trained his eyes to beat the vision test (seriously!), and why collaboration is the best way to achieve your dreams. We also hear from an awesome 13-year-old listener who might just bring back a forgotten podcast segment. So buckle up Laugh Lines listeners, this one’s a real journey. We love to hear from you, leave us a message at 323-364-3929 or write the show at [email protected]. You can also watch our podcast on YouTube.

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Laugh Lines with Kim & Penn Holderness is an evolution of The Holderness Family Podcast, which began in 2018. Kim and Penn Holderness are award-winning online content creators known for their original music, song parodies, comedy sketches, and weekly podcasts. Their videos have resulted in over two billion views and over nine million followers since 2013. Penn and Kim are also authors of the New York Times Bestselling Book, ADHD Is Awesome: A Guide To (Mostly) Thriving With ADHD and winners on The Amazing Race (Season 33) on CBS.

Laugh Lines is hosted and executive produced by Kim Holderness and Penn Holderness, with original music by Penn Holderness. Laugh Lines is also written and produced by Ann Marie Taepke, and edited and produced by Sam Allen. It is hosted by Acast. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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