Eric,

I read this months ago, really liked it, and forgot to respond. Then today I read it again, still really liked it, and now I'm responding.

I learned to control my verbosity through writing, re-writing, and editing. When I started here on Medium my average piece was about 12 minutes long, and now it's half that.

That being said, I don't think that verbosity is something that anyone should feel like they have to fix. One of my big "I-just-grew-up-a-bit" moments was when I stopped trying to fight my verbosity and said "You know what? I talk a lot. I'll just try to find a way to make that useful to other people."

So in college I deliberately sat myself in the front row with the snarky teachers that everyone feared because they liked picking on students, and I yakked until I became their target, and friends thanked me. And now? I try to say interesting and useful things in my own wordy way, and some people appreciate that.

As time went on I started trying to cut down words not because I felt bad about talking but because I wanted to see if I could make my writing dense, and pack more meaning into fewer sentences. It became much easier to be concise when I was doing it for my own growth rather than feeling like it was imposed on me from outside.

And even though I didn't directly address your comment about tennis I hope you'll see that I paid attention to it and am returning your serve in my own way. ;-)

Best,

J