Gary Direnfeld

Listen, I never thought I would be a professional writer.

I've written over 600 columns for a major metropolitan newspaper.

I've written a couple of books.

It started with that first article, which, of course, you pour over and you put everything into and you have to edit and re-edit and think it and share it with someone else and get feedback.

You know, that's where you start writing.

I'm at the point in my career, I can rip off a four or 500 page brief article in minutes, literally.

So it's practice that makes one an expert.

Word, four or 500 word.

For some people, it's public speaking.

Then go to Toastmasters as a means of getting in front of groups and learning how to speak and getting over the anxiety of it.

So you want to challenge yourself.

That's it.

You want to challenge yourself.

And there's a saying, how do you weed an elephant?

And the answer is one bite at a time.

You know, I think part of it is because there is some actual predictability to it.

And so people feel, oh, I'm going through this big midlife crisis and other people look at it and go, well, yeah.

So, you know, sometimes we make fun, we make a jest of the person, but it really is a thing.

And again, depending on that person, it will be felt to greater or lesser degrees, particularly measured by the distance between

between where you perceived you should be and where you actually are.