Lesson 11
When to Push and When to Pause
Use silence and timing well, answer a delay without guessing its cause, and avoid negotiating against yourself.
Count decisions, not messages
A fast back-and-forth can feel like progress while leaving the price, the scope and who decides all unsettled. A quiet week can hide a review that’s going well. Measure progress by decisions made and facts learned, not by messages sent.
You can shape the pace. Agree who needs to see what, and when you’ll next speak. Then a missed date is a specific thing to ask about rather than a silence to worry over.
And time already spent is spent. Weeks of talks don’t make a poor deal worth taking; The Sunk Cost Fallacy explains why that pull is so strong. Decide whether to carry on by comparing what’s still to come.