“Not yet” and “no” sound alike when you’re impatient. They’re completely different answers.

Impatience flattens distinctions, and one of the first to go is the difference between refusal and timing. A delay heard as a rejection gets answered as a rejection, which often closes something that was still open, and the loss comes from your reading rather than from what was said. Being unable to wait makes you a poor interpreter.

When an answer is ambiguous, ask plainly which one it is and by when. Write down what you were actually told rather than what you felt. Then act on the words instead of on the discomfort.