Pay attention to which answer you’re hoping for while you wait. The wait tells you what you actually want.

Waiting strips out the performance. Once you have no influence left over a result, what you catch yourself hoping for is a more honest signal than anything you would say out loud about the choice. Relief at a rejection is information. So is the sinking feeling when the thing you were supposed to want comes through.

Write down which answer you are quietly rooting for, before you find out. Compare it to the reasons you gave people for applying or trying out in the first place. If the two do not match, that gap is worth more to you than the result is.