The opportunity that requires secrecy from everyone you trust deserves a slower answer.

Secrecy is sometimes ordinary and sometimes a way of removing your advisers. When an offer comes with instructions not to discuss it with your partner, your friend, or anyone who knows your situation, notice that the effect is to leave you alone with the person making the offer. Legitimate confidentiality is usually about a company or a client, not about the people closest to you.

Treat a request for total silence as a reason to slow down rather than speed up. Ask what specifically must stay private and why. If the answer does not allow one trusted person, that is your answer.