> About 80% of these are pretty cowardly and the others overly verbose. Saying “sure I’ll meet you later this year” is not saying no. Only if you really mean "

> About 80% of these are pretty cowardly and the others overly verbose. Saying “sure I’ll meet you later this year” is not saying no. Only if you really mean "no" but are lying and saying that to be polite. Most of these aren't really about how to phrase "no", but how to think about prioritization and scheduling and in many cases "yes, but" or "no, but" are more appropriate than unconditional yes or no.