Every Word Matters: Not Yet

I want to start a small series called Every Word Matters.

One of the reasons I became interested in NLP was simple: I was amazed by how much words shape our lives.

Not only in books.
Not only in prompts.
But in the small phrases we repeat every day.

Today’s replacement is tiny:

“I don’t know” → “not yet.”

I was inspired by Carol Dweck’s talk about the power of “yet,” especially the example of a school where students didn’t receive a failing grade. They received “Not Yet.”

That changes everything.

“I don’t know” feels final.

It creates a binary state:

• I know
• I don’t know

Done. Closed. Identity-level judgment.

But “not yet” keeps the system open.

It says:

• I don’t know now
• I am on the curve
• there is a path from here

This is a very small language change, but it shifts the whole mindset from discrete to continuous.

From verdict to trajectory.

From failure to iteration.

So when someone asks:

“Do you know the best solution?”

The stronger answer is not:

“I don’t know.”

It is:

“Not yet.”

Because “not yet” keeps you moving.