What you really need should always be the focus of your attention. I heard about a man who was so eager to learn English that he tied a textbook to his hand and even went to the shower with him. It lasted two years.
Say "no" first so that your partner studies his inner motivation and finds out all his benefits and values. In this case, there is more hope to achieve a fair price. Unconscious benefits will make the contract unfair, because the benefit is obtained, but is not taken into account. The primary "no" will help the second price to better consider your secondary value, which will increase the primary value.
There was a parable. The plane crashed and only one person survived. He went around bragging that he was the only one God had saved, and that meant he's a saint. However, everything is exactly the opposite. God called everyone to himself, but did not take this. This one God rejected.
Any leader is by default less competent than his subordinates. Every subordinate in his field knows a lot because he is focused on it. However, this concentration prevents him from understanding other people. The task of the leader is to understand everyone and communicate with each other. The leader is specially simplified in order to gain the ability to begin to understand people. The higher a person is, the simpler and more dispersed he is.
Your mistake is that the more you lose, the more demoralized you become. This is wrong. On the contrary, the more times you lose, the higher the probability of winning. The last 20% of efforts bring 80% of the result.
Faith stems from the possibility, that is, the reality and desire of a person. I need this desire, I want it, I have to. I need, I want, mixing with what is real, generates confidence.