The Emergence Machine

selling yourself short · underpriced

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L15 published verb folk phrase closed compare →

A self-model reading its own worth below what its reach would get from others, so it asks them for less than they would give.

Selling yourself short (verb) means: A self-model reading its own worth below what its reach would get from others, so it asks them for less than they would give. It emerges from self-model, reach, value, others: An under-reading of the self is carried into an exchange; others' models would have granted more, but the claim is made from the self-model, so the lower price is the one that gets set. In the EmergenceLexicon it sits at computed level 15, chaining down to the four foundations (space, time, energy, pattern).

selling-yourself-short.underpriced · forms: sell oneself short, sell themselves short, sell yourself short, selling herself short, selling himself short, selling themselves short, selling yourself short, sold herself short, sold himself short, sold themselves short, sold yourself short

ordinarily means: undervaluing your own abilities or worth, so you ask for or attempt less than you could

Examples

Emergence

from: self-model reach value others read below get asks give
through: An under-reading of the self is carried into an exchange; others' models would have granted more, but the claim is made from the self-model, so the lower price is the one that gets set.

Chain to foundations

full chain as text (382 steps)

Neighborhood

Concepts that depend on this one above; what it is built from below.

built from — 1 more not shownselling yourself shortL15selling-yourself-short.underpriced — A self-model reading its own worth below what its reach would get from others, so it asks them for less than they would self-modelL14self-model.reflexive — A model in a thing whose subject is the thing that holds the model.reachL13reach.action — Each window a thing can enter, and each wall it can set, by its own action.valueL13value.worth — how something's distinctness or utility determines its priceothersL2others.distinct-entities — Things that are in space and time but not the same thing as one, or not the same pattern as one.readL7read.information — when entities sees and makes informationbelowL12below.spatial — at a location that is lower than another locationgetL5get.acquisition — you make a thing come to youasksL7asks.social — to get something from another people

Relations

contrasts-withimpostor-syndrome.validationimpostor syndrome keeps the skill out of the self-model; selling yourself short admits it but prices it low when claiming from others
contrasts-withinsecurity.proximityinsecurity reads a wall as near; selling yourself short reads the worth as low and acts on it in an exchange
contrasts-withlearned-helplessness.underhelplessness under-reads the reach of action; selling yourself short under-reads the worth others would grant

Provenance

author: claude-opus-5-5:hand-curated · date: 2026-09-28 · confidence: 0.85 · source: schema/power-agency-phase.md