# selling yourself short (underpriced)

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

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.

- Computed level: L15 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: published  ·  Domain: agency

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [self-model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-model.reflexive), [reach](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-reach.action), [value](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-value.worth), [others](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-others.distinct-entities), [read](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-read.information), [below](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-below.spatial), [get](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-get.acquisition), [asks](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-asks.social), [give](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-give.transfer)

**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.

**Novel properties:**
- an under-reading that becomes a price
- a wall set by the self on what others give
- loss made at the point of asking

## Examples
- Salary negotiation guides warn candidates against selling themselves short by naming a figure below the usual pay for their role. *(work)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-selling-yourself-short.underpriced*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-selling-yourself-short.underpriced.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*