Self-efficacy does not translate into actual efficacy

A "can-do" attitude is supposed to be a big asset. As I learned this week, however, having confidence in your abilities doesn't mean that you actually possess those abilities. I picked out a slightly beat-up rocking chair at a consignment store. The finish wasn't in great shape, but the design was simple and exactly to my taste, and when I sat in it I got the feeling it was made for someone exactly my size. All it really needed was a paint job. "No problem," I thought, "people paint their own furniture all the time." My parents and brother are tremendously talented when it comes to home improvement. I was sure I could handle this relatively simple task. (I should have remembered that the rest of my family members also have impressive green thumbs, and I really, REALLY don't.)

So we brought the chair home with us. We bought sand paper, white paint, and paint brushes. I sanded the chair, making sure to smooth out the spot where some kids had scratched a tic-tac-toe game into the seat. I painstakingly painted the chair. And wow, does it look awful. I'm not even sure what went wrong. But I am sure that I must have learned nothing from watching all those episodes of "Changing Rooms," "Trading Spaces," and "House Invaders."

The problem is not so much that I now am the proud owner of one horrendous-looking piece of nursery furniture. I'm sure the chair is just as comfortable as it was before I attacked it with vigorous, paintbrush-wielding enthusiasm, and it will rock my baby to sleep just as efficiently. The problem lies more in the failure of my original logic: if lots of other people can do this, I can too. Obviously, not so much. So when I tell myself, as I frequently do, that people have babies/endure labor all the time, and if they can do it then so can I, it just doesn't have quite the same resonance. But, as with the unfortunate chair, it is way too late to hire a contractor. No pun intended.