Self-efficacy & The Lukens Gene

I'm not trying to impress you with my vocabulary, but I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today that described "self-efficacy". The article was titled "If at First You Don't Succeed, You're in Excellent Company". It detailed all of the famous people you've read about and their corresponding failures followed by magnificent successes.

One particular example was Thomas Edison and his eventual invention of the light bulb. After 1000 failures he finally found the right combination. Later, he described it not as 1000 failures, but merely 1000 steps. I guess that's why people with "self-efficacy" don't quit when others would...they just expect a series of steps to happen before they get the job done.

So, what does Thomas Edison have to do with "Self-efficacy"? As quoted in the WSJ, "What makes some people rebound from defeat while others throw in the towel?" Self-efficacy-the unshakable belief that they have what it takes to succeed...because they believe persistent effort will let them beat the odds". I asked Julie about this term and of course, getting her doctorate in "behavioral science", she instructed me that a guy named Al Bandura came up with this term and it is a major concept in the field of helping people change their behavior...who knew??

Suddenly, it occurred to me that I know of a group of these people and they ALL have the same last name-Lukens. Matter of fact, I married one of them and you've never seen a more determined bunch in your life. They are changing health care, where we will get our oil someday, they have built bridges and dams in places where they couldn't be built, built churches, and include several women who ran companies when it was thought only men could. Whatever the challenge, they have the stuff to do whatever needs to be done. And I warn you, do not try to stop them. They won't let you!