I don't have the "more than you think you're capable of" thought, but every once in a while I'll read a fic I wrote a long while back and think to myself, "Self, that was not half bad!" But that is rare, because mostly I will get only a few paragraphs in to whatever I've written, old school or not, and be hit with a wall of cringing. So, hm, I guess there is a little bit of that "more than you think you're capable of" feeling involved...