The problem, of course, is that gulp limits tend to be self-fulfilling. They’re rooted in our personal expectations of achievement, and human nature leads us to put in just enough effort so that we’re over our gulp limit. Very recently, a student came in and said point blank to the coach: “As long as I get a 70% on my math test, I’ll be happy.” Really? Why 70%? Why not 60%, or 80%? Why is 70% the key number? Not surprisingly, the student ended up with a 72%. Because the student needed to get a 70%, he did exactly what was necessary, and nothing more.

This begs the question: If that same student was somehow able to increase his gulp limit, would his actual results eventually improve along with it? We believe the answer is yes, and that’s why we encourage our students to ‘raise the bar’. Before discussing how a coach can try to accomplish this, let’s spend a minute talking about where gulp limits come from in the first place.

For most students, gulp limits stem from their previous educational history. Students who tend to get results in the 80% range normally have gulp limits to match. Students who see a lot of 65% results tend to have gulp limits consistent with those experiences. Students also derive their gulp limits from their parents who will get angry with grades below a certain threshold. Like students, parents have expectations and make those expectations abundantly clear. In truth, many high school students put in exactly the amount of effort required to keep their parents and their teachers (and their coaches!) off their back.

In part 2 of this topic, we’ll explore some ways to help students increase their gulp limits…

Here’s an example: The teacher of a Grade 10 math student assigns a series of questions for homework. Twenty minutes later, the student is “done”. Yes, the student might be done the homework, but did the student do the homework with integrity? A few questions can shed light on this. How did you do? Did you check your answers? Did you correct the ones you got wrong – do you even know how many you got wrong? If you’re stuck or don’t understand something from your homework, do you know what you need to ask your teacher about next class?

Students, in their desire to ‘finish’ their homework, will frequently rush through with little regard to the notion of doing the homework properly. We’ll often ask our students why they think the teacher assigned the homework in the first place. The answer, of course, is so the student learns the underlying concepts. So just finishing the homework doesn’t mean much if you don’t, at the end of it, understand the concepts being taught.

Parents can help shift the focus toward ‘homework with integrity’ by slightly changing the nature of their questions. Next time, don’t ask your children whether they’re finished their homework. Instead, ask them if they finished their homework properly. Ask them if they finished their homework the way their teacher expects them to.

Sometimes students – the underestimators – will provide very low guesses for how long something will take. For example, students who believe they can take notes on a chapter in Grade 11 History in twenty minutes are going to be disappointed. Obviously, these students are at risk of underachievement and of being unprepared. They also figure to start assignments and tasks later than they should on the belief that the task won’t take long.

Sometimes, however, students have the opposite problem. Instead of underestimating how long a task will take, they make unrealistically high guesses. Five hours to take notes on the chapter?! Students who overestimate can feel highly stressed and overwhelmed. They might also feel defeated because they cannot manage their workload. Procrastination can also result – who wants to start something that’s so daunting?

Students, therefore, should aim toward getting a realistic handle on how long typical academic tasks take. To help promote more realistic time estimates, students can actually track time and compare it to their guesses. For example, students could use their agenda and record how long they think it will take to complete the various academic tasks they have (e.g., studying for Bio, finish reading 20 pages in To Kill a Mockingbird, completing the rough draft for the History paper). When completed, they could write down how long it actually took in brackets. Over time, this will allow students to see their tendency to over or underestimate, which they can then use to improve their time estimation skills.