So i called up my mentor, and i called up andy van dam. and i said, andy, i just gave a two-week assignment, and they came back and did stuff that if i had given them a whole semester i would have given them all as. sensei, what do i do? [laughter] and andy thought for a minute and he said, you go back into class tomorrow and you look them in the eye and you say, "guys, that was pretty good, but i know you can do better.” [laughter] and that was exactly the right advice. because what he said was, you obviously don’t know where the bar should be, and you’re only going to do them a disservice by putting it anywhere. and boy was that good advice because they just kept going. . based on this excerpt, randy pausch believes that his students need strict limits in order to succeed. are capable of completing any task. possess a great deal of potential. often change their life goals.