The New England Patriots have accomplished a perfect 16-0 regular season. It is amazing that the time a professional football team accomplished was in 1972. As a sports psychology coach I am supposed to deter an athlete from thinking about being perfect because it sets the athlete up for disappointment. However, Bill Belichick the coach of the Patriots challenged his team at the start of the season to achieve “something” special. Even though he didn’t say perfect season, he is the type of coach that has high expectations for his team-both the players and coaches. You could see by how he acted after the final game that the perfect season was a goal.

At that level sometimes putting extremely high expectations is a good thing for a team made up of veteran players, many who have already won the biggest prize, the Superbowl. Challenging talented individuals can only come from leadership that demands the same performance from themselves. So I say why not go for perfection?