From the 3-2-1 Thursday by James Clear, May 7, 2026
“The disciplined life looks impressive, but the well-designed life lasts longer. Before you try to find more willpower, design your environment and arrange your day so you’re more likely to follow through.”
That is good advice for football officials.
Most of us know what we should do. We should study the rules. We should review mechanics. We should watch film. We should exercise. We should arrive at the game prepared. We should conduct a thorough pregame.
The problem usually isn’t knowing what to do. The problem is consistently doing it.
We often treat that as a discipline problem: I need to make myself study more.
Maybe. But Clear suggests another approach: make the right action easier to do.
Build a System
If you want to study rules more consistently, don’t simply decide that you’re going to “study more.” Decide when, where, and how.
For example, spend 15 minutes with the rules book every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Put it on your calendar. Keep the rules book where you normally drink your morning coffee. Decide ahead of time what you will study.
Now you don’t have to decide whether to study. You just follow the routine.
The same approach works with film. Instead of telling yourself you need to watch more plays, establish a routine. Watch 15 plays after dinner on Wednesday. On each play, identify your keys, initial position, movement, coverage, and whether you were looking in the right place.
Fifteen purposeful plays every week will probably help you more than occasionally sitting down and watching an entire game.
Remove Decisions From Game Day
Game day is another opportunity to design your environment.
Pack your bag the night before. Use the same checklist every week: shine your shoes, check your uniform, flags, beanbags, down indicator, whistle, pens, radio equipment, foul weather gear, and anything else you routinely carry (beverage and halftime snack). Referees, print your game cards.
Have a standard departure time that gets you to the game early enough that normal traffic or a minor delay doesn’t create stress.
Develop a pregame routine. Don’t depend on someone remembering to discuss unusual plays or mechanics. Have a checklist and use it.
Make Improvement Automatic
After the game, identify one or two plays you want to review. Write them down before leaving the locker room. When you receive the film, go directly to those plays.
When you find a mistake, don’t stop with, I need to do better next time. Send the play to others on the crew or to your trusted mentors. Ask them for feedback. Develop tangible lessons learned.
That turns a mistake into a change in your system.
Good officials certainly need discipline. But we shouldn’t have to depend on willpower for everything.
Design routines that make preparation normal. Build checklists that prevent you from forgetting things. Establish habits that put your eyes and your body where they need to be.
Then, when Friday night arrives, you aren’t hoping you’ll remember everything you’ve learned.
You’ve built a system that helps you do it.
Quiz
Read the quiz stem and then choose the best answer. (Choose all that apply.)
4/8, K-18. K37 runs downfield and impedes R5’s path to the kick. The ball is still in flight when it hits K37’s helmet at the R-45. The ball bounces back to the K-34, where it is recovered by K82. At the end of the down, there is :03 remaining in the first half.
a. Awarded fair catch at the K-40
b. Awarded fair catch at the R-45
c. Awarded fair catch at the K-34
d. Awarded fair catch at the K-19
e. K’s ball, 4/17, K-9
f. R’s ball, 1/10, K-34
g. K’s ball, 1/10, K-34
Review Rules 4-2-2f, 5-1-3e, 6-2-5, 6-2-7, 6-5-4, 6-5-6, 10-5-1b