As we begin another football season, it’s worth revisiting a simple idea that has enormous implications for our performance, mindset, and long-term growth as officials: focus on what you can control.
Stephen Covey describes this concept using two circles—the Circle of Concern and the Circle of Influence.
Your Circle of Concern includes everything you care about or worry about: outcomes, decisions made by others, and circumstances you don’t control. Your Circle of Influence is smaller. It includes things you can directly affect through your actions, choices, and preparation.
The difference between proactive and reactive people is not intelligence or talent. It’s where they choose to spend their energy. Proactive people invest heavily in their Circle of Influence. Reactive people fixate on their Circle of Concern. Over time, that choice matters. When you focus on influence, it grows. When you focus on concern, influence shrinks.
Applying This to Football Officiating
High school football officiating is fertile ground for frustration if you allow your attention to drift into the Circle of Concern.
Here are a few common examples:
- The schedule you’re assigned
- The crew you’re placed on
- Other officials who receive games you wanted
- Officials who worked playoff or championship games that you believe didn’t earn them
- Decisions made by assigners or administrators
You can spend hours replaying these frustrations in your head. You can vent about them in locker rooms; by phone, text, online forums; or during association meetings. But none of that improves your officiating. In fact, it usually does the opposite.
Now compare that with what lives squarely inside your Circle of Influence.
Your Circle of Influence as an Official
You control:
- Your effort – how seriously you take preparation
- Your fitness – proactively scheduling workout events
- Your rules knowledge – reading, studying, and discussing plays with fellow officials
- Your mechanics – watching film, correcting habits, practicing
- Your attitude – especially when things don’t go your way
- Your communication – with coaches, players, and crewmates
- Your engagement – staying locked in during blowouts and long games
- Your willingness to learn – asking questions, seeking feedback
- Your contribution – mentoring a newer official or helping at meetings
None of these guarantee a specific assignment. None of them promise a playoff game. But each one improves your competence, credibility, and confidence. And over time, those things tend to compound.
A Mental Shift Worth Making
When officials get stuck in the Circle of Concern, they often sound like this:
- “What’s the point? They always play favorites. I’m not in the favored group.”
- “I work just as hard as him, and he gets better games.”
- “Why should I bother studying? I can get away with being a veteran.”
That mindset is exhausting, and it’s corrosive. It also quietly removes personal responsibility.
A Circle of Influence mindset sounds different:
- “What can I do this week to get better?”
- “Who can I learn from?”
- “Where am I still weak?”
- “How can I be more valuable to my crew?”
One mindset leads to growth. The other leads to stagnation.
A Challenge for the 2026 Season
As you head into this season, here’s a simple challenge: audit your energy.
Pay attention to what you think about, talk about, and spend time on.
- If it’s outside your control, acknowledge it and move on.
- If it’s inside your influence, lean into it.
You don’t need to control everything to be successful. You just need to control something—and do it consistently.
When officials focus on what they can control, they become better officials. When enough officials do that, crews improve. When crews improve, associations improve.
And it all starts with one decision: put your energy where it makes a difference.
Focus on your Circle of Influence. The rest will take care of itself.
Quiz
Read the quiz stem and then choose the best answer. (Choose all that apply.)
4/6 from the A-30. Team A is in a legal scrimmage kick formation with all Team A players numbered 0-49 or 80-99 (no one is numbered 50-79). A88 and A13 are split out wide to the right side of the formation on the line of scrimmage between the numbers and the sideline. A13 is the widest player in the formation (A88 is “covered”). After the snapper places his hands on the ball, A88 takes three steps backward and sets in the backfield for 1 second. A88 then goes in motion parallel to the line of scrimmage. At the snap, A88 runs 10 yards downfield and catches a pass at the A-40.
a. Legal play
b. Illegal forward pass
c. Illegal formation
d. Illegal motion
e. Ineligible downfield
f. Illegal touching
Review Rules 7-2-5b (Exception 2), 7-5-12, 7-5-13