Who Is Influencing Your Primary Arena?

Written by Jim Fannin on May 14, 2025.

In every person’s life, there’s one arena where they spend a disproportionate amount of their energy, thoughts, time, money, and emotion. This is your Primary Arena. It might not be the most emotionally significant arena (like family or health), but it’s the one that dominates your daily focus. Whether you’re building a business, competing in a sport, practicing an art, raising children, or mastering a craft, your Primary Arena is where your attention consistently flows.

And because of this consistent engagement, the people who influence this arena—those you see, interact with, or even just think about regularly—begin to shape how you operate within it. These are your Key People. Their impact can’t be overstated.

They influence your thoughts, your moods, your behaviors, your decisions—and ultimately your results. They can either sharpen your focus and elevate your mindset or distract you and chip away at your performance.

Key People: The Shapers of Thought and Outcome

Key People are not just individuals you communicate with; they are those whose presence (physical or psychological) affects how you think, act, and feel in your Primary Arena. You may not have consciously chosen these people, but they’re there—co-workers, friends, bosses, spouses, mentors, teammates, competitors, even social media influences.

The thoughts that flood your Primary Arena—whether focused or scattered, positive or negative—directly impact your S.C.O.R.E.® level.

Key People are either:

S.C.O.R.E.® Makers – They enhance your performance by lifting one or more elements of your mindset.
S.C.O.R.E.® Breakers – They diminish your performance by disrupting or draining one or more of those five core components.

Let’s examine how this works in practice.

Three Types of Key People in Your Arena

Whether you’re a CEO, an athlete, a musician, a teacher, or a stay-at-home parent, people in your arena fall into three primary categories:

1. Coaches (Leaders/Guides)

These individuals direct, mentor, advise, or teach. They can be your manager, trainer, teacher, therapist, life coach, or spiritual advisor. They carry authority in some form and shape how you prepare, perform, and reflect.

As S.C.O.R.E.® Makers: A great coach brings clarity, encouragement, accountability, and wisdom. They help raise your optimism and focus while reinforcing your discipline.
As S.C.O.R.E.® Breakers: An insecure or controlling coach may create self-doubt, confusion, or tension. If they belittle or micromanage, they kill enjoyment and disrupt relaxation.

2. Players (Teammates/Peers)

These are the people you interact with daily to achieve goals—co-workers, partners, collaborators, classmates, or teammates. You share the “field of play” with them.

As S.C.O.R.E.® Makers: A positive teammate brings camaraderie, shared purpose, and support. They lighten the load and can make intense situations more enjoyable.
As S.C.O.R.E.® Breakers: Toxic peers create drama, gossip, and competition. They disrupt concentration, erode optimism, and raise tension—blocking the Zone state.

3. Spectators (Observers)

These people don’t participate directly but are still part of the environment. This includes clients, fans, critics, extended family, social media followers, or past figures whose influence lingers in your mind.

As S.C.O.R.E.® Makers: They can validate your path, celebrate your wins, or remind you of your potential.
As S.C.O.R.E.® Breakers: They judge, criticize, or plant seeds of self-doubt. Even perceived judgment can impact your S.C.O.R.E.® if you’re not aware and guarded.

How Key People Influence the Five S.C.O.R.E.® Components

Let’s explore how they impact your S.C.O.R.E.® performance system:

1. Self-Discipline

This is your ability to stay on task, stick to a plan, and follow through. Key People can:

Support it: A mentor or partner who holds you accountable can reinforce habits and structure.
Undermine it: A friend who encourages you to “take a break” when you need to push forward can delay momentum.

2. Concentration

Your ability to focus on the present moment without distraction.

Boost it: Teammates who minimize drama and respect boundaries allow you to lock in.
Break it: Noisy environments, emotional upheaval, or “emergency” texts from a family member can shatter focus instantly.

3. Optimism

Your belief that success is possible and the best is yet to come.

Elevate it: A coach or friend who sees your potential and reminds you of your progress keeps you hopeful and driven.
Drain it: Critics, skeptics, or pessimistic co-workers who always expect failure are constant optimism leaks.

4. Relaxation

A calm and tension-free mind and body are essential for entering the Zone.

Enhance it: Supportive people create psychological safety and emotional regulation.
Sabotage it: High-pressure individuals who shame or stress you out build anxiety instead of calm.

5. Enjoyment

Joy fuels motivation, creativity, and resilience.

Spark it: Light-hearted, funny, positive people who help you find meaning and fun.
Kill it: Negative personalities who treat everything like a chore or war zone.

Mapping the Key People in Your Arena

Start by writing out the names of people you interact with regularly in your Primary Arena. Then next to each, answer these questions:

Are they a Coach, Player, or Spectator?
Are they currently a S.C.O.R.E.® Maker or Breaker?
What part of your S.C.O.R.E.® do they most affect?
How do you feel before, during, and after being around them?

This level of awareness is powerful. It turns subconscious influence into conscious strategy.

How to Manage Key People

Once you’ve identified who’s helping or hurting your performance, you have three options:

1. Co-exist Peacefully

Not everyone needs to be close. Some people can stay in your world as long as you set firm boundaries. Limit time, energy, and topics to protect your Zone.

2. Distance Entirely

Some relationships are consistently toxic. You may need to cut ties, remove yourself from a group, or mentally detach from voices in your head that no longer serve you.

3. Change Them Positively

Lead by example. Share tools, language, or habits from the S.C.O.R.E.® System. Positivity is contagious. You might inspire a shift in their energy by changing yours first.

Your Thoughts Are Not Your Own… Unless You Claim Them

You must think about what you think about. The truth is—most of your thoughts were planted, shaped, or reinforced by others. The people around you influence your inner monologue more than you realize.

If you want to live, work, and play in the Zone, you must become the gatekeeper of your thoughts. That means becoming the curator of your relationships—welcoming S.C.O.R.E.® Makers and consciously managing or removing S.C.O.R.E.® Breakers.

Final Thought: Your Primary Arena is Sacred

Whatever arena you spend your life energy in—protect it.

If you’re a teacher, your students and administrators matter.
If you’re a CEO, your executive team, assistant, and clients matter.
If you’re an athlete, your coach, trainer, family, and fans matter.
If you’re a parent, your children, co-parent, and friends matter.

You are not alone on your journey. Every relationship you maintain is either helping you rise or subtly pulling you away from the person you are meant to become.

The Zone is possible. Clarity is possible. Simplicity is possible. But not without awareness.

Who is influencing your Primary Arena?

Take inventory. Make decisions. And begin again—on your terms, in your Zone.