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High Schooler or Professional?

Remember when you were in high school? Remember how mom and dad paid the bills, bought the clothes, provided the spending money, and generally took care of the things needful for living? Your part was going to school, sleeping in, playing sports, attending parties, staying up late, and generally having fun, the kind of fun that kids get to have.

Did you know that it’s possible to carry over into your post high-school years the activities and attitudes that we had while in high school? The results (as an adult) aren’t too good, especially if you want to make a good living, get married, raise a family, and participate in life. The following 42 items shows key attitudes and actions in select areas that we’d all do well to consider earlier than later. Everyone has blind spots. You may want to sit down with a friend and jointly score yourself in these areas (as being either a high schooler or professional). If you're in between (that is, some high schooler attributes and some professional attributes in area attitude/activity) on an item, then score the lower one (that is, score it as a high schooler).

See what they say to you… If you have half or more of your scores in the high schooler area, you are in serious trouble. If you have 25% high schooler, you're operating far beneath your potential. If you have 5 items, you can be sunk if you don't make some changes. The goal is to get every item in the professional category. You DO NOT want to miss what you can be because of behavior, attitude, or activity.

Item	Attitude/Activity	High School Mentality	Professional Mentality
1	Self Control	Erupts easily, mood swings, generally undisciplined. Low emotional stability.	Able to live and let live; tolerant, forgiving, stable; clean language. High emotional stability.
2	Gratification	Wants it now. Justifies any and all “toys” expenses.	Understands delayed gratification; puts first things first.
3	Finances/Debt	Never able to get ahead; bankruptcy common; in debt.	Financial house in order; investments; all bills paid.
4	Responsibility	Seldom take responsibility; blames others. Shirks legal issues (insurance, alimony, bills)	Accepts responsibility; takes the blame when required. Maintains legal obligations.
5	Order	Home and car typically a mess; junker cars in front yard.	Home and car clean, neat, in working order.
6	Education	Odds are if they have any college, there’s no degree.	College graduate. Ongoing learning advocate.
7	Employment	Sporadic employment record; often uses unemployment benefit.	Good employment record. Many years in one industry or corporation. Steady promotions.
8	Prosperity	Rent; do not own much of anything. Seldom give to anyone as they don’t have it.	Cars and homes paid off. Able to give to others out of their abundance.
9	Punctuality	Late or absent as a rule rather than as an exception. Always a reason for being late.	On time or early as a rule.
10	Leadership	Take care of themselves; don’t see how their actions influence others.	Able to gather others around their vision. Able to lead others and raise the level of success of others.
11	Forward Progress	Year after year there is no evidence of progress.	Year after year they can look back and see progress (material; relationship; ministry; education; experiences; career; etc.)
12	Testimony	Does not have a consistently good testimony among honorable people.	In many venues has a very good testimony among honorable, accomplished persons.
13	Trivia	Knows every music artist, song, sports statistic, TV show, movie, movie star, gossip.	Very little trivia knowledge; may not own a TV; busy with what matters.
14	Network	No professional network. No contacts to recover employment.	Vast professional network; able to recover employment as needed.
15	Relationships	Multiple marriages. Children undisciplined and out of control. Kids do not take their advice.	Stable marriage. Children in order. Children disciplined. Children see them as heroes.
16	Health	Chronic issues (dental, physical, emotional); out-of-shape physically. Stays up late.	Health is in order. Hereditary issues under a dr.’s care. Regular check-ups. 6-8 hrs sleep nightly.
17	Personal Presentation	Sloppy appearance. Shirt untucked; tee-shirts; unshaven; shabby clothing.	Neat appearance. Dress clothes where appropriate. Well-groomed. Collar shirts. No baseball caps.
18	Participation	Often left out due to no money; most participation is because someone else picked up the tab. Getting things “free” is big deal.	Enjoys the good things. Boats; RVs; Computers; Cell Phones; Hobbies (that cost money).
19	Teamwork	Selfish. Me first. Doesn’t see the value of a team.	Good on teams. Able to get along with others. Leverages output through teamwork.
20	Systems and Methods	Takes something simple and makes it complex. Argue, back-bite, resists systems.	Able to take the complex and make it simple. Teacher, enabler, coach – embraces systems.
21	Time Management	Always “busy” but don’t seem to get things done. Occupy their time with sports, games, videos, gadgets.	Get tons of things done, to the amazement of many. Organized, focused, good example.
22	Habits	Involved in destructive habits – smoking, drinking, pornography. Play time.	Free of destructive habits. Educated enough to know better.
23	Mentoring	No mentors. No inner circle. Seeks no advice, receives no advice.	Has developed mentors. Has an inner circle. Seeks and receives advice on important matters.
24	Maturity	Finds a joke in everything. Thinks jokes are cute. No one cares about their opinion.	Knows how to be serious. Because of their maturity they are sought out for their advice.
25	Attention Span	Brief. Easily distracted. Leaves most things unfinished.	Able to focus and stay on track. Finishes projects and jobs.
26	Spirituality	No interest. If there is an interest, there’s little growth/change.	“When I was a child, I spoke as a child; I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1 Cor. 13:11
27	Balance	Life is out of control. No real direction. Squanders time on non-essentials.	Well rounded. Life is in control and on purpose. Able to contribute in many areas.
28	"Trainwreck" (any major setback)	Cannot recover. Needs endless therapy, counseling, medication.	Recovers, even if it takes time. Uses professional counseling with an end in mind, rather than open-ended.
29	Risk Taking	Plays everything safe and as a result leads a life of insignificance. Often depressed.	Confident to pursue calculated risks and wins most of the time; leads a life of excitement.
30	Language	A few 4-letter words are half of their vocabulary.	There are over 100,000 words in the English language; has the education to use them.
31	Racism	Uses disparaging words to describe ethnic groups.	Judges individuals on the content of their character.
32	Sexism	At ease with the exploitation and denigration of women; sees them as objects.	Honors, respects, and defends women.
33	The Poor	Is one of them. Believes being poor is their fate versus it's their own choice.	Seeks to improve the lot of the poor by succeeding and helping them rather than joining them.
34	Manipulation	Uses guilt, intimidation, threats, backhanded comments to get their own way.	Not interested. Prefers win-win and leadership to manipulation.
35	Association	Hangs around with others in their economic, education, accomplishment sphere.	Seeks out smart, accomplished persons. Learns from those who have "done it."
36	Conflict Resolution	Ostrich approach, or blabs to everyone except the person with whom they have the conflict.	Seeks out the person with whom they have the issue with the intent of restoring the relationship.
37	Stability	Changes direction often; doesn't stick with any project after the "fun" has worn off.	Stays the course until completion; involved in worthwhile projects worthy of completion.
38	Reading	Doesn't like to read.	Reads with the intent of learning and improving. Knows that "readers are leaders."
39	Excuses	Has a whole grab bag of excuses for a myriad of missed goals, unfinished business, tardiness.	"Excuses are useless."
40	Continuous Improvement	Can't spell it.	Lives by it.
41	Reflection	Justifies their failures and quits.	Learns from failure and tries again.
42	Problems	"Deer in the headlights."	Solves them.

If you’re a young person, you need to know the truth of the following statement: “You can play now and pay later, or you can pay now and you can play later.” Enjoy high school and the free-wheeling lifestyle. But get ready to join the professional ranks – if you want to live the good life. If you want to be broke, in poverty, unaccountable, and all the things written in the list above, then just keep playing around. One day you’ll wake up at age 40 with nothing going for you and it’ll be irrecoverable due to your life habits. No professional organization is going to put up with it for long if you're lucky enough to be a part of one. If you want to play all the time then prepare for a life of third-rate jobs because that’s all you’re qualified for. Just get used to it. Get used to watching others who have paid the price participate in life. Get used to watching others “get lucky” while you continue to get the “hard breaks.”

Make a choice. What do you want to be, a high-schooler or a professional? You can chose your actions or you can chose your consequences.