Working a summer job isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, it usually isn’t anyone’s idea of a perfect summer. But there are actually many more positives than there are negatives about having a manual labor summer job.

Sure, you don’t get to go to the lake, wake up at noon every day, or have a totally open schedule for three straight months. You won’t hit up every party that you get invited to. But when you throw your boots on and get down to business doing a construction job, you’re rewarded with much more than what meets the eye.

When you get down to the brass tax and go through an entire summer season of any type of construction work, you gain the ability to work far harder than you ever have. You begin to understand that you can exceed what you once believed were the boundaries of human capabilities.

I never once thought I could work a full 12-hour day. Low and behold, I worked a full month straight of 18 hour days every single day. It makes you have this sense of confidence and pride in what you do. You become a stronger person mentally and physically from working those long hours doing those incredibly difficult tasks. It’s an invigorating experience once you’re able to look back on all of it.

When you do any sort of construction, you learn so much about how things are built, and there is quite a bit of thought and effort that goes into simply planning things. For me, I work on a concrete construction crew every summer.

I have spent the last three years doing this. I still don’t know anywhere near as much as I’d like to know about building roads. There’s so much that goes into building streets, driveways, curbs, and sidewalks. It’s so intricate that not many people actually realize how interesting the process truly is.

Working outside is probably the next best thing to being at the lake. No, you’re not sipping drinks with your feet hanging into the water at the end of the dock, but you’re outside in a different environment than what you’re used to, and it’s a highly underrated quality. Changing your environment around you is the best way to fully pull yourself out of a rut. Becoming too habitual will actually result in negative influences on your day to day mentality.

I don’t believe I need to mention it, but the money is astounding. Working three months on a concrete crew, you make anywhere between $12,000 and $18,000 depending on how long of hours your company needs you to work and how many high profile jobs you work for. Federal and state job sites pay a higher wage than just repairing small city roads.

So no, it’s not the most fun way to spend your summer, but the crazy ways that manual labor jobs can actually benefit you are far better than just being lazy, bored, and monotonous all summer long. Get down in the mud, get your hands dirty, and make some money to pay off those student loans!