More often than not, the jobs we work in high school and college don't have any correlation to the career we aspire to have. If you're anything like me, you probably daydream about what you'll be doing in the future while you're performing the mundane tasks of stocking shelves, mopping the floor or digging holes. You may question why you're even doing what you're doing.

Yet, as money is a necessary evil, so too is working the job you need to obtain it. After all, freedom isn't truly free. Sure we can buy and do whatever we want, but there is a monetary value to nearly everything. It's one of the many harsh realities you face growing up. While I am slowly starting to accept adulthood, I still consider myself a dreamer and romanticist. I fully believe that you can do anything you set your mind to, as long as you put your heart and soul into it.

Once I graduate, I plan on devoting myself to a career in the film/television industry, as well as my budding writing career. In an ideal world, I could just jump into it, and get compensated for doing what I love. Everyone would know who I am and want to pay me for what I produce. I wouldn't ask for a lot. Just enough to survive and live modestly. Of course, nothing in life is ideal (where's the fun in that!?).

Instead, the high school and college years are meant to build experience, skills, and connections, all while finding yourself. Your field-related internships and research work may be the first things that come to mind in terms of career growth, but never knock your other experiences. Yes, believe it or not, that part-time job you are working at the mall or supermarket will develop skills towards your future career.

Working as a sales associate at Sears was a true test of patience. I would spend countless hours organizing the shoe boxes by item number and size on the shelves, only to have them thrown around and left on the floor. This is similar to the writing and video editing processes. I could spend a good portion of my day writing a short story at a writing workshop, or editing a rough cut of a video for a client, just to have my paper saturated in red ink, or being told to completely restructure the video.

Dealing with customers is another blessing that I will never take for granted. While it may not seem all that great to be cursed at or insulted for attempting to do your job, it prepares you for all of the hostile people you'll have to deal with in the years to come. Especially when some of those people are the ones controlling the reigns of your employment.

No matter how much you hate the job you're at now, or how irrelevant you think it may be, anything worth putting on a resume is worth doing. Similar to the saying, "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have," think of it as, "Working the job you want, not the job you have." Ringing up customers may not seem as exciting as performing open-heart surgery, but treat it that way. Get in the habit of putting the same level of care and detail into everything you do, so when it comes time to working your dream job, you will be both physically and mentally ready for it.