At home. At work. Throughout your entire day. Protect your time like nothing else in this world.

Fewer people will try to hang out with you throughout the day. You may isolate yourself from the “cool” kids. That’s fine. Worry about how you can improve and learn. Don’t worry about impressing your colleagues. Focus on you.

It may feel uncomfortable at first. It’s not that you’re trying to cut yourself off from everyone and be the lone wolf on your team, you’re trying to better guard your time.

If you make it known that during x time periods you’re free or busy, people will start to respect that more. It may take some getting used to for you and others, but it will pay off. Time is so valuable.

You don’t have to be a dick about. Kindly let people know when they try to come up and talk to you that you’re busy for the next few hours. You can shut your office door. You can put a sign up on your cubicle. You can let your friends know that you can’t hang out during those hours of the day.

Whatever you have to do to protect your time, do it. You should constantly focus on improving yourself. The first step is to dedicate time every day to learning new skills and improving on your current skill set.

You can become great if you focus on making a commitment to consistent work. Tell other people about what you’re committed to as well. It will help you stay on course. Hold yourself accountable. If you miss a day or do something else during your blocked off hours it’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Make sure you get right back to it the next day or change up your hours.

If you truly want to get better at a skill or improve in your career, you’re going to have to guard your time and use the time you block off effectively.

Don’t worry about what people think. This is for you, your future self, your friends, and your family. They’ll understand once they start seeing results.