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Everyone Needs a Reminder to Make the Most of Time. Here's Mine. One entrepreneur shares his advice for embracing every minute.

By Lawrence Lenihan

This story appears in the September 2020 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

Lawrence Lenihan

I started my career in 1987 as a new member of the New York City–based U.S. marketing and sales division of IBM. I was just a kid, so a team of senior reps took me under their wings and showed me the ropes.

The lead rep was a man named Frank. He kept a small hourglass on his desk, and the first time I asked him what it was for, he said it was "to time the five minutes of stupidity I can tolerate before telling someone to leave." I didn't know him well enough at the time to understand whether he was kidding or serious, but I'd been told to listen to whatever Frank said. So I did.

Related: An Old Lunch Pail Reminds This Founder to Embrace the Tough Times

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