There are 60 days left until the end of the year – that’s time for almost anything to happen.
For some of you this has been a bad year, one that you can’t wait to see the end of, for others it’s been great, for me, as with many of you, it’s been a year full of learning, making mistakes and learning some more. I’ve loved it.

The last 60 days of the year can change everything. There is no point wishing them away, they can be used to change your whole outlook, to build a great start for next year and to create some memories that overshadow any negatives the year has bought.

It’s funny how we wait for some man-made time, (New Year) to wipe the slate clean and start again, when we can actually do that anytime we like.

I live in a house full of inspiration (I’m sure none of you are surprised by that). In my bathroom is my favorite Seth Godin quote, my living room has a ‘manifesto’ for life, my studio has the Marianne Williamson quote that I love. Some days I don’t see any of them, they are just there. I walk past them without noticing, I don’t even pause to read them.

All of our lives get like that sometimes, we need a new outlook to give us a new outlook. This weekend I cleaned my office and moved things around, when I walk in now I notice things that I didn’t before. I stopped and read my quotes this morning.

Things get stale sometimes, just cleaning your desk, tidying your notice board and adding some new things can change how you look at life. You don’t need to wait for New Years Eve to make resolutions. Things can change today.

I think the last 60 days of the year should be the time when we achieve most. We can start again at any failed resolutions and get ahead of ourselves on the new ones. This year isn’t over yet, we still have time to make it great by changing our outlook.

Take some time over the next 60 days to review your year. What you have learned, how that has changed you, and what you want to change. Take some time to decide what you want your life to look like by the start of 2012 and beyond. Think how easy your new years resolutions will be if you have already started them.

Whatever has happened so far in your year, we can make the last 2 months the best 2 months. Don’t wish them away – we never know how much time we have to waste.
Clean up your surroundings, change the way you look at things. The best time to start again is now.

Happy 2011.

This article was written by me and first published in The Advertiser on November 1st, 2011.

It’s amazing how sometimes we don’t see the potential in everyday objects. A scalpel may not be something you use everyday, but coming from a design background, it has been a constant in my life for the past 20+ years. I have never once thought of this – how did I miss it?

    Find out more here
I will look at the objects around me slightly differently today.

I confess, I’m a bit of a Seth Godin junkie – I read everything I can find of his, and have always imagined how much fun it would be to sit around a table with him and talk ideas. (Obviously in my head we are cut from the same slightly strange cloth – and would get on instantly and become great friends)… yesterday that chance came…. and went. And still it changed the way I think… let me explain.

At 2.30 yesterday afternoon I got the email I have dreamed about..

September 13 session in my office

By request, I’m offering a small group session in my office on the 13th of September. Call it group coaching for lack of a better term… bring your marketing, business model, web or other challenges and we’ll try to work through them. A few big ideas are likely to come of it for each attendee.

Apologies in advance if you can’t get a ticket, but if it goes well, I’ll probably do it again. Details and tickets.

I clicked on that link so fast I could have been an olympic clicker – my time had come. It was expensive – $3,200 – but the chance to be one of 14 people spending a day with Seth was a dizzying thought. I am a one person business, I don’t have an expense account to fall back on so I had to think about it. I thought, and I thought, and I thought. I did the math, and I did the math again. I knew it just may be the best investment I had ever made in myself or my business and did I mention it involved Seth Godin?

My practical head then clicked in, and I checked my calendar. I already had a speaking gig booked and that, in my world, is the one unmovable thing. Nothing is more important than that. Nothing. Not even Seth. (sorry Seth)

Then I started thinking of all the things I would have had to have done to prepare to meet Seth. How I would have had to be on top of business planning like never before, how I would have wanted my ideas developed and analyzed before I met ‘the man’ – The 3 weeks would have been spent preparing like never before. Wait. What?

Why didn’t I just do that anyway. If I would do that to meet Seth, why wouldn’t I do that to meet myself? I still can’t make the 13th, but on the 14th I have very important meeting, one that will mean me having all my plans aligned, my business direction clear, and my creativity firing. I would love Seth to be there, but it will be just me. And that’s enough, after all I can always ask myself ‘What would Seth say?’

Who would you like to meet, and how would you prepare? Shouldn’t you do that work anyway?

Dear Seth, if you or one of your assistants has a google alert set for your name and you happen upon this post, Thank You. Let’s hope we meet one day.

I was reminded of this song today, and had to share….

As a child, I was always taught that honesty was the best policy, and I still believe that today — even in business.

I remember my first job in a graphic design studio, the summer before I started university, I was young, and terribly keen to get everything right. In the corner of the office was a darkroom, with a machine that we made artwork from (yes, this was back in the day). One day I was asked to clean the darkroom.

I wanted to make a good impression so I decided that room would be the cleanest it had ever been. There were large screens covered with halftone dots, and well, lets just say that when I was finished there were no dots left. I had no idea that what I had done had just cost the company lots of money until a shout from the darkroom later that day.

I admitted my mistake immediately and went to tell my boss. He smiled as I shook and explained what I had done. He offered me a job for the rest of the summer, and anytime I wanted after that. I had shown that I was honest, and it was a quality he appreciated.

Being honest isn’t about half truths or leaving out bits — not lying isn’t the same as telling the truth.

We have all waited for a call back that never came, or a delivery man who was late. Why don’t these companies call to let us know? All we want is for them is to do what they say they are going to do. It’s that simple.

If you tell someone you will call them, do it. If you have said you will call them when their order arrives, then do it. If their order is late, call them and say so. If it’s never coming, tell them. We will appreciate it.

Recently I had software problems. They happened right after I had made a lot of technical changes in my office, so naturally I thought the two things may be connected. I spent a lot of time on the phone to tech support (about three hours) trying to find the problem. They talked me through a lot of standard procedures, and I could almost hear the head scratching as I told each person the problem, and they passed me to a different department.

It wasn’t until later that afternoon that a friend came over and we searched the internet to see if anyone else was having the same problem. They were. It hadn’t been me moving my studio around that caused the problem, it was them. It was their fault. Why hadn’t they just been honest? Why couldn’t they just admit that others were having the same thing happen and call me when they got it resolved? It would have been much better for me to know that, I could have definitely spent that three hours in a much better way — and so could they!

Honesty is the best policy, not just in theory, but in business and in life. It’s a respect thing, and your customers, clients, friends and family deserve it.

This post was first printed in The Daily Advertiser in my weekly column, That’s What She Said.

Yesterday I launched the new project. It’s not really a launch more of a ‘let’s put it out there and see what happens’. It’s called SHARE – This is the first blurb about it -

SHARE is going to be the new book from Aileen Bennett, but this time it’s so much more than a book. It’s more of a social experiment – we are out to prove that doing the right thing is the right thing for business.

We need YOUR help – we need you to help us collect the stories – from around the country and around the world. We have some to start with but need you to tell us about people and busine…sses that are helping others just because it’s the right thing to do.

We want to GIVE THIS BOOK AWAY – yes, you read that right – give it away (it just doesn’t seem right to create a book called SHARE and not share it).. we will need funding – any ideas, businesses you know who want to be involved – we have a few plans but would like to hear your ideas too.

Most of all we need you to SHARE this – share the idea, share this page – together we can prove that good still wins, and makes business sense.

We need you to

1. Like our page so we can grab the name as quickly as possible

2. SHARE it with others

3. Look out for stories about business doing great things that involve doing the right thing (sharing)

4. Let us know about anyone you know who may want to help fund this (the more we raise the more books we can SHARE) – we have some ideas coming soon! (and some great sponsor rewards)

5. SHARE your thoughts and ideas with us on our facebook page.

The Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/SHAREthebook – please go and LIKE it so I can keep you updated on all that is happening.

As you all know the news from London (my home town) has been plentiful. I have watched streets I know and love turn into battle zones. I wanted to share this photo with you (I wish I knew who to credit this to) – the scenes the morning after, when communities united to clean up their streets. Now that’s the London I know and LOVE. 

Sometimes you have to change a plan – or two. I didn’t need 40 days to get back to being really creative so I’m not taking them. I don’t think I had realized quite how long 40 days is. So I have learned. 30 days is a great boost. I will be putting together the book in the next 10 days.. 10 days of action – and that’s the important bit. Thank you for reading my random postings – and for your emails and thoughts. This has been fun, it’s like being supercharged. Onward and Upward

Strange things are happening. That’s a good sign that I am on the right path.

This coming week I will, at last, be announcing the details of the new project, probably on Tuesday. The first photo is already on my facebook page and I’m excited to see what happens. I am going to need a lot of people to help on this project, so it’s going to be interesting to watch it grow or die. I believe in it, and can only hope that others will too.

This week I talked to someone that is as obsessed, with business and ideas, as I am. I had no idea. He appeared in my office just to hang out and we spent hours talking way too fast about way too much. I think there is something to this.

I’m thinking that 30 days of creativity is as much as most human beings can take in one go. My head is bursting with new projects and ideas and I know now is the time to make them happen. Ideas are fine and fancy, but as useful as a chocolate teapot if you don’t put them into action. This week is an action week. Time to make the stuff happen.

I will keep you updated. Things are happening fast and furious here, I hope they are there too.

Yesterday I tried out some “meaningful improv” with the kids from Camp bon Coeur. I had been asked to give a speech, but what kid wants to listen to someone else speak for 2 hours? So I took a risk.  We started with some warm-up exercises – get in height order in one line (that generates more discussions than you think).. and then get in age order but without speaking. The only people to get that wrong were some of the counselors! We then got in a circle and found out some of the things they all had in common.

First direction -”Walk into the circle if you are enjoying camp” – every person walked into the middle of the circle. Then “Walk into the circle if you have made a new friend” – everyone walked into the middle of the circle, then a  more soul searching parameter – “if you have ever doubted yourself”. We would return to the circle later with more.. the idea of the first time is to establish trust, give a little hint that there will be some serious questions, and then go into another exercise. Later when the circle reconvened we used the following “if you have ever been made fun of or teased”, if you have ever made fun of or teased someone else”, “if you have ever felt different”, “if you have ever wished your life was different” – it is great for these kids, most of whom have been through multiple heart surgeries, to see that they are not the only ones. They didn’t all walk forward for every answer, which was also great, so they could see some of the participants didn’t want their lives to change.

We played other games to see what they all had in common, and for them to get to know each other better – If anyone is interested, let me know, and I’ll send you more details. Towards the end we went around the circle and I asked “If you could give anything to anyone this Christmas, what would it be” – The answers were amazing… from toys to my sisters, land for camp,  to I’d buy my friend another day with her Mom, I’d pay my baby brother’s way through college, I’d buy a private detective to find my dad – they were so sweet and genuine – and yes, some of us had tears in our eyes. We then asked “What’s the best thing about you” – and the other kids helped if someone couldn’t think of an answer – it was wonderful to be in that room watching them all help each other.

I had some leftover BE YOU necklaces that we had made for an event, and we had a ceremony. I started with a necklace and gave it to someone saying “thank you for being you”, they then took a necklace and gave it to someone else, thanking them. There were just under 50 people in the room, so it took some time – everyone was quiet and thoughtful during the whole time.

If just one of the people in the room went away feeling better about themselves, believing in themselves a little more then the day was a success.

It was fun to do something different… I know I left changed.