A Summer Like in My Childhood - And What I'm Taking Back to Work

It's back to school. After a real break - from the podcast and from the busyness - Bernhard returns with a summer that felt like childhood, and three things that made it so good. "When my friends ask about my summer, I say it was a summer like in my childhood. An absolute dream." ONE - NATURE Morning workouts became boots on and up the mountain, or an hour kayaking on a glass-flat lake. No drives, no planning - just step outside. Back in Vienna, he misses it. The trees here sit between houses. There's a simple exercise anyone can try: look at a tree for 40 seconds. It calms you down, and there's research behind it. For Bernhard, nature is also part of the spiritual component of a morning ritual - something we rarely think about, and often need. TWO - NO COMMITMENTS Waking without an alarm. Refusing to put anything in the diary. Some mornings meant another hour of sleep, some a book, some a hike, some just coffee in the sun. "That gave me the chance to be much closer to myself. Normally my body has to function around my busy life. This summer it was the other way around - I listened to my body. When it needed rest, I rested. When the energy was pumping, I went for a swim." THREE - TINKERING Physical tinkering: baking a few cakes. (A small confession - though he's from Vienna, he baked his very first cake only a year ago.) Digital tinkering: a project with his friend Dietmar Muchitsch, founder of the Graz marketing agency wolke blau. The two got talking about the future of the web. Websites have a flaw - they are one-directional. You have to hunt for information, and no real conversation happens. So they built websites that talk back: a chatbot that holds a conversation with visitors, with strong analytics behind it that show what people are actually looking for, which questions the site answers, and which it doesn't. Try it at pausenlos.ai or on bernhardkerres.com - the chatbot there knows a little more than the page itself. WHAT COMES BACK TO WORK With Graz tomorrow, Wales next week, then Germany, the busy life resumes. But one practice carries over: every two months, Bernhard keeps a week completely free - a creative week. Nature, no commitments, no expectations about what to produce, and space to tinker, whether with technology, cakes, art, or writing. It refreshes him more than almost anything else. "I'm grateful for a summer like in my childhood. And grateful that I can create and work with many of you." LINKS: bernhardkerres.com | pausenlos.ai #Coaching #Leadership #Wellbeing #CreativeTime #BackToSchool