This One Time, At Summer Camp

It’s not just for kids
As responsible, hard-working adults, we all need a little quality (party) time to unwind.
Hold up, hold up, hold up (à la Passionfruit). How can you party and relax at the same time?
Well folks, we just got back from WeWork Summer Camp 2017 (in jolly ol’ England, U.K.) this past weekend, and let us tell ya that indeed, partying with great people can be relaxing.
Here are the three lessons we learnt from our 2017 summer camp experience.
#1 — Go with the flow
How many times a day do you tell yourself, “Ohh, I don’t know” or “Sorry, but I didn’t prepare for that”, yada yada yada. It’s time to move past that lame attitude.
Face it, life is unpredictable. So when someone comes up to you and suggests you do something that wasn’t planned, go for it and live a little.
Like when your boss’ boss suggests you go for a swim in a stone-cold lake; you get up, you grab a towel (even if you didn’t bring one) and jump in that lake with purpose (like a clean, straight body dive to make it look like you’re ex-Olympian, doesn’t it always feel like that? Probably not, lol.)
Then when he suggests you get up onto one of these, you pray you don’t land on him (or anyone else in the water) as you try to control your flight off a giant, floating bouncy thing.
Oh ya, and did we mention disco rollerskating? Impromptu rollerskating sessions are soooooo underrated. Please someone bring this back. Please.
#2 — Colleagues can be friends
Those who say not to mix business with pleasure are only half right.
There will always come a point in a working relationship when lines are crossed and a bunch of you fall into a nasty, muddy dancefloor. And if that’s happening while rocking out to jams like this, then by all means, you are one lucky duck.
These kinds of memories are priceless and will never be forgotten.
Not to mention, we had a few unexpected heart-to-hearts with some of our work buddies, and guess what readers, everyone is much like you. We’ve all got stories. We’ve all lived some crazy stuff.
So next time you’re out to grab a coffee with your team, work on being interested in them instead of trying to be interesting to them (there’s a nice subtle difference 😉)
#3 — Real work culture is possible
Many corporate mantras are all talk and no walk.
At WeWork, when they say that culture plays a huge role in its mission of “creating a world where people work to make a life, not a living,” they mean it.
To go to such lengths (and dispense so much cash money) in organizing this wildly amazing camp with everything from mindfulness nature walks (we sure love our calm) to archery to fire-making classes to yoga to paddleboarding to talks on women in business to truly inspiring talks from leadership about the future, is absolutely bananas.
The focus of (adult) summer camp was to give something back to its employees and members, and boy/girl was it ever better than a watch or tacky restaurant gift certificate.
Employers out there, get creative and, above all, get real. Your team would 100% appreciate that you give them what is authentic.
—
Here’s a glimpse of last year’s summer camp (we can’t wait for the 2017 edish).
——
Like what you just read?
Sign up here for better emails.
And while you’re at it, check out our Facebook and Instagram.
