Why Work-Life Balance Feels Impossible as a Digital Nomad with Safir Jamal, Global Nomad Pass - Nomad Notes | EP 43

Can you really balance remote work with the adventure of exploring new countries? 

Safir Jamal, founder of Global Nomad Pass, shares how he stays productive on the road without missing out on the magic of each destination. From building intentional routines to carving out true downtime, he offers practical advice that every aspiring nomad needs to hear.

From flight delays, jet lag, last-minute Zoom calls in noisy airports, learn how he reframes them into strategies that reduce stress and make nomad life sustainable. 

Listen and learn the importance of community, relationship balance, and the mindset shifts that can turn constant travel from overwhelming into deeply rewarding.

For the complete episode, you’ll hear Safir’s bigger journey from Silicon Valley executive to full-time global traveler and how he’s building tools like Global Nomad Pass to empower nomads and local businesses alike. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/his-journey-from-silicon-valley-executive-to-location/id1776259331?i=1000676626517

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DISCLAIMER:
Listening to stories of beachside zoom calls, mountainside work views, and island-hopping entrepreneurs may cause severe wanderlust and an irresistible urge to turn your laptop into a passport to freedom. Side effects include daydreaming about tropical co-working spaces, working with Ryan to learn how you can start working and traveling and buying a one-way ticket to Bali. Get ready to start living your dream life today!

Transcript

[00:00:00] So you're working and traveling. How do you manage your work life balance, right? You're in a cool place you wanna explore, but you also have meetings and long to-do list, I imagine, most days. So what are some of the things that you do to help? Keep you both A productive and B, not so much inside and so involved in your work that you're not able to see the place that you're, that you're in.

[00:00:26] It's the hardest thing. Um, but I am much better at it now than I was before. And I think it's a constant process. So, so long as I'm getting better day by day, that's how I look at it. But I don't think anyone has nailed this perfectly. To be honest, it's actually not that different from work-life balance in a non nomad context.

[00:00:44] Like very few people would say that they have true work-life balance in their day to day, um, even if they're not traveling around, right? Work-life balance is just an elusive concept in general. Now, for me, there's been a few things that have definitely worked. One is I need routine. I need to make sure that [00:01:00] I'm waking up at the same time every day.

[00:01:01] I need to know what I'm doing in the mornings. Am I working out and then am I having breakfast? Am I showering? And then am I getting started in my work? Am I just. If every day is a tossup, it's hard to mentally prepare for that. And again, that's actually not that different from my pre nomad life. I need routine at all times.

[00:01:18] It's just a way to get the best out of me and become my most productive self. So routine is really, really important. I think when it comes to traveling, what's hard about routine is that there's a lot of variables, right? You don't know, are you gonna be in the same place? Do you have a set workspace all the time, or are you gonna coworking spaces and cafes every day?

[00:01:35] Are you socializing with people? From that respect, you have to intentionally set routine, right? So it's like, no, I'm gonna book, let's say an Airbnb. I know that the Airbnb has a dedicated workspace. I'm gonna work from that workspace from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM I definitely wanna socialize. I definitely wanna explore, but I'm gonna do that after I've logged off.

[00:01:54] So after 5:00 PM and on weekends I allow myself to do that. So that's the the discipline that it takes [00:02:00] to really kind of carve that out. So routine is one for sure. The other thing for me is recognizing that. I wanna take advantage of where I am, right? And I want to eat the local food, and I want to go and explore and, you know, go hiking or whatever the, the local activities are.

[00:02:13] I try to reserve that for weekend. So, okay. Some people are different. Some people are like, Hey, like I love the ability to, you know, surf in the mornings and then take meetings in the afternoons. I'm not one of those people. Okay. For me, when I'm in work mode, I'm in work mode and it's, yeah, difficult for me to kind of oscillate between the two because I feel like when I'm not in work mode, let's say if you know I'm at the beach or I'm not a surfer, but if I was, if I'm surfing.

[00:02:35] I dunno if I can actually enjoy it because mentally I'm like, oh, I've been thinking about all the emails I have and all the meetings I have this afternoon and everything else I have to do. Like, am I actually enjoying that or would I enjoy this way more if it was on a Saturday when I'm actually not working and I'm fully present and actually, you know, able to enjoy the activity.

[00:02:49] So for me, I've been struggling with that for a long time, but what's worked for me in the end is just carving out time on the weekends to do weekend type activities. But I'm not good at being able to do both during the [00:03:00] week. Some people are better at it than others, so you gotta find out what works for you.

[00:03:03] So that, that's definitely something on, on the, the exploration front. And then the other thing I would say is that try to be good on yourself. Like recognize that you're not gonna get this right. You're gonna be distracted at sometimes. Mm-hmm. And that's okay. Like that's part of this. You gotta figure out what works for you and be kind to yourself and be a little bit forgiving.

[00:03:21] For example, I remember. I always used to say, oh, well, you know, I'm gonna take a flight in the morning so that I arrive in my new destination in the afternoon, and I can work that afternoon. I can take meetings. Well, guess what? My flight gets delayed and then I'm not able to get to my new accommodation in time.

[00:03:35] I don't have wifi. I'm stuck in a taxi. There's more traffic than I expected, whatever it is. And I was just stressing myself out for no reason. So now for me, just mentally, I say travel days are not work days. Just, just don't even plan, right? Mm-hmm. Get work done. It's a bonus. 'cause you know, hopefully I am able to still get some work done.

[00:03:53] But don't plan meetings, don't plan any major deliverables or anything those days. Travel days are truly not work days. If you get anything done, treat [00:04:00] it as a bonus, but don't expect that for yourself. And ever since I've done that, you know, I've just been happier, much happier because I don't, I get disappointed because travel logistics are outta my control.

[00:04:08] And inevitably, we all know this, things go wrong, right? And then there's nothing you can do about it. Absolutely. And taking a, uh, meeting in a crowded airport and you're also pressed to get on a plane and all that and wifi, it's, it's stressful. And so it's, it's not good for you. It's not good for the people you're meeting as well.

[00:04:27] Exactly. So I think that's a good idea to. To give yourself some time. I even sometimes when I go to a new location, I'll give myself, if possible, a couple days, you know, like a travel day plus two or three days. That way when I get to the new place, I can just run around and kind of get some of the new place vibes outta my system and put things on the list that were cool, that I wanna explore later on the weekends.

[00:04:53] Nice. And then it's a little bit easier to kind of like get back into work mode after you got a little bit outta that. [00:05:00] A little bit outta your system and then go from there. So you totally mentioned, you mentioned having a routine. So like mainly is like your morning routine. How, how do you deal with that?

[00:05:13] If you're changing time zones and do you change time zones like in a large way? Like, or do you stay in a certain region? I, I don't region block. I know some people do because they don't want too much of a time zone difference. For me, it, it never really works out well when I do that because, you know, inevitably there's a reason for me to go somewhere and might be a few times zones away, but I mean, I still wanna go for whether it's business or personal reasons, it makes sense to go.

[00:05:37] So I am sometimes switching time zones. Yes. I. Always try to adjust to the new time zone as quickly as possible. And for me, that means like as soon as I arrive in that time zone, get on that time zone right away. Like even if I arrive and it's 10:00 PM go to bed by 12, right? Like, yeah, you're not exploring anything at 10:00 PM let's be real, right?

[00:05:57] Yeah. So like, just get settled in and go to bed [00:06:00] and just get on the new time zone. So for me, that first night. Of sleep when you arrive in the time zone, sets the tone for like the next three days. And so I do whatever I possibly can to whether it's, if I arrive there and it's morning and I, maybe I haven't slept before, and I'm like, oh, you know, I would really like a nap.

[00:06:15] No, like push through because otherwise it's gonna throw off the whole cycle. Right. So I really just, I'll, I'll arrive, it's morning. Okay, let's, let's have breakfast, let's, you know, get whatever I need. Let, let, let's push through until that night when I can sleep and get on the time zone. That's, that's my methodology.

[00:06:30] Maybe other people have different approaches, but for me, this is what works best because I don't, I don't have jet lag issues if I'm able to do this correctly. Right. So it's that first day that really sets the tone for everything there. The other thing to think about is when it comes to routine, I, regardless of where in the world I am, I like to keep the same bedtime and the same wake up time.

[00:06:50] So, you know, if it's. 12 to seven. It's 12 to seven. Like, it doesn't matter, it's 12 to seven anywhere, but like get onto that time because for [00:07:00] me that's what allows my body to just still have some muscle memory of remembering what time it is to wake up and what time it is to kinda get my day settled as well.

[00:07:08] Okay. I like that. Do you have a lot of in-person meetings during your day, or not in person, but like, uh, remote zoom type? I, I do, I do. Okay. What I've tried to do to be a bit more, uh, I guess flexible, especially when I'm meeting with people and our time zones don't always align, so we might have to take other early mornings or late night meetings that that's fine and sometimes that's gonna happen, but I'm more careful about how often I do that, so, okay.

[00:07:38] It's not normal for me to have a 10:00 PM meeting, let's say, but maybe it's necessary because that's the only time the other person can meet given our, our opposite time zones. And so if that's the case, that's fine, but I shouldn't be taking 10:00 PM meetings every single day. So what I'll do is I'll say, okay, you know what?

[00:07:54] Maybe there's this one day, let's just say it's the Thursday. I'll take like three or four odd [00:08:00] hour meetings and I'll just block a certain period of time and I'll get them all done that one day. This way it might disrupt my Thursday schedule, but it's not gonna disrupt my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday schedule.

[00:08:09] Right? So I. I'm trying to be a bit more intentional about that kind of stuff because it does happen and you have to work around it, but I'd rather be inconvenienced on one day versus having minor inconveniences on, you know, four or five days all the days. Yeah, that'll really ruin. Wreck your week and make you, yeah.

[00:08:23] Not love your work and travel. I've definitely been on late night. Business calls where I'm out and around the nightlife and I ha I'm just walking as far as I possibly can to not sound like I'm in a club right now, but we're, we're talking business and it's 8:00 AM for the guy on the other line. So yeah, it's, you don't wanna, every once in a while that's okay, but it's definitely not something that you wanna do every day.

[00:08:51] So, no, not at all. So you mentioned you're traveling with your wife, so is it just the two of you that are traveling together? Yeah. Or do? [00:09:00] Uh, it's the two of us and we, we both have jobs that we can do remotely. Okay. I mean, I run a business so I have full flexibility and she can work remotely. So it gives us the flexibility to travel together and you know, it's been fantastic 'cause, you know, we create new life experiences together.

[00:09:16] Yeah. It helps build and strengthen our relationship. You know, we we're there for each other during, during those moments where, you know, it can otherwise be really lonely otherwise. So it's great and it really has helped our relationship and it's strengthened our marriage. No question about it. I will say, however, that we don't always travel together.

[00:09:32] So there are times where if I've gotta go to a particular destination for an event, or she's got a client meeting that she's gotta take somewhere and she's gotta travel for that, it might not make sense for the other person to go and just be there, right? So where possible we will travel to a place together if we both have like the same desire to be in that new destination together.

[00:09:53] Okay. But it's not like we're just, 'cause you know, she can come on a particular business trip with me or I can go on a particular business trip with [00:10:00] her. Doesn't mean that I would want to. Right. So it's also important to figure out. What works for each of you and like maybe that's gonna alter my productivity and we're already traveling a lot.

[00:10:08] Does it really make sense for one of us to travel an extra step just 'cause we wanna be with the other person? Maybe if it's only for a short period of time, we're okay being apart for that. So it's very situational specific and we, and we talk about this almost every day, just to kind of look at the upcoming schedule, what makes sense, and if we want to synchronize or if we wanna do our own thing.

[00:10:25] And that, that's healthy too, I think. Right? It's, it's really good for us to be able to have some time. To just go to the places that we want to go to and not feel like, you know, we're both just going to the same places. Just because we can just 'cause you can. Doesn't mean you always have to. Sure. Sure.

[00:10:38] Yeah, absolutely. And that makes sense and I like that you guys are like communicating and flexible about it. I think it's important for like the people listening, thinking like, you know, we have two different careers and how does that work? And, and traveling together and, and just being able to take those breaks and take that business trip and kind of do it so low is, is a good [00:11:00] idea.

[00:11:00] How about when you guys are in a place for an extended period of time? Do you guys find it easy to. To, to tap into the local community, to, to find friends. Do, does it get lonely sometimes? How, what's, what's it like? Yeah. When you're somewhere extended period. I think in general, if you are. Living this digital nomad life, it can be lonely, which is why community is such an integral part of this entire experience.

[00:11:27] I haven't met any nomad who is fully content doing everything by themselves the entire time. I think just human nature, we, we need connection, we need social interaction, and because of that, we talk about the digital nomad community because it truly is a community and in various destinations, the community is more established than others.

[00:11:44] But what does that look like? It looks like. Coworking spaces as opposed to working by yourself and for some people working by yourself. Works for some people it doesn't, some people, they don't necessarily want the work environment of a coworking space, but, but they like the community aspect. They like that the coworking space organizes events and [00:12:00] meetups.

[00:12:00] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So that's really great. And it doesn't have to be organized through a coworking space. There's a bunch of different apps that will allow you to have meetups and events and networking mixers and stuff as well to go in there. Um, but it can also be something less formal. It can be playing sports or, you know, going to a particular workout class and meeting people that way.

[00:12:16] It can be interest-based discussions, but there's so many different ways to meet people. That it allows for this lifestyle to not just be less lonely, but it actually becomes fun because you meet people that you get along with and then you can do things with them. Right, right. Whether it's meeting up for meals or whether it's, you know, particular, certain activities that that destination happens to be known for.

[00:12:35] Um, so I really, really think that that's critical. And in the case of my wife and I, it's been a bit interesting because. Since we have the two of us, we have one another. We actually don't feel the loneliness, uh, affect the way that maybe some people who are traveling solo might feel okay. And because of that, we do a lot of things together.

[00:12:53] Otherwise, we're working during the day. So even though we might be in the physical space together, we're not necessarily spending quality time together. 'cause I'm on calls, [00:13:00] she's on calls, we're working. So when we have free time, we actually do like to do things together. But sometimes that also means going to events together and meeting people together and you know, whether meeting couples, if it works out that way, or maybe I might go to this event with her, but I might meet someone there that I have a really good connection with and she might feel the same way.

[00:13:19] And that allows us to set up future coffee dates or certain activities together. So making friends is a very, and again, I, I wouldn't say friends, I'd say like making connections and meeting people and having social. Interactions. Mm-hmm. Is a very important part of just being happy on this entire trip because otherwise you could be in a situation, and I've seen it with my own eyes many times before where people's unhappiness level is largely correlated to the level of social interaction that they have.

[00:13:48] Yeah. And I think it's a big hold up for a lot of people, especially solo travelers to, to. To get out the door and just make the first leap into this world. So I [00:14:00] always suggest, you know, hey, do a test run if you can work remotely. Yeah. And we go on vacation for one week, but you know, book two weeks and then work the second week and kind of see how it goes.

[00:14:10] You know, you kind of get to test the waters a little bit. Absolutely. Are there any specific apps that you've used to like find community or meet up with folks? Yeah, quite a few actually.

[00:14:21] Ryan Mellon: Thanks for listening to another episode of Digital Nomad Nation. I hope today's stories have inspired you to take the next step towards location independence. If you've enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Your support fuels our mission to inspire the digital nomad lifestyle.

[00:14:43] Ryan Mellon: Before you go, don't forget to grab your free copy of my guide, Seven Ways to Become a Digital Nomad. It's packed with practical tips to kickstart your nomadic journey. You can find the link in the episode description. And remember, the life you've always dreamed of is just one bold decision [00:15:00] away. Until next time, this is the Digital Nomad Coach, Ryan Mellon, signing off.