I love travel. Do you?
I mean, it’s a silly question—who doesn’t?
The excitement of what’s ahead, napping on the way so you feel energised and ready to explore, and getting that first breath of fresh air as you step out of the plane. Everything seems possible.
But it’s one thing to hop on a plane and head to a week-long stay in a resort. It’s another thing to uproot your life as you know it and make travel a conscious, regular part of your every day.
So, for someone growing up on a farm in rural Ohio and not boarding their first plane until 15, it’s fascinating to see how international travel can become an integral part of someone’s life.
And that someone is Bryan Takayama, an experienced management consultant and Notion ambassador. He’s currently based in Europe, but work and life has taken—and continues to take—him all over the world.
And fittingly, I met Bryan during his trip to Dublin as part of the Notion Ambassador meetup. He kicked off our workshop day with a lightning talk on breathing exercises for stress relief (including for public presenting—a much-needed talk & practical exercises before my own lightning talk that day).
During his University studies, Bryan got his first taste for travel: he visited 20 countries and even lived in Costa Rica for a short while. It was new, different, and unknown—the perfect intoxicating mix for a young person eager to see what the world has to offer.
With the prospects of his first post-Uni job approaching, Bryan wanted to figure a way he can still enjoy this part of life, without compromising his income. His first role was in management consultancy, and the job made the dream possible because travelling was very much a part of it.
During this time, Bryan met his partner Caleigh—now wife. Unfortunately, health issues made it impossible for the couple to travel as Caleigh was born with cystic fibrosis and battled her way through it.
“While my wife was sick, one of our hospital games was ‘Where should we go when you’re healthy? And once we’re there—what should we do?’
We spent a lot of time just dreaming up where should we go and what should we do, and we never knew if we’ll be able to.”
But it wasn’t just a game—it helped them to look forward to the future during such uncertainty. And luckily, things had a way of working out and Caleigh’s health improved—going six years strong now.
Since then, the two have made the most of it. Not only did they cover most of the United States, but they also moved to Europe. Bryan says:
Along this way, I left my previous employer because I wanted to focus on health and life. What I realised was, money was going to run out eventually, so I needed to figure out a way to afford a lifestyle we wanted to live.
That’s when I created my own consultancy and met up with Josh, my now business partner, and created Notion State—an agency built around Notion.
While growing his business, Bryan has developed strategies to weave his love for exploration into his work life. One key approach is creating harmony between daily responsibilities, health, experiences, and passions.
But he admits it’s also okay to work crazy hours for three days a week, while keeping the rest of the week quiet—or not working at all. The important part is finding the balance either across the day—every day—or over a longer period like a week.
“If you want to be successful, work cannot be 100% of the time”, says Bryan. “But neither can play.”
The second principle that works for Bryan is setting his standards and holding to them. Think—no meetings before or after a certain time, no Slack-ing during dinner, and so on.
A key one for Bryan? No meetings on Fridays.
“You have these hard lines to manage and create the life that you want to live so stick to them.
This is so important because it’s a component of discipline. And success in this life is defined by discipline you set for yourself and for those around you.”
The third strategy underlining Bryan’s work and life balance is being transparent with everyone about what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. When you do that, things can really fall into place.
“It can be scary talking to clients about this crazy digital nomad life you’re living—especially if they’re office clients. But if you don’t talk about it, managing expectations becomes infinitely harder. So, I’m very open about the times I’m in, the hours I’m going to work, when my schedule is available, when I’m going to communicate what the output is going to look like. And I never deviate from full transparency with my clients.”
It may come as a shock to some, but once others are used to it—it’s fine. Why wouldn’t it? After all, clients care about the output and the results. And it makes for a great ice breaker (and an overall relationship builder) for clients to find out where Bryan’s working from this time.
And it’s been very much worth it. Travel has enabled Bryan to see the possibilities—of everything. Getting paid to manage numerous clients’ workspaces remotely from a random city in Spain? Why not.
All made possible thanks to constant self improvement and learning how to blend carefully-planned business strategy with the unpredictable, beautiful chaos that’s travelling to new, unfamiliar places and just figuring things out on the spot.
Beyond travel, Bryan’s interest in breathing techniques made me curious. Did the interest in mindfulness and stress management arise from travel experiences, or was it the other way around?
Turns out, it’s a little bit of both—for example, his passion for diving would’ve stayed just a dream if he hadn’t learned how to control and manage his breathing technique. It’s either that or you’ll find yourself at the bottom of the ocean.
And then there’s a third answer.
“One of the most amazing parts of travel is being forced to be adaptable”, he explains.
“You’re forced into expecting things to change, you’re forced into uncomfortable situations—not knowing the language or not being able to understand street signs, or your Internet is not working as you’re trying to get from location A to B. These sorts of things can be very scary.
But as you experience them more, there’s something beautiful that comes out of these situations—spontaneity and unexpected incredible experiences. Travel showed me that the plan is really important to have [..], but the plan has to have flexibility to change.
With far too many trips to count under his belt, which one’s Bryan’s most memorable? Turns out, we need to go way back to 2017, when Bryan and Caleigh were just two months into their relationship (“one month officially boyfriend and girlfriend”).
The pair were travelling across the country to see each other, which was exciting. One time, Bryan was travelling to Austin, Texas, for a few days to attend work events. He got a call from Caleigh mid-meeting, telling Bryan she wants to talk—turns out, Caleigh’s medical team were admitting her to the hospital as they had detected rejection of her transplanted lungs, which would mean overnight hospital stays.
Although Caleigh didn’t want to bother Bryan during his work meetings, especially as she already had her family supporting her, it made Bryan realise that “Nothing I’m doing here is more important than the person I’m going to eventually marry.”
He excused himself from the meetings, called the airlines, and booked the first flight out. Bryan went straight to the hospital, much to the family’s surprise as it was so early on in the relationship:
“To this day, Caleigh refers to it as one of the most important parts of the relationship. It showed her that through her health ups and downs, I was going to be in it. And I was going to become a part of it, and I will be a support structure for her.
That intentional decision between work and life was a significant pivot in my journey to placing a heavier emphasis on what matters in life. It’s relationships and connectedness, it’s not the salary or the job—although still important especially if it provides health care.
This trip became the most important thing Bryan had done in his professional life—marking it the most profound one of his life. As for the rest? They all contribute to enriching his and Caleigh’s day-to-day in a meaningful way.
Working a thousand hours a week is not the way to get to your goals. You might feel you’re getting there faster. But—in my experience—the hours I work don’t directly correlate with my output, because my productivity and my efficiency start to wane towards the higher numbers of those hours. When that happens, the quality of the output also starts to trend in the wrong direction.
So, while you might feel you're forcing more hours out of every day and every week (with the goal of achieving more), your focus, sleep, and healthy mind space start to disappear slowly, too.
For Bryan, more hours of work don't equal a better quality or balance of life and leisure. It becomes impossible to take care of the things that matter to you, whether that's health, happiness, travel, active lifestyle, passion hobbies, or anything else.
This perspective became even clearer for Bryan and Caleigh after facing the serious health challenges. When life throws you a health curveball, priorities shift dramatically—you realize time is precious and meant to be lived fully, not just worked through.
That's why travel has become more than just a part of their life—it's woven into their future plans and dreams. With a newly acquired three-year visa in Spain, they're taking their time exploring different cities, from Barcelona to Valencia to Madrid, searching for a place that might eventually feel like home. But settling in Spain doesn't mean staying still. The whole of Europe is a possibility.
They're even entertaining the ambitious dream of driving from North America to South America—a journey that would combine their love for van life with their desire to experience new cultures and landscapes. It's fitting that their path forward remains open-ended, guided by their commitment to "work for the life they want to live."
For Bryan and Caleigh, each destination isn't just a pin on a map—it's a celebration of the bonus years they have together, a way to honour the gift of health, and a testament to their belief that life is meant to be lived fully, intentionally, and without regret.
Want to follow Bryan and Caleigh’s awe-inspiring journey? Check out their Instagram page.
That’s all from me this week—if you enjoyed this newsletter issue and haven’t subscribed yet, you can click the button below. I’d love to have you here! Hopefully, catch you next week.✨
Bryan is my kind of person! Tackles life the right way!