Are Smart Career Moves Hiding in Plain Sight? 👀

I didn’t go to Japan to think about work.

I went for the cherry blossoms, the food, the castles—and to have the trip of a lifetime with my brother and eldest daughter.

But somewhere between getting lost in the Shinjuku train station and noticing the very cool rituals of everyday life, I started thinking differently about career strategy.

One thing that really stuck with me? You are responsible for your own trash. (Literally. There are no public trash cans. You carry it home because it's yours.) It made me think: how often do we expect our workplace to clean up emotions that are actually ours to manage?

This week on Substack, I’m sharing five everyday lessons from Japan that made me rethink how we show up at work—and what real fulfillment looks like.