Hi friend,
I've been thinking about one little word this week.
Just.
I'm just a mom.
I just work in an office.
I just helped with my husband's business.
I just kept the books.
I just organized everything.
I just figured it out.
Gen X women may be the undisputed champions of taking something we've spent 20 years becoming extraordinarily good at and reducing it to “just something I do.”
And I think it's time we knock that off. 😉
Because lately I've been asking women a different question.
Instead of:
What was your job title?
I want to know:
What did you actually DO?
Did you manage schedules?
Track money?
Handle angry customers?
Train new employees?
Coordinate contractors?
Organize events?
Learn new technology?
Solve problems?
Manage conflict?
Keep approximately 37 things moving simultaneously while everyone around you assumed this happened magically?
Because those are skills.
And this week, I want you to start noticing yours.
🎥 THIS WEEK ON YOUTUBE: The Title Was Never the Whole Story
I made a new short this week about some of the things women say that make me want to scream:
“I was just a stay-at-home mom.”
“I only worked in an office.”
“I just helped with my husband's business.”
“I haven't done anything important.”
STOP.
Tell me what you actually did.
Because the title was never the whole story.
[WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO → ]
And after you watch it, try this:
Open the Notes app on your phone and write:
Things I'm really good at that I've never considered skills.
You can read the full article on Medium here.
Don't make it pretty.
Don't worry about résumé language.
Just start noticing.
How do people rely on you?
What do people ask you for help with?
What can you walk into and figure out?
What have you taught yourself?
What can you handle now that would have completely overwhelmed the 25-year-old version of you?
Keep that list.
We're going to need it. 😉
👀 I'VE BEEN QUIETLY BUILDING SOMETHING...
Actually, maybe not so quietly anymore.
It's called:
THE INVISIBLE RESUME
And I'm ridiculously excited about it.
It's a mini-course I'm creating specifically for women—especially Gen X women—who look at job descriptions, career changes, businesses and new opportunities and think:
“I'm not qualified.”
Meanwhile, they've spent decades leading, organizing, budgeting, negotiating, problem-solving, caregiving, communicating, adapting and figuring things out.
The Invisible Resume is about uncovering those skills.
Naming them.
Translating them.
And figuring out what they might make possible in your next chapter.
Because you don't get to call yourself unqualified until we've taken inventory of what you've actually done.
The Invisible Resume is coming in late October.
I'll tell you more soon.
But for now?
Start making that list.
✨ NOT SURE WHAT YOUR NEXT CHAPTER EVEN IS YET?
That's okay.
Maybe you're reading all this thinking:
Michelle, career reinvention sounds lovely, but I don't even know what I WANT.
That's exactly why I created the 7-Day Rebuilding Reset.
It's completely free and designed to help you slow down, reconnect with yourself and begin asking questions many of us haven't been asked in a very long time.
Questions like:
What do I want?
Not what makes everyone else happy.
Not what I'm supposed to want.
Not what looks sensible from the outside.
What do I want?
[START THE FREE 7-DAY REBUILDING RESET →
Small steps.
No requirement to have your entire life figured out by next Tuesday. 😉
📺 WHAT I'M WATCHING: LAST SEEN
Okay, we need some fun around here too.
I started watching Last Seen on Apple TV this week and so far?
I'm hooked.
It's a new Australian mystery/thriller starring Patrick Brammall as Ian Ridley, a former detective whose young daughter disappeared 11 years ago. He's now working as an emergency dispatcher when he receives a call from a teenage girl he becomes convinced could be his missing daughter.
And off we go.
I won't spoil anything because it's brand new and I'm only a couple episodes in myself.
But if you like dark, character-driven mysteries—the kind where you're already forming theories and side-eyeing everybody—I think this one is worth checking out.
It's a six-episode series, but Apple is releasing it weekly, so we can't binge the entire thing yet.
Which is probably healthier for me anyway. 😂
Michelle's early verdict: Definitely keep watching.
💛 ONE THING I WANT YOU TO REMEMBER THIS WEEK
You are not beginning your next chapter as the woman you were at 20.
Or 25.
Or 30.
You're bringing decades with you.
The jobs that worked out.
The jobs that didn't.
The children you raised.
The relationships you navigated.
The mistakes you made.
The emergencies you handled.
The technology you learned.
The money you figured out.
The people you managed.
The boundaries you eventually learned to draw.
The things that broke you.
The things that rebuilt you.
All of it came with you.
So maybe this week we stop asking:
Am I qualified enough?
And start asking:
What have I spent my life becoming qualified for?
That's a much more interesting question.
And I have a feeling we're going to discover some pretty incredible answers together.
Until next week,
Michelle Kai
Rebuilding the Life That Belongs to You 🤍
P.S. Hit reply and tell me one thing you're really good at that you've never thought of as a “skill.” Seriously. I want to know. Your answer might even inspire something I include in The Invisible Resume.
