THE GROWTH YEAR | POD

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast 🌱

is a limited 12-episode series for anyone navigating their first layoff or sudden job loss. When work ends unexpectedly, it can disrupt identity, stability, and purpose. This podcast offers space to reflect, reset, and rebuild a grounded sense of self—beyond the workplace.

Each 3–5 minute episode offers thoughtful insight, touching on navigating career uncertainty, redefining success, and finding purpose in times of change. Whether you're in between roles or simply in transition, this one's for you.

👤 Hosted by Peter Cheng—talent strategist by day multi-hyphenate creative by night (and weekends).

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🔗 Show Notes on The Growth Year | Podcast

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📸 Photography by Sovanna Pang

Laid Off For the First Time? Introducing: The Growth Year | Podcast

PREVIEW EPISODE | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and I’m so excited to be launching The Growth Year. A limited 12-episode podcast that takes just minutes of your day.

“Your position has just been eliminated.”

In the last few years post-pandemic, corporate employees are finding themselves out of work for extended periods of time, union strikes upending TV and film, off-broadway shows touting stable employment closing overnight. The role of work in our lives has never been put more into question. What was a considered bedrock for stability has now turned into uncertainty.

What do we do in the absence of work? How do we get by? Can we start cultivating a fuller sense of ourselves independent of our day jobs?

In comes The Growth Year: a limited 12-episode podcast that flips the concept of the gap year into a growth year.

It asks us to redefine and rebalance life over work, reminds us that change is the constant, offers a much-needed forced reset, and explores how we can rebuild and rebalance our identities brick by brick. To start de-emphasizing an all-or-nothing mindset when it comes to do.

So, why did I create this mini-series?

Because I wish I had someone by my side the last year to guide my way. A mentor, someone who had been through it before, to share some insight that maybe could have helped make it easier.

Our first episode drops on June 3rd, and stay tuned for weekly episodes every Tuesday morning. Available on Spotify, Apple

Ready? Let’s go.

—

Released on May 27, 2025

Disclaimer:

Thanks for tuning into The Growth Year. The information shared on this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional, legal, or financial advice. We encourage you to consult a qualified professional before making decisions related to your career, business, or personal development.

All views expressed are those of the host and guests, and do not reflect any official position of their employers past/present/or future) or organizations. By listening, you agree not to hold the host or guests liable for any decisions you make based on what you hear. See you next time!

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

THE GROWTH YEAR | EPISODE 1

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

Each 3–5 minute episode touches on personal insights on navigating career uncertainty, redefining success, and finding purpose in times of change. Whether you're in between roles or simply in transition, this one's for you.

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

Starting Over—How Kidney Failure Reshaped My Career and Identity

EPISODE 1 | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and I’m so excited to be launching The Growth Year. A limited 12-episode podcast that takes just minutes of your day.

Today, we’re going to take a detour to the past and talk about my first growth year.

Ready? Let’s go.

In 2007, the metaphorical rug had been pulled out from under me. My first Growth Year.

At just 21 my first kidney transplant of 13 years failed and I was promptly put on dialysis. I wouldn't receive another transplant til 2015. Instead of dancing on stage alongside my peers, I sat on the sidelines, in the audience, watching, tears streaming down my face as my class took the stage.

This gut wrenching feeling of missing out, of my body fighting against me, yet all I could do was watch as my dreams of becoming a professional dancer took its last bow.

Post-grad I joined the workforce. My first job out of school? A review site called Yelp. It was my first “big boy” job. From Yelp, I jumped over to Uber, then contracted a bit before joining Ancestry.com, then landed at a Series F Fintech.

After three and a half years there, I was suddenly laid off -- for the first time in the span of my 13-year career in tech.

In the meantime, underneath I was living a dual life as a dancer, choreographer, model, and (newly) an actor. Finding myself dipping my feet in two worlds where I was actually pretty damn good at. The art of juggling had become my M.O.

Early on I’d be pretty secretive with my artist friends about what I did for work -- perhaps out of not wanting to reveal my corporate ties. And in that context, I was an artist.

On the flip-side I found two incredible leaders at work who had a fundamental understanding that work at the end of the day is work, and that life is abundant and beautiful and worth living fully. They knew I could outperform, while still doubling up on my artistic life.

This is how I found myself.

It was only recently that all the pieces of my first growth year made a full circle moment. It became the backbone of how I hold myself today, writing these episodes and launching The Growth Year just shy of 400 days into this thing.

To tap into the past to inform present circumstances, to pull and resource strength from within and connect the dots on that moment 17 years ago.

In the next few episodes, I’ll shed light on what happens when our work identities come into question, clearing paths to make way for something greater, and finding purpose and re-building a safety net to prepare for the next anticipated growth year.

—

Released on June 3, 2025

Disclaimer:

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

THE GROWTH YEAR | EPISODE 2

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

Turning a Gap Year Into a Growth Year

EPISODE 2 | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and I’m so excited to be launching The Growth Year. A limited 12-episode podcast that takes just minutes of your day.

Everyone knows about the concept of a “gap year”. The time between high school and college, or between college and a first job. The unabashed year of discovery, volunteering, building new skills and broadening perspectives. The sunsetting of youth into adulthood, entering into a new horizon in life.

But, when was the last time you, as an adult, took a “gap year”? With layoffs at an all-time high, how would you manage once the hammer drops? What would you do first?

Let’s get started.

Were you one of the 52,000* tech employees laid off across 123 companies in the last year? Yep. There were THAT many according to Layoffs.fyi. Or maybe you’re finding yourself between things as an adult.

Once we enter the corporate world and begin “adulting” -- when things get serious -- there isn’t usually another period in our lives when we truly get to take a full year to pause, reflect, and take stock of where we came from, where we’re headed, and simply — who we are.

But why? What if, instead, we were forced into a “Growth Year”?

I’m not talking about intentionally leaving a job and taking a solo backpacking trip across Asia, climbing Mount Everest, sailing around the world, or finally launching that side hustle after carefully planning a budget to leave a cushy corporate job. I’m talking about that moment you get pulled into a Zoom call with HR and get the news that your position has been eliminated.

The dreaded layoff.

You’re in your 30’s, built your career fairly quickly post-college, gotten a couple promotions, a merit increase, a steady six figure income, health insurance coverage, and actually enjoy what you do. It’s cushy, it’s comfortable, and assumedly stable. But then, you find yourself semi-down and out.

You’re nonplussed, your systems access has been revoked in minutes, the IP that you built from the ground up no longer is no longer yours, you have to ship back your equipment, and barely have time to say goodbye to your coworkers. With no time to process things, you’re already scrambling to figure out how to file for unemployment, check your emergency reserves, and spend the next few days, weeks, months confused, questioning, doubting, what happened. Your work-identity and your personal-identity in dual crisis.

My hope in launching this limited twelve episode series is that you, whoever you are, can take something away to help guide you through your own “growth year”. And the best thing about it? No goal setting. No milestones. No workbooks.

Just Listen. Pause. And Learn.

—

Released on June 10, 2025

*At the time of writing and recording, Layoffs.fyi reported 52,340 individuals laid off between May 1, 2024-May 1, 2025.

Disclaimer:

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

THE GROWTH YEAR | EPISODE 3

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

Rebalancing Work-Life

EPISODE 3 | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and I’m so excited to be launching The Growth Year. A limited 12-episode podcast that takes just minutes of your day.

Today we’ll talk about rebalancing work and life.

Ready? Let’s go.

You’ve just been laid off for the first time in your career. Or, maybe you’ve been let go all of a sudden with no notice. You’re panic applying, leveraging your network, having residual calls with ex-coworkers who are trying their best to tell you that you’ll land something soon, your skills are incredible!

If this is your first layoff then you know exactly what I’m talking about. The panic, the uncertainty, the unease and growing anxiety.

Sadly this has become the norm within the last few years. FAANGs (Meta/Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Alphabet/Google) laying off thousands, smaller start-ups shuttering post-acquisition, even white collar workers like engineers finding themselves jobless. The dream of a workplace that provides a haven for growth, security, stability, and a foundation to build a future has faded by the wayside.

The realization that regardless of being a top performer, at the end of the day you’re a line item, a number, but hey, it’s business.

I only wish I figured this out earlier. To de-emphasize the importance of an all-or-nothing mindset in work, and live fully and wholly in other parts of my life.

Perhaps you’re in it now, rebalancing life over work. With an abundance of time before you, re-prioritizing and shuffling things around in real time, as the scales start to shift towards what life (at least for the next year) could be.

And maybe (just maybe) putting into question whether things will look the same down the road once you’re out of this.

But, here’s what I know for sure: things will get harder before they ease up. You’ll have to make trade offs and sacrifices (usually financial) -- and a lot of them. Some days it’ll feel like you’re juggling more than you did while you were working full-time.

Whichever way this next year unfolds, you’ll have learned way more about yourself than you could have ever imagined.

—

Released on June 17, 2025

Disclaimer:

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

THE GROWTH YEAR | EPISODE 4

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

Why Nothing Is Permanent: How to Navigate Career Uncertainty

EPISODE 4 | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and I’m so excited to be launching The Growth Year. A limited 12-episode podcast that takes just minutes of your day.

Today, we’ll talk about why nothing is as permanent as it seems.

Ready? Let’s go.

All this time you’re thinking: how long will this go on for?

But then, as the weeks go by, things start to settle, you’re looking back, blushing and slightly embarrassed at how outsized your worries were just a few months ago.

So, what’s the pattern here? That nothing is permanent. Time heals. Change is the only constant, getting unstuck takes time, and even though there are moments where you feel like you’re in a hamster wheel headed towards nowhere, all you have to do is get off and watch it spin -- without you.

It took me so long to realize that fluctuations in life, in career, and all things growth is the common denominator. We’re all part of this fractional life that at the of the day -- comes out in the wash and becomes whole. And the more tightly we hold and grip onto this preconceived notion that nothing changes, the doom loop, we lose sight of the fact that we are, in fact, adaptable, flexible, innovative, and hey, if you’ve gotten this far in life, you’ve figured some shit out along the way.

As someone who is Asian and grew up in the Bay Area, there’s an underbelly of high achievement that has somehow caused us to think that things are permanent: grades, test scores, ultimately where you go to college, where you work, your performance ratings -- define who you are. That this linear path to success is often rewarded in a meritocracy that only relates to an achievement-based identity. A vacuum. And being laid off? That’s worst thing that can happen to you.

I’m going to take a pause here, for my non-techie friends: my dancers, artists, models, actors, because it’s not exclusively those who work in tech, finance, and law. This is something that is pervasive across the board. And we, above all else are the most guilty of self-doubt, and distrust of our own abilities.

And because we work at the intersection of identity and art, our work is even more closely tied to who we are -- more than those who sport a corporate badge. So, when things change, when we face rejection, a show ending, or worse: silence, we think that things may stay that way forever.

We forget that everyday we step in the studio, on stage, on set, that we’ve already built this innate level of resilience to change. We are the true chameleons.

So, here’s a strategy that I use every year, and just finished coming up to my Growth Year anniversary. It’s a blend of Morning Pages, journaling, and an annual gratitude reflection. Taking stock of each month of the last year, say, June to June, and in each month reflecting on 3-4 four things that happened that month. The highs, the lows, the in-betweens.

When things are in a constant state of change we have a habit of putting on future-thinking blinders. But it’s so rare that we get to go back and look at all the things we’ve weathered.

That things will eventually work themselves out and we can trust in our abilities to grind where we need.

We can allow the past to inform present circumstances, and ultimately, show us that we’ve been doing all right this whole time.

—

Released on June 24, 2025

Disclaimer:

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

THE GROWTH YEAR | EPISODE 5

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

The Hard Reset & Finding Your New Path Forward

EPISODE 5 | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and I’m so excited to be launching The Growth Year. A limited 12-episode podcast that takes just minutes of your day.

Today, we’re gonna slow it down a bit and talk about the reset.

Ready? Let’s go.

In the Growth Year your purpose now becomes forging a new path forward, in preparation for a future lift-off (date pending). Except this time, it’s not someone else’s rocket ship you’re getting on. It’s yours.

Spoiler: there’s no co-pilot. You’ll have to dismantle everything, piece by piece. It’s a full reset.

The beauty of it? Retaining the most important parts of yourself, and letting go of what no longer serves you.

This time away from the 9-5 gives you space to readjust, to do what you do best: adapt in the moment. But it won’t be easy. Sure, you’ll have room to pick up and repair the shattered pieces left behind from the last few weeks. But whether you like it or not, you’ve just become the sole agent in charge of reframing who you are.

This pause isn’t just helpful — it’s necessary.

Early into my layoff, a close friend shared a quote with me, often attributed to David Whyte: “You’ll know when you’re on the right path as it will literally disappear in front of you.” To be honest, I've never been a big fan of ambiguity — what I like to call the “grey fuzzy area” — but now there was no escaping it. I was completely unmoored.

I went searching for a path: in podcasts, in books, Googling and ChatGPT-ing my way into answers, trying to self-soothe by any means necessary. Building a false sense of control, when in reality, I was spinning out.

Eventually, I found my way. One of those circuitous paths that just happened to land me in this very seat I’m sitting right in now.

If you’re like me, and have grown accustomed to staying busy and occupied, these long spans of open time aren’t liberating, they’re absolutely terrifying. Staying idle feels like being stuck in purgatory -- but sometimes, we need to start again, fresh. To pose questions about the role work plays in our lives, and what happens in absence of it.

To sit in silence and uncomfortability. Fidgeting our way into the next phase in life. It’s the hard reset we all desperately need.

—

Released on July 1, 2025

This episode was edited, in part, with the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT

Disclaimer:

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

THE GROWTH YEAR | EPISODE 6

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

Laid off? 5 Things You Can Do Right Now

EPISODE 6 | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and I’m so excited to be launching The Growth Year. A limited 12-episode podcast that takes just minutes of your day.

A lot of you have been asking for a more practical approach -- a quick guide to help navigate the next steps after you’ve been laid off. And hey if you’ve skipped to this episode, awesome. Today we’ll cover five things you can do right away once the hammer drops.

Let’s go.

Go for a walk: You just got really bad news. It’s your first, you’re going to feel off kilter, frazzled, balanced between stunned silence but also maybe (hopefully) a bit of levity. Going for a walk allows you to clear your head, the space, and honestly it’s good for you.
Grab a chat: Talk to friends and family, and any ex-coworkers you were close with. Remember, your outside of work community will be your support system in the coming weeks/months. Have those conversations, tell people, it doesn’t help to hold things in. You may even find someone who has recently been through it who can be on your side.
Breathe: You’ll naturally want to feel the inclination to jump into panic applying, updating your resume, but give yourself grace to let the news sink in. Avoid any fear or scarcity based decisions immediately. This is your time to inhale, take a breath, and calm your mind.
Find community: Is there a non-work community you have outside? It’s time to lean on them. Even better if it’s a creative space -- you know my M.O. writing, poetry, music, dance, visual art. These mediums are perfect outlets to process something this big.
Headspace: Emotions are complicated. There’s anger, frustration, perhaps joy, anxiety, tinged with self-doubt. And again panic. Speak your emotions and how you’re feeling out loud. Have a therapist? Even better. Give yourself grace, have patience, and calm that things will eventually work themselves out.

(Also not mentioned in the audio version of this podcast — journaling — every few days or daily — helps release emotions and anxiety. Throughout my Growth Year this was essential in times of heightened worry and transition.)

—

Released on July 8, 2025

Disclaimer:

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

Our Origin Story—This Was Only Supposed to Be a LinkedIn Post

EPISODE 7 | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and today, I kinda wanna flip the script a little bit.

Let’s get started.

For those of you that have been listening for the last six weeks, thank you. Thank you for supporting, for hanging in there, for following along on this crazy journey. It’s wild to think that we’re already midway through this limited series.

When I set out to write this, it was intended only to be one LinkedIn post titled, “The Twelve Things I Learned in My Layoff Year”. When I actually sat down to write, I realized that this was way bigger and a single post wouldn’t be able to encapsulate the depth, complexity, and wildness of the last 365 days.

And, although to a degree it was an audio letter to a former self, I’ve had so many conversations with friends from all walks of life and damn, a lot of us are really going through it right now. We just need a voice to ground us.

To remind us that yeah, this isn’t forever. But it took me a full year to be able to even go back and reflect, because when you’re in survival mode it’s really tough to stop and smell the roses.

As mentioned in a past episode, what I know for sure is that a Growth Year will break you open, completely, entirely. It will get (and stay) really, really hard for the majority of it -- you’ll be exposed to all the parts of yourself -- but it will work out in the end.

As we round out the last few episodes of this limited series, I would love it if you would share this with a friend, a family member, or even a former co-worker who is going through it right now. Someone that you feel could use a grounding, guiding voice to help them during their first layoff or gap year.

And hey, shoot me a message, I would love to hear from you -- hear your story.

Thanks again.

—

Released on July 15, 2025

Disclaimer:

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

Facing Your New Identity in The Growth Year

EPISODE 8 | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and I’m so excited to be launching The Growth Year. A limited 12-episode podcast that takes just minutes of your day.

Today, we’re facing our identity.

Ready? Let’s go.

In The Growth Year, there’s a forcing function to dive deep and reflect. To think, to dissect and answer the questions of the “why”, the “what”, the “purpose”, the “what the f--- am I even doing?”, and the big I: identity. Facing and finding yourself is never a one shot deal. It’s icky, uncomfortable.

In an earlier episode, I talked about my first growth year and how circumstances outside of my control forced a complete pivot. My artistic life informed what I did for work -- leveraging a creative mindset to tackle super hard problems, my work-life informed launching into artistic projects with an eye towards rigor and getting messy.

An infinite loop of creating, solving, and living fully in multiple identities.

But sometimes, those identities, when disrupted, need a hard reset. A Growth Year.

The complexity of identity lies in how we see ourselves alone staring into a mirror vs. our assumed projection of other peoples’ opinion on us.

We come to terms with our identity not by looking forward, but back. On how our past informs how we see the world today. How the ideals we take at surface value -- as mentioned before -- an all-or-nothing approach to work -- actually have deeper meaning and subtext. They play out in our decisions and how we see ourselves in the world.

During this year, we’re asked to come to terms and ask the “why”?

Identity is asking us to pull back the curtain and evolve into finding the actual “you”. Authentically. Both feet planted on the ground. And with that, the breaking apart of our old identities and things that no longer serve us.

As Paulo Coelho wrote: "Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path". And once that path is cleared, there’s a slow rebuilding, brick by brick, setting up a newer, stronger foundation for what’s coming next.

—

Released on July 22, 2025

Disclaimer:

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

Starting Fresh & Rebuilding After Work Ends

EPISODE 9 | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and I’m so excited to be launching The Growth Year. A limited 12-episode podcast that takes just minutes of your day.

Today, we'll talk through how it all comes together, facing a fresh perspective, and how to build a stronger safety net for the future.

Let’s get started.

When your responsibility to a “job” becomes obsolete, what then, is your purpose?

We’ve been conditioned since childhood to put the right puzzle pieces together, color inside the lines, and instead of embracing creativity as we age, we’ve held on to an identity tied to base-level achievement, an assumed linear path to success, and in turn a false sense of stability and over-reliance on work as fulfillment.

As mentioned in a previous episode your purpose now becomes forging a new path forward, in preparation for a future lift-off.

This path forward is likely unchartered but as you ask yourself and open up to the possibility that “there has to be more out there”, you’ll start to see things differently. How you spend your time, what you prioritize, who you interact with will change. Patterns will emerge. Connections between seemingly unrelated moments in your life will suddenly click. And, in the end, a fresh perspective will take shape.

In my case, the saving grace came from a serendipitous place. Remember that “final bow” in college? In hindsight, it wasn’t final. It was a reset. Since moving to New York from San Francisco at 30 (two years post kidney transplant) I slowly rebuilt my artistic career from the ground up.

As a professional dancer, the projects I booked were set to open just days into my layoff. They gave me both a purpose and a way to redirect my energy. Acting gigs throughout the year revealed a whole new side of performance I hadn’t yet tapped into: commercial, TV, film, and live theater.

And nurturing connections with visual artists and drawing groups (since the pandemic) gave me a whole other community. One that existed fully outside of my work life. It was exactly what I needed, at exactly the right time. It was uplifting. And damn, did my artistic community pull through. These short-term projects became paying opportunities and when stacked, helped offset rent and major expenses. They helped get me by.

Before we wrap, in these final moments of our episode, I want to ask you a few questions:

What communities or connections do you have outside of your day job that could support you in the event of a sudden layoff?
What are you cultivating when it comes to a creative space or non-work outlet?
If you had to do a hard reset tomorrow — or maybe you’re in the thick of it today — what would you toss out first? What would you keep?

If we open ourselves up beyond the binary of badging in and out, we can start to build a semi-comfortable safety net for the next time we’re forced into a Growth Year.

—

Released on July 29, 2025

This episode was edited, in part, with the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT

Disclaimer:

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

Upskilling 101: Try Something New and Do It Terribly

EPISODE 10 | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and I’m so excited to be launching The Growth Year. A limited 12-episode podcast that takes just minutes of your day.

Today, we’ll talk about why you should always try something new and to do it terribly.

Ready? Let’s go!

As a self-professed multi-hyphenate, and if you’ve been listening to the last few episodes, I love doing a lot of things. And I really do believe that it was these communities and these creative circles that really supported me in my Growth Year.

Trying something new allows us to tap into the growth mindset -- that abilities aren’t fixed or unchangeable, we just need to allow ourselves the room to learn anew.

Doing it terribly gives us permission to fail, to relieve the pressure of mastering a skill, and that in the broader context of life, we all kinda suck at things when we try it for the first time -- and that’s ok!

I remember my first ballet class at 17, my first acting class just last fall, and other areas where I tried something new. And I was not good!

The outcome?

I started bridging new pathways in my brain, breaking patterns of conventional thinking. I found new ways to creatively problem solve, and I really had to learn to remove the preciousness out of perfection and an end product.

Further down in life as you start working, when you spend the bulk of your life in a high stakes workplace, whether it’s going from a rehearsal to a premiere, an MVP to a full release, where process equals product, it has the pressure of perfection, and leaves minimal room for setbacks.

Trying something outside our realm of comfort gives us the ability to gain new perspectives beyond the 9-5. It may also reveal new, untapped interests and talents we didn’t know we had, awakening the dormant creative side of our brain that has been suppressed for far too long.

It reminds us that, like many things in life, it’s not that serious -- we can have fun, and find joy in simply doing. When we approach things with a beginner mindset, allowing us to really come from a place of imperfection, it allows room for discovery and to a degree, to become a kid again.

These outlets are low stakes and there isn’t an expectation to become the next savant.

So, if you’re starting from scratch, here are some four suggestions of creative ways to try something new that also involves tangibility, it also leaves for a bit of experimentation.

Learning to cook -- as a self-professed home chef and definitely not a baker, cooking gets our hands involved in the making, the doing. It differs from baking because there is a margin of error that is entirely okay. The recipe acts merely as a guide.
A drawing or painting class -- the tangible factor of picking up a pencil, a piece of charcoal, pastels, or a brush brings us back to our creative, childlike self. Artistic arenas give us space to get messy (literally), make mistakes, and in a medium where art is inherently subjective, there’s no scorecard.
I love this one! Taking a dance workshop or class -- specifically choreography. Learning a series of steps that are repeatable (ideally to music), connects parts of the brain involved in problem solving and sequencing. It also taps into aligning mental cognition directly in our physical body.
Trying an acting or improv class.
- Acting gives us a structure (a scene, a script, a who, what, where, why, and when) to work from while also integrating spontaneity and a variety of character traits tied to real human emotion.
- Improv on the other hand, can be totally unscripted and encourages out-of-the-box thinking and having fun. Discarding any need for a final product because it lives in-the-moment.

All of these creative outlets also provide one thing that stands alone from, say, taking a walk, going on a hike, or relaxing on a beach: it provides just enough of a skill challenge to form new neural pathways, allowing us room to grow while giving us space to fail.

To basically be totally fine with doing it terribly.

—

Released on August 5, 2025

Disclaimer:

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

🎧 New episodes drop every Tuesday starting June 3, 2025
✅ Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon & all major platforms
📲 Follow @thegrowthyearpod on Instagram + TikTok
📼 Watch on YouTube
🔗 More info + full episodes: peterandco.org/thegrowthyearpod
📸 Photography by Sovanna Pang

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

The Growth Year Decision Making Framework (Pt. 1)

EPISODE 11 | SHOW NOTES

Hey friends! This is Peter and I’m so excited to be launching The Growth Year. Can you believe it’s the second to last episode?

Today, we’ll be talking about Part One of The Decision Making Framework. Although I mentioned at the top of our show that there wouldn’t be any workbooks -- it might be handy to grab a pen and paper for this one.

Ready? Let’s go.

By this point you’ve learned that nothing is permanent, faced your newly minted multi-hyphenate identity, and hopefully have a more concrete understanding of building your outside-of-work community.

In the next two episodes you’ll learn when to say yes where it matters, and no (thank you) thoughtfully, consciously, giving space when it comes to making difficult choices rather than the urgent-always-have-to-be-done-right-now default setting.

Perhaps you’re weighing two or more difficult decisions, interested in making bigger shifts in your personal life, or curious (like me) whether you should go back to the corporate world -- being, of course, cautiously optimistic and not wanting to get burned again.

So,

How do you decide?
What would you be giving up?
What would you be gaining?
Can you have it all?

In comes the Growth Year Decision Making Framework. It combines following your gut and intuition, while weeding out fear and scarcity-based decisions. It also asks us not to overthink or over-intellectualize.

Visualize three buckets. In each bucket is a divider and on each side of the divider is a word.

Bucket A: Fear vs. Intuition
Bucket B: Scarcity vs. Abundance
Bucket C: Intellect-Brain vs. Gut-Heart

Bucket A:

Fear is typically a negative emotion triggered by a perceived danger or threat, often leading to a state of constriction and resistance. Fear-based decisions only serve us when our spidey senses arise, the need to fight or flee.
Intuition, on the other hand, is a calm, inner knowing or sense of understanding that emerges from a deeper source within us, often leading to expansion and openness. Intuition allows us to pause before making a choice.

Bucket B:

For those of you who grew up in scarcity (for me, it was the two f’s: food and financial) this one hits home. In today’s world, scarcity in jobs/industry/career are all around us. When things feel scarce, limited, there’s an impulsive decision to grab at any opportunity immediately -- to say yes first, then deal with the consequences later. A Darwinian approach. The dark knight to abundance.
And on the flipside of scarcity? The knowledge that at the end of the day, your mindset creates the reality around you. Abundance is trusting in your past. Your homegrown ability to deal with changing circumstances. That there is enough to go around. It feels full, limitless.

Bucket C:

Intellect-Brain: If you’re like me, you can get over-anxious, jump from point A to point Z, and over-intellectualize a decision. You can get so analytical in your choice-making that even if it’s one that doesn’t align, somehow you’ll explain yourself into thinking the wrong choice is indeed the right one. To be clear this is different from an informed, smart decision. But for real: get out of your head!
Gut-Heart: There’s mega truth to the saying “follow your gut” and with that your heart will follow. Actually sit down and ask yourself: Does my gut and/or heart feel unsettled, or pulled forward? Combined with intuition and opposing intellect-brain, the “gut check” will always point you in the right direction.

In Part II two we’ll talk through an imaginary variable (two or more contrasting decisions) to put the Decision Making Framework into practice.

—

Released on August 12, 2025

Disclaimer:

Credits:

Written, Produced, Edited by Peter Cheng

Narrated by Peter Cheng

Intro Music by Lidérc

Outro Music by JoshMusic

Cover Photo by Sovanna Pang

🎧 The Growth Year | Podcast

Ready? Let’s go. 🌱

EPISODE 12 | SHOW NOTES

The Growth Year Decision Making Framework (Pt. 2)

Welcome to day 365 of your Growth Year. Congratulations. You made it!

Let’s put the Decision Making Framework into practice. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the previous episode, go ahead and do that now.

As a refresher, visualize three buckets. In each bucket is a divider and on each side of the divider is a word.

Bucket A: Fear vs. Intuition
Bucket B: Scarcity vs. Abundance
Bucket C: Intellect-Brain vs. Heart-Gut

Our variable (in my case, an actual decision I recently made: between returning to work or staying the course as a freelancer).

Company A, has mostly green flags. The growth potential is massive, the team is scrappy, well funded, but there are some major red flags around the culture.
After freelancing for a year, cobbling things together. It’s rough, not gonna lie, some days start at 4am, others run 15+ hours, or weeks on end not working. Some opportunities gained have been “once in a lifetime”. But unemployment has run out, and there’s just enough runway in the bank.

Remember the buckets with dividers? Let’s pull them up.

I’ll go through each of the buckets and ask or make a statement: “Am I making this choice out of (blank) OR (blank)?” I’ll add 1 tally to the associated word, and take a look at which side of each bucket has scored higher.

In this circumstance I’d ask:

Bucket A: Am I making the decision to join this company out of fear that I need a job right now?
Bucket B: Because all I see is that no one is getting hired and I should be lucky to even have this choice, jobs are scarce.
Bucket C: My gut instinct is saying run but it’s fine, I’ll grit through it and (intellectually) convince myself it’s the right choice, even though all the red flags are on high alert.

In the buckets, if two out of the three or the majority of the decision has scored heavily on Scarcity, Fear, and Brain-Intellect: walk away. No questions asked. Subconsciously you already know what the answer is.

On the flipside, a third combination and variable enters the room (remember, there is free will to redesign and structure life around work). Balancing a full-time job while pursuing a full artistic life -- hmm where else have I seen this? A company that aligns with the same values as you -- work is work and life, is fully, abundantly life.

Company B has excellent growth potential, a seasoned team, culture and funding are all a go. Work-life balance? Valued.

In this circumstance I’d ask or state:

Bucket A: My intuition (that inner knowing that feels grounded and at peace) is feeling aligned. I don’t feel scared or fearful, no bells are going off.
Bucket B: There’s going to be a trade-off -- time being the main one -- but I think I’ve been seen this before (sarcastically) and made it work. Time is pretty abundant.
Bucket C: My gut and my heart are feeling pulled toward this option. And I’ve journaled and been thoughtful about this decision.

In this case, if two out of the three or the majority of the decision scores heavily on the Intuition, Abundance, and Gut-Heart side of the bucket, it deserves a very strong yes. That’s it.

As a caveat, no one can predict the future or where our present decisions will lead us.

But with this framework, we can make a more conscious decision rather than the default-immediate-grab-and-go-yes-or-no we’ve become so accustomed to.

—

Released on August 19, 2025