The Five Year Plan – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

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The Five Year Plan

Anna Zhang

Business

Frequency: 1 episode/7d. Total Eps: 14

A podcast about all the "five year plans" that did not go according to plan. From lawyers turned comedians, to neuroscientists turned chefs, come join Anna in exploring the craziest career pivots and the ups, downs, and uncertainties of being in your 20s and 30s.

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Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇨🇦 Canada - careers
15/08/2026
#76
🇫🇷 France - careers
02/08/2026
#81
🇫🇷 France - careers
01/08/2026
#70
🇨🇦 Canada - careers
30/07/2026
#67
🇨🇦 Canada - careers
22/07/2026
#67
🇨🇦 Canada - careers
16/07/2026
#92
🇨🇦 Canada - careers
15/07/2026
#36
🇨🇦 Canada - careers
14/07/2026
#82
🇨🇦 Canada - careers
13/07/2026
#38
🇨🇦 Canada - careers
08/07/2026
#53

Spotify

No recent rankings available

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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https://substack.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast
10 shares
https://substack.com/@thefiveyearplan
8 shares
https://forms.gle/XzW8Vo6pc4Y3ZhLG8
5 shares

https://www.tiktok.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast
10 shares

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RSS feed quality

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Score global : 48%

Publication history

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Starting The Five Year Plan: What's This About Anyways?

Season 1 · Episode 1

Tuesday, March 3, 2026 • Duration 08:31

Anna thought she did everything right. Built the resume. Followed a path. Checked all the boxes. And yet, two years ago, she felt completely lost and confused with big question marks about her career. Did she pick the wrong path? Is it too late to start over? What happens when the life you worked so hard to build doesn't feel like yours anymore?

In this first episode of The Five Year Plan, Anna shares the story behind starting this show, what it's all about, and what you can expect. From interviewing guests who have had crazy career pivots, to normalizing the uncertainty that so many people feel in their 20s and 30s, she aims to debunk the myth of having a perfect "five year plan."

Because maybe the best "five year plans"... are the ones that don't go according to plan at all.

Share Your Story: The Confessions Vault

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast

IG: https://www.instagram.com/thefiveyearplanpodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast

Email: annashuyizhang@gmail.com

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Why A+ Students Struggle In the Real World

Tuesday, March 10, 2026 • Duration 21:03

Work hard in school. Get good grades. Land a good job. As long as you do those things, you'll set yourself up to live your happiest life.... Right?

Well, Anna followed that formula to a tee: got good grades, went to the best law school in the country, and landed her dream job. But there she was, sitting in the floor of her bedroom at 6:00 am on a Tuesday morning, sobbing about how debilitatingly inadequate she felt. How the hell did THIS happen?

Join Anna today as she explores why the first few years of any career is so difficult. She talks about the ways that school conditions us to think in ways that are not representative of real life and why the "A+ students" are the ones who sometimes struggle the most in the real world.

The Article: When The Gold Stars Stop Working: Why A+ Students Struggle in the Real World

Share Your Story: The Confessions Vault

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast

IG: https://www.instagram.com/thefiveyearplanpodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast

Email: annashuyizhang@gmail.com

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The Career Advice That Ruined My Life

Season 1 · Episode 3

Tuesday, March 17, 2026 • Duration 27:26

This piece of advice is one that I guarantee we've all heard before. But when I tried following it, here's what happened:

I developed a romanticized view of what my career should be
I had unrealistic expectations of what work is supposed to feel like that normal frustrations started to feel like a sign that I was on the wrong path
I lost my sense of self-identity

Can you guess what this piece of advice is?

Share Your Story: The Confessions Vault

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast

IG: https://www.instagram.com/thefiveyearplanpodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast

Email: annashuyizhang@gmail.com

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Chef Nathan Ng: From Neuroscience to the Kitchen

Tuesday, March 24, 2026 • Duration 59:31

He's cooked for Taylor Swift. Jennifer Lopez. And almost became a neuroscientist?

In this episode, Anna sits down with Nathan Ng - sous chef at TOCA inside the Ritz Carlton Toronto - who walked away from the "perfect" academic path as a neuroscience student at the University of Toronto to chase something far less certain... and at times, more brutal.

This is less of a polished success story and more about what it actually looks like to choose a different life.

Join them as they get into:

What it really takes to drop out of the best university in the country at the age of 18 when everyone expects you to stay
The weight of immigrant expectations and what happens when you don't follow them
The uncomfortable truth about the commodification of Chinese cuisine
Being an Asian chef in elite, European-dominated kitchens
The "open secret" of substance abuse in the hospitality industry

Share Your Story: The Confessions Vault

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast

IG: https://www.instagram.com/thefiveyearplanpodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast

Email: annashuyizhang@gmail.com

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The Shame of Burnout

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 • Duration 31:48

Burnout is not a character flaw. So why does it feel like one?

In this episode, Anna talks about the part of burnout that we often don't address —the quiet, creeping fear that you’re the problem. That you’re not resilient enough. That you're not cut out for the life you worked so hard to build.

Join Anna as she reflects on:

Why burnout feels like a personal failure (even when it’s not)
The unspoken pressure to “handle it” in high-achieving careers
How your childhood quietly set you up for this
The difference between being overwhelmed and being fundamentally misaligned
And how to start letting go of the shame of burnout without blowing up your entire life

If you’ve ever felt like a failure for "not being able to handle" the life you chose, this episode is for you.

"The Boiling Frog Syndrome: A Metaphor for Burnout" Article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/lessons-from-a-burnt-out-psychologist/202406/the-boiling-frog-syndrome-a-metaphor-for-burnout

Share Your Story: The Confessions Vault

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast

IG: https://www.instagram.com/thefiveyearplanpodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@thefiveyearplanpodcast

Email: annashuyizhang@gmail.com

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The Five Year Plan – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

The Five Year Plan – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other5

Tik Tok1

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other5

Tik Tok1

Instagram1

Apple Podcasts

Spotify