Episode 247: Robin Arzón: The Secret To Building Self-Confidence and Setting Boundaries

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins.

You're listening to Habits and Hustle, Gresham.

On today's episode of Habits and Hustle, I chat with Robin Arzon, who went from being a corporate lawyer to being one of the most popular fitness instructors on Peloton and also the VP of fitness programming for them.

We talk all about building self-confidence and accomplishing some of your most ambitious goals.

And we also talk about setting boundaries and the power of saying no to things that just don't serve you.

Robin is also a two-time New York Times best-selling author.

And like I said, I just really enjoyed this conversation.

She's very real, super raw, and takes no bull.

And I always appreciate that in people.

And I really think you're going to get a lot out of this episode.

So leave me a comment, drop me a line, tell me what you think.

Enjoy.

So, thanks for being on the podcast.

It's great to have you.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

First thing I actually wanted to say to you, I mean, before I even go into all the questions, is when I was doing all like my research before you coming on, what I noticed about you, which I found so appealing, I guess, is that you are so deliberate with all the words and how you speak.

That has anyone ever told you that?

Like you you speak with such like it's so deliberate so like on point like you actually stop and think before you just blab I heard you on like rich roll and all these things and it was something very unusual that people usually don't do so I wanted to just make a comment about that oh thank you yes I'm a pretty deliberate person

yeah so I think that goes with my uh with my what I say as well

absolutely and you know I wanted to actually start because the podcast is also called habits and hustle about hustle, the word hustle, because it's become now like a bad word.

And I heard you also mention that it's very, the timing that we live in, it's kind of like, I feel, maybe you don't agree with this 100%, but we kind of give people this permission to do less or to kind of make excuses to not push themselves.

It's become like, it's kind of a bad word.

Well, I don't give people that permission.

I know.

And this is why I wanted to have you on the podcast, actually, this whole, because you're not somebody who allows that.

And like

this whole idea of kind of, in my opinion, this caudal culture that we're in, where we're cauddle people to just be okay with okay and not the work ethic.

Right.

I want, can you talk about what you think about the word hustle and how confidence and hustle are so closely connected?

Yeah, well, confidence, I've long said that confidence is a side effect of hustle.

So a true hustler has enough wherewithal to self-define what their finish line looks like.

And, you know, so to speak, in like a Stephen Covey analogy, you know, put your ladder up to the right rooftop.

I think that the idea of self-care is part of hustle, right?

So I actually don't see it as binary.

And I think it's really important that we don't disrupt a really powerful framework of work ethic and grit.

And I revere the hustle because I define what my hustle looks like.

I don't always define, you know, I'm not always, I'm certainly not glorifying like the toughest moments, but I learn from them the most.

And in that case, I revere the hustle because I love who I am on the other side of it.

And I believe that, that hustling is a necessary ingredient to living an uncommon life.

I've committed to living an uncommon life pretty publicly.

And now as a parent, I'm, there's more meaning behind it because I want my kids to know what it looks like and what it requires to lead an uncommon life so they can decide for themselves what makes them unique and uncommon.

So yeah, hustle is my favorite word.

It's the reason why I named my empowerment journal that's forthcoming, Welcome Hustler.

I'm not shying away from the word hustle.

And I have a legion of folks who are listening, you know, to the conversations, not only that you're hosting and similar, you know, similarly on this podcast, but what I'm putting out in the world has a very specific drumbeat.

And I know that there are certain people who want to hear that drumbeat and are paying attention.

And your journey to wellness is very unique, right?

You used to be a corporate lawyer.

I mean, you talk about this all the time, but for my listeners, can we just talk about that a little bit?

Like just the origin, the journey, the origin story of how you even became this person.

Were you always like this even before?

Because you speak with such, like I said, you're so deliberate.

You have, you exude confidence.

Did you work on that?

Or does that come with your journey as you were becoming into this person?

I mean, I think it's all iterative.

I can't imagine.

Who knows?

I mean, I was pretty confident in my 20s when I was practicing law.

But, you know,

it all builds on each other.

And our skill sets, thankfully, builds.

I mean, imagine if we were still having the same conversations with the same skill sets that we had even five years ago, certainly 20 years ago, that would be pretty depressing.

I was a corporate litigator.

I was a corporate litigator for almost eight years.

And during that time, is when I started to fall in love with running.

I was doing marathons and ultra-marathons while practicing law.

And it was in the midst of subprime, financial crisis, like Bernie Madoff years.

I mean, it was a while to practice corporate litigation, certainly the type of litigation I was practicing in New York.

And it really taught me to be savvy.

I don't think I would understand myself, my brand as a business, if I hadn't had amazing clients that taught me, you know, what business means with a capital B.

I feel like it was also like a mini MBA, you know, in addition to a law degree that I kind of was able to start to dabble in.

And it really like stoked my entrepreneurial spirit.

And I realized that I could architect a career where I'm moving as my currency, as well as

infusing storytelling and the importance of narrative in every type of platform, you know, like Instagram and things like influencer marketing were first coming into vogue.

And I thought, okay, well, I want to leverage this.

I have a story to tell.

And then that started becoming so robust in my business that I i realized maybe i could really pivot away from law and do this other thing that i'm so passionate about i use my lot degree every day and i it certainly provides a framework for a lot of what i do and an intention around a lot of what i do um i'm a wordsmith i'm super precise i'm exacting but i've always been that way i am like a latina first generation virgo so like i'm not cutting corners and i'm like I just don't, I'm not literate in bullshit.

I'm just not.

Right.

You're not like a, you're not a fan of small talk, I'm sure, either.

I'm not at all.

No, I can tell you're like, let's go.

You're not interested in like the, in the, how's the weather?

Nice, this.

You want to get right into it, you know?

I appreciate that about you, by the way.

I really, really do.

I'm a Virgo too.

But like, you know, even because on Peloton, and we'll talk about the Peloton, but like to have that ability even to go up there, because it's like kind of like you're on like a reality show every single day.

You have to like.

perform and speak.

I always wonder, how do you guys do it?

Because like you have to seem very philosophical.

Like every time you're on the bike, say something that's very motivational, inspirational.

Like did it just spew or did you practice?

Do you write it out?

Do you have to think about it?

Like I don't understand how you like you can just do that time like after all these years too, like time and time again.

It's unbelievable.

Well, I think part of that is innate.

We do naturally, you know, we don't hire actors to pretend that they're fitness professionals and life coaches.

And, you know, it's they're real people that, that you know I love I love my fellow instructors I really believe that we've created like a team of superheroes and I admire them I'm fans of them

as well as well as their you know my family have you hired most of them by the way because you're yeah I was involved in yeah I was the second or third instructor hired at Peloton and I've been involved in the hires of most of the instructors since promoted to vice president a few years in so yes I have been involved in the recruiting for sure and super super proud of what the content team has created the

the extemporaneous nature of what we do is, I think, what the magic is.

Each instructor has different approaches to how they're going to craft storytelling and notes and things.

I usually just approach things like thematically, and it usually is stuff that I have already journaled about like that morning or the day before.

And, you know, I have a journaling practice, I have a vision board practice, I have a meditation practice.

Of course, I train for at least an hour to 90 minutes before I teach at Peloton.

I don't think I've ever taught a Peloton class without doing my own workout beforehand.

And that's so I prime my body and my mind.

And oftentimes I tell my, I speak to the audience in the exact ways that I was was or was not speaking to myself in the prior workout.

So it really is coming from a genuine place as an athlete and as a member.

And I guess the more like philosophical existential pieces of it, that comes really naturally to me because that's just what I'm thinking about and what I'm trying to practice in my own life, right?

I'm not, none of the tenants that I espouse are by any level coming from a place of excellence or achievement in most cases.

It's just like the, it's all falling, falling in love with who I am along the way and allowing the process to be gritty sometimes.

What's amazing though is that like you have when you're hiring other people to do this, right?

Like they're able to do the same type of inspiration.

A lot of them, some of them of course are better, different, whatever, depending on what you're, what you like.

But is the fitness piece kind of secondary in a way?

They have to be, like, what do you look for?

Like, when you're when you're hiring somebody, what do you try to see?

If they can connect, like, is it like an X factor?

Because, like I said, the bike is kind of secondary in a way.

I mean, well, it's beautiful hardware.

Yeah.

Well, no, but like, but yeah, there is, there is a magnetism that you cannot manufacture.

And when it's manufactured, people can tell.

So we're not a Hollywood studio.

We're not trying to be a Hollywood studio.

So fitness expertise is the ground floor.

Nobody would join Peloton without a passion for fitness and an expertise and a point of view in some modality.

Most instructors have it in multiple modalities and teach multiple modalities on our platforms.

So, that really is like just the entry point.

Like, that's literally like, yeah, could you even crack the door?

Is being a leader in wellness.

And then, there's like a lot of other things that we layer on.

It's a really unique job.

There's literally nothing like it on the planet.

And it does require, you know, a special skill set.

most people come in with like a really strong aptitude and then you know they go through a training process to kind of learn learn behind the you know peek peek and see what the wizard is doing behind the curtain yeah i mean i love the story of how you even got to Peloton because can you like let's talk about the continue with your journey because like you said when you were when you were starting to run you weren't a runner and you were what were the questions you were asking and what what would you tell the people listening who are trying to pivot into a different career oh yeah of like how they can get some how they can find the inner confidence to believe in themselves to do this sure

so i realized about two years before i left law that i i planned i was really really trying to figure out an exit strategy but um i knew that it there were going to be lots of levers that i had to pull in order to make that transition as seamless as possible, as stable as possible.

So I did an audit of my life.

I call it an audit now.

I didn't know that's what it was then.

And I've infused this into my empowerment journal, Welcome Hustler.

It's coming out this September.

So it kind of I've infused, I put in the framework in a very literal way into the journal.

But conceptually, it was an analysis, like a subjective analysis of, or objective in some ways,

analyses of

my financial health, like what could I afford to do and when, my physical health, like did I have the physical energetic capacity for this sea change that was going to be cortisol inducing and like very much reliant on my physical body, obviously, as an athlete?

And then there were, I think, the more fun questions, like the dreaming questions, the existential questions of like, what the hell am I doing?

Why am I here?

And then some pro-con lists of like, what is my skill set?

What can I leverage?

What would people pay me money for?

And then the other column of like, what don't I know?

Practical things, like, you must get your spin certification, you must, you know, get your personal training certification, like stuff, like really basic stuff.

Like fundamentals, basically, fundamentals.

And I just had to check it off the list and figure it out.

And

that slowly allowed me to develop an appetite for risk.

I mean, there was so much that I didn't know.

And there wasn't a very clear trajectory or career path of somebody in an analogous position that I was like, oh yeah, so-and-so did that.

So this is exactly what I'm going to do.

But during that two-year period, I really planted a lot of seeds i would just reach out to whoever would listen you know via email events fitness events in like literally anything any any place where people were moving talking about moving talking about sports i was there and i was really trying to put my

name, you know, in people's ears.

And so the 2012 London Olympics was coming about and I just had this flashbulb moment that I needed to be physically in the environment where these athletes were going to be and where the games were happening.

So I quit my law job and I booked a ticket to London that cost more than my New York City rent, like on a credit card.

And I just went and I, all I had was an iPhone and a bag.

My friend lives in London.

I lived on her couch for three weeks.

And it was in that experience.

You know, I reached out to the Team USA PR team.

I reached out, you know, some of the athletes, like Cara Goucher and Alison Felix are now my friends.

And I interviewed them then.

just as like a blogger, you know, just like literally capturing content, content, content.

And this is, we kind of know now, you you know, if somebody is familiar with, or any of your listeners or content creators themselves, like you're just always capturing content.

That wasn't exactly the way people thought of it when you traveled back then, but that was how I approached that trip.

And it was literally three weeks of like, I mean, honestly, probably like a Nikon Cool Pics

like camera and my cracked iPhone.

And

I left actually with a job.

I ended up meeting then CEO of Nike and I was just like in a Nike store and and he approached me.

He was like, wow, you have a great style.

Like you should have a style blog.

I was like, funny you say that because I do have a style blog.

I have a style running blog.

And here's my card.

I like made these.

cheesy cards with like my picture on it.

It was like, also, it's also mortifying, but I mean, that was what I did.

And I left with a job on the agency side.

And Nike Women was my client.

And I was going to be working on their social media handles, you know, really storytelling around women and fitness and, you know, for one of the biggest athletic brands in the world.

So I left London thinking I have just landed my dream job.

And then I was working on the agency side with Nike Women as my client, as I mentioned, for about six or seven months.

And I realized, oh, I don't want to storytell behind anyone else's handle.

I want to do it in collaboration.

Like I want to also be part, you know, I'm also storytelling every single day.

And the ways I had started writing my book, I was still ultra-marathoning.

I was running with like these completely misfit running crews in New York City.

You know, we were doing rogue half marathons at midnight on the Williamsburg Bridge and we were doing cool shit.

And additional brands were starting to reach out trying to, you know, quote, pick my brain for like marketing campaigns.

And after a few of these meet and greets for free via coffee or tea for me, and I was like, this is nonsense.

Like I can use my available hours model as a lawyer.

And now I am, no, it's not free.

I'm a consultant and this is what it costs.

And some folks said no, but more than more than that, I got the right yeses.

And so that kind of started to pick up steam.

So I had the courage to to leave the agency job which was actually scarier than leaving my law job because i thought well if i don't like this what if i don't like anything and that was that was probably six or eight months when i was really on my own like just pitching editors at magazines trying to write doing stuff for my blog i was i finished my book um i was teaching spin i was coaching runners i was developing training plans putting them out there and then that's when I read about Peloton and I read about Peloton as a blurb.

It was like a blurb and fast company.

And I had put on my vision board that I wanted to work with a technology company that was disruptive in storytelling.

And I really didn't know what that meant, but I did write that down.

And I saw, I read about Peloton.

It was a really small bio on then CEO, John Foley.

And I sent them a cold email.

It was like info at Pelotoncycle.com.

It wasn't even.

you know, we only had our bike.

Yeah.

Didn't have the tread or our rower yet or the app.

And so I received a response that same day.

I was in the office the next day for an audition and I had a contract like two days later.

So first of all, I love everything you just said because you actually truly had like self-belief.

You believed in yourself enough to take a chance on yourself.

And you like live by the same model that I talk about, which is basically a why not me.

Like why, right?

Like, why do it for Nike?

You should, you could be the brand and you can collaborate and you could do this.

And, you know, like, that is a true sense of like, you know, true confidence and self-belief in yourself.

And do you feel like you can teach that to somebody?

Or does someone have to really kind of, it's an innate feeling that you have to kind of earn in a way, right?

Like you can't just tell someone just to believe in yourself, right?

Like you kind of truly did really believe in yourself.

You got this job from, like you met the CEO of Nike for grinder.

Like it's not like you're like are meeting some like random person from some mom and pa shop.

And it kind of kept on building from there.

I love that story.

And you just kind of were very deliberate.

Like you went after the company that you found.

Everything was very customized to the life that you wanted to live, it sounds like.

Yeah, I mean, there was, like, I think it's also important for us to,

when we're whatever it is,

you know, vision boarding, talking with a life coach, talking with a therapist, or just writing down in a journal, sitting down quietly in our thoughts, because it's easy to kind of dreamscape the title or the job or the like, I want this amount of money.

But who, what are you architect, like, what, how do you want to feel when you are that person and your head hits the pillow?

I thought about that version of myself a lot because I knew what it felt like to feel just okay.

You know, as you mentioned, like I'm, I'm so allergic to that feeling of just that malaise.

And I never wanted to feel that again, even if I had some fancy job at some whatever.

I actually didn't even know what that would be.

I was like, is that at working at a Nike?

Like, I don't think so.

So I knew I hadn't found it yet, but I knew how I wanted to feel when I got there.

I wanted to feel like that exhilar, like that exhilarating exhaustion from knowing that you uniquely leveraged what you can offer the world.

Like feeling in alignment, like that flow state is, is I am in that flow state most days of my life now.

And that is at showing up in the world as myself.

And that was exactly what I wanted to create.

So I didn't necessarily know, I knew how I wanted to feel when I wanted to get there.

And I knew what I didn't want.

And sometimes finding out what you don't want is just as valuable.

And the, yeah, the jump, the leaps and jumps felt really like free falling.

But at least I had enough sense of self to know what I wanted it to feel like when I landed.

Did you know when you first started at Peloton that it was good?

Like, did you have a feeling that it was going to turn out to be what it is?

Like, did you have like some sense when you first had your first, you know, when you day one basically from jump?

Did you already get like, or is this beyond anything that you expected i mean i think it's beyond what most people expected when they first heard of peloton right it's not beyond what i expected really so you knew this was gonna happen i always had big dreams for it and i if you as far as i'm concerned it's day one like every day is day one so yes i thought it could be a global platform i thought it could make serious changes in people's lives yeah that I really did believe.

I have always believed that we're dreamers who hustle and like not everything, you know, when we don't do it right, we figure it out and we try to do it better, you know, and that's like any business.

The passion, though, that I have for the brand is just as strong now as it was then.

Wow.

And like I said, like, I have a day one mentality.

Like, I just taught some classes on the tread, and like, I approached those classes like they were the first and most important classes I've ever taught.

I actually think it's really important to kind of maintain that refreshed attitude, even after when we're a decade into something.

So I ask myself often, like, if what you just put out, whatever content you just created, whether it's a peloton or not, like, would that get you hired today?

And that is a gut check that I ask myself literally weekly.

And I think it's an important one.

That's amazing.

It's amazing to have that same type of energy and excitement for a job as opposed to like what most people have, what happens to most people, right?

Like, but doesn't your body get tired?

Like, are you ever tired?

I don't understand.

Like, are you working out before?

Then you do your class.

How many classes are you teaching a day for?

I mean, it's unbelievable.

And you have a baby.

It's usually like an, it's usually an hour to an hour and a half of content.

You know, some of it's a few classes, short classes cobbled together.

I mean, I am trained up for this, right?

Like,

we are professional athletes, right?

So what

we are doing isn't.

what the average person is going to do to train.

But, you know, we have professional athletes on our platform and they also also train for two, three, six hours a day, you know, some of them.

So that's it.

Like that's kind of part of it.

And, but it's also part of it is like a corporate gig.

So it's a very, it's an amalgam, it's a very unique job.

But yeah, I'm, I really am passionate about it.

And like, if at any point I don't feel that passion, then that's going to be a big clue.

So what is the day in the life of your QC walk us through?

Like, what time do you wake up?

What time do you go to bed?

What are you eating?

And how are you training to be this person?

I want to know.

I really want to know.

So I'm plant-based.

I don't eat any meat or dairy or fish or any of that stuff.

I've been vegan for almost a decade, over a decade, probably now.

And I go to bed at like 9:00, 9:30, and I'm up between 6 and 6:30 most days.

And so, that's like I sleep like a good nine hours a night.

I mean, I'm pregnant now, so I don't have an infant.

That won't be the case, but you know, as much as like I control the controllables, I just focus on what I can control and I don't moan and groan about what I can't.

I just think that's wasted energy, and self-pity is poison.

So I wake up and get my daughter ready.

We are like have breakfast in the kitchen as a family.

My husband makes our morning smoothies.

So he's prepped that while I'm getting my daughter ready.

What's in the smoothie?

I want to know the details.

I want the details.

It's like 15 ingredients.

I mean, it's got everything from like magnesium to athletic greens, plant protein, every veggie, like cauliflower, kale, like, you know, all that.

stuff that you would probably imagine.

And then we put in vitamin D, B12, like stuff for our, specifically for our plant-based diet to supplement our plant-based diet.

So yeah, I have my smoothie in the morning and I usually drink it in two parts.

I'll drink a little bit in the morning before I train and then I'll drink the rest of it after my lifting session or my running session, whatever the case was.

So

yeah, then it's my time to train.

And I train probably, I'll run or jog for like 30 minutes, then I'll lift for an hour.

Usually heavy barbell work, like deadlift, push press, you know, dynamic movements like that, or prime movements like that prime lifts every day or four how many times a week

is a week okay do you have a trainer or you do it yourself sometimes i do it myself and sometimes i go to a private it's a private training facility so okay yeah there's like two or three other people there that i'm training with but it's not open to the public yeah you have to like be a be a participant to

oh yeah yeah yeah you know i want to show how you train though are you doing like full body are you doing like splits like how do you like what do you do when you train up being a pretty upper body lower body it's usually like if i'm doing an upper body barbell lift then there's a lower body accessory work you know so it ends up being full body in in the way they complement each other but yeah it's it's a pretty traditional split where it's like monday might be deadlift then chest press might be tuesday that's that's usually how i approach it and then i'm to the studio usually to film classes so that'll be any it'll be cycling tread or strength and even on the days when i'm teaching strength i will usually have lifted beforehand and then I just treat my strength classes at Peloton like my additional accessory work.

But on the days where I know I'm cycling, I might prioritize like a tougher run in the morning.

Or the days when I know I'm teaching tread, I might just walk, you know, just to get some steps in and not have a really intense.

So I am very mindful of my output and energy from a cardio perspective, but my strength is pretty consistent five or six days a week.

And then what do you do?

Like, so then you, after you do that, what's, when do you get the other work done?

Like, I want to know how you're able to do everything.

I mean, i'm very ruthless with my calendar like if something can be shortened from 15 minutes to 10 minutes i'm gonna ask my team to do it i'm really ruthless so i probably gain back reclaim days if not weeks of my time a year because i'm really really intentional so in the five 10 minutes 15 minutes i'm creating playlists answering emails capturing content you know literally taking photos you know for clothing and shoots that i have with my brand partners and then sometimes I probably say two, at least two days a week, I have blocks of time where I'm doing press interviews or photo shoots or video shoots or things that might take two or three hours, four hours, five hours.

And that's obviously blocked ahead of time to complement my teaching schedule and my other things.

Yeah.

So that that's a few days a week.

And then it's meetings, Pelton meetings, executive meetings.

So they're jam-packed days.

I mean, I don't.

I don't usually have 10 minutes free in the day.

I want, yeah, I mean, so I want to talk about the two words, no and balance, right?

Because you think no, like you say no, probably how many, like 90% of the time.

Like, how do you decide what you do, what you don't?

99% of the time.

How do you decide what you're going to say yes to, what you're not going to say yes to?

Is it all based on your, how much time it takes or how passionate you are?

Or I mean, I, if it feels like a mediocre yes, it's a no.

And I think it took me a long time to get to that point, especially as I was just trying to get my name out there.

Like, I think you're, you have to, you go through seasons where you're just going to say, you just say yes.

You're just going to say yes to whatever because you just are in that part of your story and i've definitely done that and i did that for a while now i'm at a place where it's it really needs to be something a i'm genuinely interested in doing and b that i can fit into my schedule with the right honest energy like i don't want to say yes to something and then show up and half ass it it's not who i am so i know if i say yes to something it's like okay girl you're just you're gonna go full force so you better be okay with doing that at after a 14 hour day or whatever it is.

So yeah, that and it has to be in a line.

I mean, what's the ROI, right?

Like, does it make sense for the product I'm coming out with?

Does it make sense to introduce me to an existing or a new community?

Is it something even if it's a small, you know, I've done, I've done commitments and talks and things for 10 people, but it's because it's like, that's how meaningful it is, right?

So there's got to be a spark behind it.

And that keeps me going.

That actually provides buoyancy in my day because when I look at my calendar and it is full of just stuff, I know that the stuff is

they're genuine yeses.

Is it hard to like find, I mean, with now that you are a mom, of course, is it, do you find it hard?

Do you find you're shifting and changing what you're saying yes to?

Like, how are you?

I know the word balance is not even,

you and I say very similar things.

It's not really even a thing, but how are you able to balance it with being a mom?

Do you find, do you find it, do you have anxiety from it more?

No.

Or no?

I don't.

Because I've lived this way for a long time, you know, so like the principles around my time, X, you know, protecting my

utilizing no, like a sword so I can protect my yeses.

I create boundaries and I'm okay with it.

And I'm unapologetic about it.

And sometimes that might not settle well with people, but that's just how I rock in business and in life.

I say no to most social engagements.

You know, I, when I'm with my family, I'm really, really focused and I'm with them totally.

And so, no, I haven't obviously like there's a lot more going on, you know, in my world, in my ecosystem, as a lot of caregivers know, but that just makes me even more intentional.

And I was pretty intentional before.

So I wouldn't say that honestly, the framework is the same.

Really?

Because I find being having a career and having kids, I always feel guilty.

I think a lot of moms just always feel guilty.

And you're saying that if we put your advice is to be very, very deliberate and create very strict boundaries and don't, there'd be non-negotiables is the best way to kind of go about that.

Yeah, I put the first things first.

And also, I mean, of course, I felt the guilt.

I mean, it's such a human emotion, but I put that in a parking lot a lot because in the moment, if I'm walking out of the door and my daughter is like, no, but I want mommy, I want you to play.

Like, of course, of course, that tugs on my heartstrings.

But it's more, it matters more to me that she sees me leading a life with intention and knowing that whether I'm going for a run or I'm going to, you know, speak to 100,000 people, it's there's meaning behind it.

And that's why my yeses have to matter because that means no to my family oftentimes.

And I grew up with a mother who she has practiced medicine for over 40 years.

There were many picnics and things and school stuff that she did not attend.

And in my ability to zoom out now as an adult, I am very, very grateful that she led that example because she was always, she always created meaning when it mattered.

And she prioritized her career and her self-care in moments that allowed her to lead an uncommon life.

And I learned that from her.

And so that's how I'm able to squash the guilt because I zoom out.

Yeah, it's amazing.

I mean, like I said, you're so deliberate.

And I think that people can learn something just from that alone, right?

Like you have to be intentional, you have to be, or else other people will

make the choice for you.

That's what happens.

If you don't choose, other people will make those choices for you.

So can we talk a little bit about this whole Web3 thing?

Because I know that's what you, that's what you're working on.

It's going to be, when is it coming out?

what's it called swagger society right yeah swagger society first lifestyle membership club in web three that I'm creating I've

got the kingdom what does this even mean I mean when I was reading this I was like okay wait okay what is it because even the web 3 like how are you even even involved in the web 3 I don't even understand what it is I mean like how are you able to even understand it

yeah well I've educated myself on it I definitely didn't know you know even a year ago I certainly didn't know as much and it's an ever-changing landscape so anybody who says they're an expert you know take that with a grain of salt but the my husband has long been long been been involved i mean long like it's been a few years that he's been involved and he's has a lot of business dealings in web3 and so i started to really pay attention when i saw what was possible for the creation of community using some of these technology uh what potentially what these technology platforms or or devices are going to be are going to enable us essentially is able to aggregate community like and your digital identity in a way that is pro individual ownership.

So imagine having a digital identity that you port with you.

It's not one login for Facebook, one login for Instagram, one login for TikTok.

There's gonna

be hubs and communities that live in spaces where you're able to port your digital identity and bring your digital assets.

And NFT is just a digital asset, and that is gonna, that's what's gonna unlock membership to spire society.

So somebody's gonna be able to join and buy a membership just with a credit card.

So you're not gonna have to do anything complicated with a wallet or anything.

We're not using nomenclature that's confusing people.

Like the whole point is to build bridges and make widen aperture of folks who feel like they can be involved in Web3.

But the purpose behind Swagger Society is so much bigger than that.

I mean, it's, we're just using the functionality of Web3 technology because that is what I believe is the future.

But like, I could mail out plastic membership cards, but that's like doesn't wouldn't make any sense.

So the membership is going to be a digital asset.

And the framework of Swagger Swagger Society is built on the idea that I'm creating a kingdom and Swagger Society becomes the individual members' accountability partner.

We're going to be hosting challenges and we're building a gated locker, a token gated locker that is where folks are going to go to receive information about the challenges, personalized messages from me.

We're going to be doing private.

You know, it's going to be a lot of gated content that is just going to be for Swagger Society.

So it'll, I'll have an opportunity to go deeper in a lot of these concepts, whether it's journaling and vision boarding, whether it's habit tracking.

You know, I'm creating habit trackers and content and things that I use myself.

I'm creating it just for swagger society.

And the idea is that somebody is going to have their own goal, a self-directed goal.

It could be literally about anything.

And then we're going to try to, you know, create some frameworks to dig under the hood of like, are we meeting our goals?

Why not?

Really using.

community as a key.

And then there's going to be what we're calling street cred or swagger points.

So that's going to be like the loyalty rewards, I guess, currency in swagger society.

So the more that you engage, the more challenges that you complete, you're going to see yourself on, you know, see how many points you have of street cred.

And then those points are going to then be used within the swagger society ecosystem for different rewards.

So there's kind of a reward system as a carrot, whether that's early access to merchandise or buying.

merchandise outright with the reward system.

We're going to do in-real life events.

So it's going to be access to those events.

And then we have different tiers of membership that are going to have, you know, different access points, but it's exciting.

Okay.

So what's the difference between using an app and doing this on an app like RewardPoint and Community?

What's the benefit of doing it in this Web3 space?

Well, namely, I mean, it is, you could do it through an app.

So we're building a website.

So my devs are building a website and you're going to log into that website similarly to how you'd log into any website.

But the asset, like the thing that when we say, okay, there's 50 members here, the way we track that, it's going to be through Web3 technology, which involves smart contracts and digital assets and basically buying an asset on the blockchain.

And that creates provenance.

Like, you know, that's one of one.

If you own card number, you know, digital asset one of 50 for Swagger Society, that's it.

Like there's no ability to kind of recreate that or fake that.

And we're having art associated with each of the kind of Swagger Society kingdom characters that are going to be token gated in somebody's locker.

So somebody's locker is going to be when you log into our website, you're going to see where your digital assets live.

So there's kind of stuff behind the scenes that the user hopefully isn't even going to be messing around with because most people don't care how this stuff works, which is why I have a whole team of developers that are figuring out how this stuff works because I only know, you know, from a 10,000-foot view.

But yeah,

it's basically.

the blockchain technology and like kind of the crypto.

So and your husband's your partner, I'd imagine, right?

If he's been yeah, so he's the CEO of Swagger Society.

So really, I mean, I'm the co-founder, but he's the day-to-day person.

And, you know, I should say Swagger Society is totally my own thing.

Any opinions I have about Web3 or Swagger Society are totally my own.

It's not Peloton.

It's not fitness related.

You know, this is just my passion about, you know, what this, what this new club could be.

Because you really believe, like, I mean, a lot of people don't understand, like me included, the Web3 situation.

You really believe this is the next wave.

It's going to be something basic.

Everybody will be utilizing Web3 technology.

It's like saying that the internet is fake in 1995.

Right, right, right.

It is going to be the new iteration.

Yeah, and I mean, it remains to be seen in what way and what applications will really be using it.

You know, is it going to be just for banking, getting your license, voting?

Who knows?

But there's a lot of utility in it.

And we don't need to jump the gun, right?

Like, people don't need to feel like, oh, I'm late.

Nobody's late.

It's literally just starting.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, it is.

Just start.

Literally, I agree.

I know we have a few minutes here, so I just wanted to talk about your little, your superhero toolkit, what habits you have, what do you do to kind of be on point besides the workout and all that stuff.

And we're talking about your day.

You know, you mentioned vision boarding, journaling.

Can we just talk a little bit more about these modalities that you do daily and what is in this toolkit for you to be you basically?

Oh my gosh, yeah.

Well, journaling is a huge part of it.

It's why I created Welcome Hustler.

It's really what I've poured into Welcome Hustler is, which is available for pre-order, the framework that I have put into my own journals over what, 10 years.

And that my journaling practice used to be in the mornings now it's usually at night it's usually like journaling for a few minutes and then I pick up and read my book and that is how I like get into the beta state or whatever to like start to sleep at 9 p.m.

The part of the journaling for me is sometimes it's a brain dump is just like getting things out even if sometimes it's just a to-do list, you know, honestly.

But in my most creative moments, in my less stressful moments, it's, it allows me to continue dreaming.

It allows me to continue tapping into that internal conversation.

And oftentimes I'm picking back up on conversations that are thoughts or seeds that I planted when I was running or when I was doing breath work.

I've started to incorporate non-sleep, deep rest, kind of, I guess you would call it a meditation.

You know, Humerin Lab talks about this.

He has one that's available for free on the on YouTube.

So that has helped me in the afternoons kind of regain my energy for the sprint that is dinner time, as most parents know.

And the, but the two, two, like really key practical things like takeaway things journaling and vision boarding vision board I revamp my vision board probably like four or five times a year or if I'm like really working on a specific creative project like I have in addition to the journal I have another product line coming out this summer and that required a vision board because I really wanted to like tap into the creative process around that but yeah usually my vision boards have different quadrants business relationship you know physical health it really depends on kind of the themes that I'm really going on and I just I do it old school like cut and paste from magazines and newspapers.

And sometimes I'll print something out if it's something very specific that I want to put on there.

But I really, like, I will put like my, like, before I got my first magazine cover, it was like, I printed a picture of the magazine.

I put my face on the magazine.

I'm like, that's what we're going for.

And there, you know, with you want to, you want to be able to dream with a specificity.

And I think that that's what vision boards do to a certain visual extent.

And certainly journaling allows us to go inward.

And the three questions that I ask myself most frequently in journaling, you mentioned one of them actually is why not me?

Another one is, what is my why?

And sometimes that's like the macro big why, but I'm pretty dialed into that.

I'm pretty in tune to that.

Oftentimes it's what is my why?

Literally like, what is my, why did I say yes to do this thing tonight?

Like, why am I going to that movie premiere later?

You know, like trying to get into, and then when I realize, you know, that wasn't the right yes, or I said yes for the wrong reasons, then I know how to like pivot and reiterate in the next time.

So that introspection is really important to me.

And that's how I can be even more intentional and ruthless with my yeses and my no's.

And then the third question is, what decision would I make if I were twice as strong and twice as confident?

And that really gets me because then I'm like, am I even thinking big enough?

Because I know I have the work ethic to back it up, but am I even thinking big enough?

So yeah, that's where that's where my head is at often.

That's a really good one.

I like that last one.

Yeah.

Wow.

I mean, and I know because you are so intentional with your time, I don't want to take up so much more of your time, but I really appreciate you being on the podcast.

And I just wanted to ask you one last thing is that because you are such a vision board person, you do it so often, what has been on the vision board that you have not yet got that you're still striving for?

Oh, that's a good question.

I mean, a lot.

So there's fashion.

There's things in my brand story related to like high fashion.

Like I would love to partner with a Versace or Gucci, the Met Gala is on my vision board.

So brand expansion moments where it's continuing the same, you know, values-based storytelling, but in other industries.

So, yeah, fashion and beauty are two that are still on my list.

Do you kind of take the stuff that was on one vision board that has not happened and place it onto the next vision board?

Or do you change it?

Sometimes, but it's a new, like, it's a, it might be the same literal wording or brand like.

connection but it will it will be a refreshed image and when it's coming out you said what's what's the other project that you said you're doing I can't disclose it yet.

Oh, you can't disclose it yet.

Okay.

Damn.

All right.

Well, you have to come back and talk to them next time.

It was really amazing to have you on.

And do you want to just tell people a little bit about the Welcome Hustler, where they can find you if they don't follow you, if they don't know about you?

Just give them all your stats or where you know all the stuff.

All the things.

All the things.

I am Rabin Arson.

I am Rabin NYC on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter.

You can find Swagger Society similarly on all those platforms, including swaggersociety.io.

And Welcome Hustler is available for pre-order now wherever you would buy your books.

And stay tuned because I have lots of interesting products coming out this year.

Yes, it doesn't seem like your ambition has waned with having kids.

That's for sure.

That's amazing.

It's amazing.

Well, thank you so much.

It was really great to meet you, Robin.

Thank you.

Likewise.

Thank you.

Bye.