Peloton’s Robin Arzon on changing careers: "Say yes before you think you're ready."

Even if you know exactly what you want to do from the start, there often comes a point in your career, where it’s time to re-evaluate. Things change. You change. Say you chose law, and suddenly you’re 35 years old with an expensive degree and a big career and you realize you don’t want to do it. How do you screw up the courage to leave the safety and security of the subject you’ve mastered, and start something new?

Today’s guest has some advice. Robin Arzon is in charge of fitness programming for Peloton. She's a master at inspiration; it's her business. Even as she bikes or runs alongside the people in her classes, she encourages them to push a little harder.

To hear Robin today, you might think she was always an athlete. That would be wrong. In fact, she didn’t go for her first run until she was in her 20s. As a kid, Robin was absolutely passionate...about the law. So much that she became a lawyer.

But eight years into her career at a large firm, right around the time that a lot of people go for partner, Robin decided it was time to go for something else. She left law for a career in fitness.

Robin’s career story mirrors her approach to competition. Her dramatic shift looks like a big win in hindsight. And it is! She’s having an incredible run at Peloton. But just as when training for a marathon, Robin prepared for her shift. She trained for it! She decided when to hang back and say no to a mediocre opportunity, and when to go all out. And most important, she told herself every day that of course she could do it. She knows you can, too.

You can listen to the episode here, and then please join us on LinkedIn to discuss it using the hashtag #HelloMonday.

Here are some highlights….

On figuring out what you want to do: "intellectual folks often find that it's simple to just dig in. But that doesn't mean that [the work is] actually aligning with our values, with our goals, and with the happiness quotient."

On beginning to think of herself as an athlete: " I had to really recreate myself and start to write a different story once I realized that I was curious about what this running thing was."

On leaving a predictable career path: "I bet on myself, and I, and I still believe that I'm my greatest investment."

On figuring out how to turn her fitness love into a career: "I wanted to somehow marry the business acumen that I had acquired as a lawyer with something that was forward-thinking and modern, marrying technology and entertainment. And I wanted to insert myself in that story, not telling other people's stories, but telling my own."

On how to tell if you're on the right career path: "it's just a quarterly, seasonal gut check: what am I doing? Where am I going? Have I been uncomfortable enough recently? And if the answer is no, I'm not on the right path."

On moving forward: "In every area of our lives, we're doing this delicate dance between tension and resistance that often creates momentum, and release from that tension so we can actually get things done."

On building resiliency: "Willpower is a muscle. I believe that resiliency is like a muscle. The more that we visit those opportunities, the greater prepared we are for the next one."

?? Office Hours: Vacation

We're skipping office hours this week because I'm taking a vacation. I'll be logging off the internet and digging into a pile of books that many of you helped recommend. We'll resume our Wednesday afternoon live chats on August 12. In the meantime, drop us a line with thoughts on Robin's episode or ideas for future episodes at [email protected].