How Robin Arzón's New Empowerment Journal Got Me Unstuck

Maggie Ryan
·5 min read


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I define myself, at best, as a sporadic journal-er. I typically reach for my journal when I’m either joyful or devastated, usually (and unfortunately) relating to a relationship in first bloom or flaming out. As much as I’ve read about how journaling can help you manifest your goals, unpack your deepest thoughts, and understand yourself more deeply, I usually use mine as an emotional outlet. And while there’s nothing wrong with that (we all need a judgment-free zone to let loose, especially if your friends are tired of hearing about the same guy trouble over and over), I’ve always been interested in tapping into the side of journaling that can help me become more mindful, intentional, and closer to myself. Enter: Welcome, Hustler, a new empowerment journal from Robin Arzón.

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You’ve probably heard of Arzón from her work as a head instructor at Peloton, where she’s also the vice president of fitness marketing, or from her New York Times bestseller, Shut Up and Run. The mom of two is all about motivating us to reach our goals, but she had to start by motivating herself, which included walking away from a successful (but stressful and unfulfilling) career as a corporate litigator. As Arzón explains in the introduction to Welcome, Hustler, the realization and the motivation came from a daily journaling habit.

“I put pen to paper and started dreaming, listing, researching, committing, and ideating,” she writes. “I started plotting a new life for myself.” Eventually, the dreams she manifested became a reality.

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Welcome, Hustler is Arzón’s gift to help us do the same. The 208-page journal contains a mix of inspirational quotes (one of my favorites: “Clear the heaviness. Plant a seed of hope.”), prompts to get your pen moving, fill-in-the-blank sections, lists, playlists, and letters to write to yourself. While some guided journals focus on one goal — manifesting your dreams, developing gratitude, caring for yourself — Welcome, Hustler is a combination of all of those and more. There are self-care techniques, thought processes to help you deal with change, fear, and failure, moments for reflection, and tips for developing both grit and gratitude. “My goal for you is to light a fire within yourself that pours out,” Arzón writes. “This journal is a doorway. Will you walk through?”

With an invitation like that, I was excited to try the journal for myself. The first thing I did: Flip to the very end, where Arzón included a short appendix of featuring excerpts of her own journal entries. What does a journal entry look like when it actually works — that is, in this context, when it helps the writer achieve the goals they’re writing about? For Arzón, it started with a Notes app screenshot from 2011, when she began manifesting her current career through a series of bullets: “Things I love,” “Things I’m good at,” “What I want out of a job.” Simple, but clearly effective.

“Welcome, Hustler: An Empowerment Journal”

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That inspired me to dive into the first prompt in the book. “Willpower and resilience are muscles worth exercising. How will you give yours a workout today?” Whew. What a question to answer in the middle of a busy workday. As I wrote, I found myself opening up about everything that was stressing me out in that moment — not just work, but also an upcoming move, family plans, health worries (I might be a hypochondriac), and relationship drama (as always). How could I apply my willpower and resilience to… all of that?

Prompted to answer the question, I found that I could. There really was a path forward through all these anxieties and stressors, which had felt like permanent obstacles just five minutes earlier — all I had to do was move toward it. And in realizing that, I felt the weight of the day lift off me; I knew what I needed to do now, and it wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as I’d thought.

Filling out a few other entries in the journal, I had the same experience: an anxious feeling of “I don’t really want to think about this problem, but if Robin Arzón wants me to, I will,” followed by surprise, either that there was a way forward or at the clarity and insight I experienced.

Some prompts are strong and specific, helping you figure out who you want to be. “I am the CEO of my life,” one page says, followed by prompts to write a mission statement, define what you stand for, and specify what your most important daily tasks are. Others are more reflective and emotional, like, “Scar tissue is one of the strongest things your body can manufacture. Describe yours.” (Filling that one out had me feeling some things.)

There is no requirement to use the journal every day or go in order. Arzón journals daily, but she specifically tells readers not to turn the journal into a chore or feel obligated to work from beginning to end. “Jump around the pages and plug in to whatever feels like a ‘yes’ to you in any moment,” she writes in the introduction. “Give your mind what it needs — this will be different depending on the day.”

In other words, there’s no pressure to use this journal a certain way or become a certain kind of person by the time you’re done. It’s not an assignment but an invitation, much like the title suggests, welcoming you to find your hustle, no matter what it is.

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