Thanks for tuning into the GreenHero Podcast with your host, Rikard Björkdahl. Today’s guest is Yannis Kavounis, a marketer, health coach, and activist.  Yannis has spent his career between New York and London advising some of the world's biggest corporations. His highest-paid career eventually led to struggles with stress, depression, IBS, and unhealthy eating. To turn his life around, he spent several years researching plant-based eating and mindfulness, slowly implementing his findings into his own life. The journey was transformational and completely changed his life for the better. Now, he uses his experience to help others as a health coach, supporting leaders at work and in life to realize long-lasting lifestyle changes.  It wasn’t an overnight change, Yannis points out. It was a gradual shift away from meat and processed products and a transition into bolstering his diet with plant-based products. That can be tough in a world of instant gratification, but putting goals into small, reachable moments can help give that boost to keep going towards your bigger perspective. By focusing only on the massive benefits–I want to lose XX pounds, I want to be 100% plant-based—it creates stress and more obstacles.  Failing is certainly part of the process, but just like any other fall, it isn’t the fall itself, it’s how you pick yourself back up. There comes a moment of self-realization where that failure becomes part of the progress. Yannis treats it almost as a game–when he fails, it turns into how he can approach the challenge differently.  Awareness and mindfulness are a big part of this journey. You have to be aware of the changes you’re making, how you’re implementing them, your goals, and your ‘why’. That reason can be buried deeper than the surface. Often, these shifts are rooted in a more emotion-based place. Repetition doesn’t create habit, emotion does. Accepting the emotions that come with each step of the way are part of what creates the change.  The way you track your progress impacts these moments as well. For some, it’s motivational to see the steps forward. For others, it’s a good reminder to push forward. Using an app like GreenHero helps keep the momentum going that can help make fundamental behavioral changes.  Things you’ll learn -Fundamental behavioral changes come from emotion. -Awareness and mindfulness are key aspects of any transition. -Failing is part of the journey through progress.  Links https://macro-wellness.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanniskavounis/