Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais - Movement Maker David Yeung on Green Monday

Episode Date: July 28, 2016

David Yeung is a noted environmental advocate and founder of Green Monday, an innovative social venture that takes on on climate change, food insecurity, health issues and animal welfare with a diverse platform that shifts individuals, communities, and corporations towards sustainable, healthy, and mindful living. In This Episode: -Learning the cost of success from his father at an early age -Figuring out things on his own during childhood -Why he believes in always finding a way to give back to others -What inspired him to create the Green Monday movement -The impact an animal diet has on the environment -Why failure is no longer part of his vocabulary -His ideal mindset and where mindfulness comes into play -How he approaches his mindfulness training -Living mindfully vs. training mindfully -Focusing on the present moment -Channeling business for good -Challenging others to take one action -The success of Green Monday and his vision for the future_________________Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMasteryGet exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindsetFollow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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the Mindset Project. And hopefully this is going to be fun for everybody. And it's going to be that education meets entertainment piece where Nicole Davis and Ariana Kukors and Trevor Baru, who's curating Finding Mastery on the back end for us. Ariana and Nicole are both Olympians. They're no longer competing and they're on a mission. They're to learn from the best in Rio. And Nicole and Trevor are going to film and interview and work to understand from their friends who are down there, you know, how do they think and how do they explore? I'm sorry. How can we decode better from those that are in the arena in the Olympics now, how they've

trained their mind and how they think about performing and competing on the world stage. So if you want to be part of this and you've got some questions that you'd always want to ask some of the world's best, hit us up on social. Hit me up at Michael Gervais. Hit up Ariana and Nicole. You can find them very simply. And I'll give it to you now. Nicole Davis. No, it's Nicole M. Davis 6 and or Ariana Cukors. And Cukors is K-U-K-O-R-S. All right. So when you do it, hashtag the mindset project. Make sure that we can follow along. And it's no more complicated than saying, you know, I'd love to ask fill in, fill in the blank athlete, how they compete on the world stage or how they think about developing confidence or whatever

your question might be. So we'd love to play with you on this. Let's have a good time with it. And, um, yeah. So hashtag the mindset project. Finding master is brought to you by LinkedIn sales solutions in any high-performing environment that I've been part of, from elite teams to executive boardrooms, one thing holds true. Meaningful relationships are at the center of sustained success. And building those relationships,

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foods. And when I'm traveling or in between meals on a demanding day, certainly I need something quick that will support the way that I feel and think and perform. And that's why I've been leaning on David protein bars. And so has the team here at Finding Mastery. In fact, our GM, Stuart, he loves them so much. I just want to kind of quickly put them on the spot. Stuart, I know you're listening. I think you might be the reason that we're running out of these bars so quickly. They're incredible, Mike. I love them. One a day, one a day. What do you mean one a day? There's way more than that happening here. Don't tell.

Okay. All right. Look, they're incredibly simple. They're effective. 28 grams of protein, just 150 calories and zero grams of sugar. It's rare to find something that fits so conveniently into a performance-based lifestyle and actually tastes good. Dr. Peter Attia, someone who's been on the show, it's a great episode by the way, is also their chief science officer. So I know they've done their due diligence in that category. My favorite flavor right now is the chocolate chip cookie dough.

And a few of our teammates here at Finding Mastery have been loving the fudge brownie and peanut butter. I know, Stuart, you're still listening here. So getting enough protein matters. And that can't be understated, not just for strength, but for energy and focus, recovery, for longevity. And I love that David is making that easier. So if you're trying

to hit your daily protein goals with something seamless, I'd love for you to go check them out, get a free variety pack, a $25 value and 10% off for life. When you head to davidprotein.com slash finding mastery. That's David D A V I D proteinT-E-I-N.com slash finding mastery. Okay. That being said, this conversation, I hope you enjoy this. It's from a founder of a company that's flat out created an international movement. And he's designed this to make a positive impact on the world. He describes his organization as a Swiss army knife

for social good. And, you know, with that, you know, how can we include, um, a for-profit, a non-for-profit, a social movement. And he's also incorporated a venture fund. I mean, he's just on it. He's, he's thinking about, uh, a systemic approach to help globally for good. And so there's a thread that runs through so many people on these conversations, these podcasts, and it's humility and just a fascination to go the distance. And he's got both, both humility and that discipline to go the distance. I think you're going to love how he captures early life and the influence of his family and his mission on his approach now. And his father was the founder of Tommy Bahama. And without ever mentioning his name in this conversation, it was apparent the respect he

has for his father and what he's built and how challenging it is to build something as well. And how important it is to just give. And I just love this conversation. If you're interested in moving ideas out of your own head and into the world, whether that's business or artistic expressions, I think you're going to find rich value on how he talks about failure and setbacks and obstacles. So the concept here that we're working from that he's created is called green Monday. And it's about making a commitment to plant-based diet on Mondays. It's super simple.

I'm taking a stab at it. I'm taking a run at this. And I'd love to encourage you to do the same with your family, your friends within your organization. It's not easy. It's not easy to remember on a given day to go plant-based. So stay with it, put a little ping and reminder in your phone and get people along in your community to help you with it. And he talks about why it's important for our planet and for our health. And so that's it. And at the end of this conversation, if you're wanting to make that same commitment, let's do it together. Like, let's figure out, let's just hashtag this on social and have fun with it. Finding Mastery, hashtag, and then maybe, you know, Green Monday, hashtag, or hashtag Green Monday. Okay, so let's play with it.

Let's have fun. And I'm looking forward to hearing from you. And with that, let's jump right into this conversation with David. David. Hi. All right. So I'm looking forward. This is going to be a treat.

And what you've been able to conceptualize and then bring to life and then scale across the globe is that framework I want to understand. And the ability to have ideas and then to figure out the strategy to water those ideas, to create scale and impact across the world, I think is a really important concept. And as I'm saying this out loud, I know that we had a conversation about, you know, like there's a friend of mine that says, what makes you think that you and people that you know can actually change the world or help the world or help another person even. And so I'll want to talk about that with you. But before we get started, where did your interest, like go,

go back and give us a bit of context of what early formative years looked like and felt like for you? Well, Mike, first of all, great to be here. Well, go way back, just my early days. I'm from a Buddhist family. My father is a big mindful and Buddhist practitioner. And he was really just into whenever, like he had a great career and he was really into helping people. Well, he had more than a great career.

He actually had a brilliant, just amazing career. But he always extract more satisfaction and just more joy in reaching out to people more than from his business. And I have been kind of surrounding him. I was surrounding him for such a long time. And that kind of planted the seed for a lot of things that I'm doing. So whatever I do and whatever type of maybe success that we have, I always attribute that to the roots. So if you ask me to go way back, the first person or the first thing I would mention is my father. And what age are you thinking right now when you're thinking about those formative years with your dad? Well, I mean, that's from mid to late teens or mid-20s.

I mean, of course, I can go really back to my childhood, but, um, but I would say after adult, you know, after turning adult and, um, start to really watch him, observe him, um, you know, from the side and seeing how he did well in business, but he somehow always spend more energy and time in helping people and distributing the wealth that he made. And at that point, it was a little perplexing to me why he was doing all that when he could have been enjoying life and buying whatever he wanted to buy, but he wasn't doing that. For people who don't know what your dad did and what he built, can you bring us through that? I mean, he was a very successful entrepreneur, both in apparel business and later in real estate business. And he originally from Hong Kong, and he came to the U.S. in mid-80s and lived in the U.S., in New York in particular, for 25 years before he passed away.

So he spent a good amount of his time in the US. And for some ways from overseas, whichever country that is from, and you come to a new country, a whole new culture. And he wasn't very good in English at all. I mean, so it was a new language for him as well. And for him to overcome all those odds and, you know, became who he was, it was just unbelievable. It was actually quite, he really was a legend in that sense. But he was even more legendary after, you know, it's not just the career, but after what he accomplished, you know, with the wealth that he made. Were you born here in America or were you born overseas I was born in Hong Kong and I came to the US in 92 and how old were you that was when I was 16 16 and you was your dad already here he was already here he had

been working here for eight or nine years when I moved here okay so dad left the family structure when you were about eight? Yeah, something like that. Yeah. Okay. So then from zero to eight, was dad involved on a day-to-day basis? He was still traveling quite intensively back then. I mean, early stage of his career. And I don't know, I guess that's something that maybe I inherit from him too, which is the traveling. I mean, even when I was very young, like a zero to eight, he was traveling in to the Philippines, to Indonesia. That was the days with apparel and garment. And we were doing opening manufacturing plants and factories around different parts of Asia. Again, with the whole, you know, growing

economy around the world and globalization, that was kind of the beginning, the early stage of globalization, where people start to outsource things internationally. And of course, from a cost standpoint, it was cheaper in Asia compared to, for example, in the US. So he was already traveling a lot when I was a kid. Okay. I had the same experience. My dad traveled a lot when I was younger. And I'm curious, okay, if there's people and events that influence or alter our understanding of how we work and the world works. At a young age, when dad was ripping across the globe, trying to build something, and

you're just a little guy trying to figure it out. What, what, what were the thoughts that you had? Like it could go something like, um, I'm not important enough because business is more important to dad. That would create some challenges with self-esteem and value and worth and all that stuff. And you could flip it the exact opposite way, which is, you know, dad's trying to do good for the world. I want to do good for the world too. And maybe it's somewhere in the middle. And I'm wondering if you could go back to that point and try to capture either between eight, zero to eight and eight to 16, maybe 16 to 22 in those three phases of your life.

Well, I guess zero to eight. I mean, I was just too young to think about those questions, right? So I guess the only thing that I had in my mind was just how come dad couldn't be around for us to just hang out more, maybe watch ballgame or have fun, basically. So that was the I started to realize just a little bit that the reason why we had a decent likelihood and environment was because dad was working very hard. The traveling, of course, is not fun. For you or for him?

Well, both, actually. For him, it's not the most fun thing. And for us, obviously, we missed him. So it started to have the concept of a sacrifice, right? Which is you need to work that hard and sacrifice for family and also just for building his career. I came to the States and I lived with him. That was in Jersey, New York and New Jersey. And then I really got to watch him up close and personal. And then you realize, well, despite the glory and the success that came with his work, I mean, behind the scene, it's not easy. And actually, obviously, behind the scene of any successful people, it's never easy. You experience, you know, your ups and downs with work and also your personal situation, including, you know, loneliness and sacrifice away from family, things like that. So, And I personally was going through that too

because when you have to move from, I was moving from Hong Kong to the US, so all new environment, got to meet new friends, adjust to the new culture. So when I was going through that, then I started to think, oh, he went through this eight, nine years ago and he didn't even have the advantage that I had,

which was at least I know the language, nine years ago. And he didn't even have the advantage that I had, which was, at least I know the language. And he didn't. He had to learn the language when he came like back in the mid or early 80s. So that was when I started to put myself in his shoes. How'd you learn how to do that? The part about putting myself in his shoes? Yep. Because there's a lot of compassion to be able to do that. Well, first of all, okay, when you have to go through that journey yourself, then naturally you start to think, who has done that before that I can... And that journey is to go to a new place. Yeah.

To go explore and to not have a lay of the land of where you're going. You're going from a comfort zone to a complete novel, totally discomfort zone, right? So then naturally, you would look for people who have done it. Okay, let's stop there for a minute. What did mom do to teach you how to do that?

So now we've gone to like what and why. So dad left to go build, to create, and he did. And he figured that out. It's not lost on anyone probably listening, and me included right now, that you're doing the same thing. Yes. And so how did mom structure the family and the messages where you could value going into something that has discomfort, to look for models, to have compassion?

What did mom do where you weren't like a disaster as a kid? Well, I mean, well, first of all, before I came, mom was the person who was taking care of the family. How many kids? I'm the eldest of three. So I have a younger brother and younger sister. So she was taking very good care of us. And despite the fact that she also had to endure, you know, her loneliness and of course, the sacrifice of not having her husband with her all the time. But then actually when I decide, you know, when I was making the decision that, hey, I decide to move to the U.S. as well to do my last two years of high school in the U. That was my decision. And my mom actually didn't

help me with that at all. She was like, so you are now leaving home? You're leaving us? You know, she was putting a lot of blame on me. Here's number two leaving. Exactly. You're right. That's pretty much what she said. Did you get this message when dad was away that you're the man of the house? A little bit. got that a little bit and i was i was not i was not equipped for that i mean i i understand why they said that my parents like it was like okay you're the man of the house you know but i was not equipped as a seven-year-old you're not supposed to right so i'm wondering if you had any parallels where you felt that you needed to grow up faster than you wanted to. Well, I think that in general, that applies to the eldest kid in the family.

You sort of assume that responsibility. But of course, especially because my dad was away for so long that it slowly just kind of become a part of me. That, you know, I tried to become the role model for, you know, my younger sister and brother. I tried to assume responsibility if my mom was not up to those tasks or try to share the load, whatever that was. So it became kind of, it wasn't like a spoken thing that, oh, you know, you got to do this. You know, this is your job now in the house. But naturally, I start to, I guess, you know, step into that role. Was there a thought or a practice or a belief that your mom installed as part of the family

unit that looking back now, you're thankful or grateful that you somehow learned? Well, I think both my mom and my dad, this one element that they always kind of instill in my mind very early, I forgot when, but one day you're going to be on your own. So you got to learn to live independently. You need to be on your own. So you got to learn to live, you know, independently. You need to be on your own. Don't be dependent. Like you can, of course, rely on people, but deep down, you got to learn how to do it on your own. So finally, you know, again, when I did make that

decision to, you know, to come to the States for my last two years of high school and then college and after, that was the moment when, you know, turning that thought into action and you really get into a whole discomfort zone of, you know, being away from home, being from, you know, mom's care. Now, my dad obviously was not anywhere close to taking care of me in terms of daily life, you know, daily things compared to being around my mom. So, but those first couple years, that was when I first understand that it wasn't easy when my dad was doing it. Because we were home, we were young, and we, you know, we only saw him when he came back, you know, once every two, three months. So you don't think from his standpoint, but then when I was away, I was spending so much time by myself. That was when

I realized that, hey, it's not easy. And of course I was already 16. So you are mature enough as a 16 year old to start to think, oh, you know, this is what people need to go through in life. Maybe in different phases, but you need to learn, you know, how to, you know, adjust to a new surrounding, how to become, you know, the word resilience probably is the first time that came into my life. And, but that also, of course, that turned out also to be the best thing that happened to me because, you know, I was away from home. No one was taking care of me per se. Of course, my dad was around, but not the same type of taking care.

So then you act, you think you act in a much more independent way, in a much more responsible way. You need to deal with your own consequences. If you do something that's fine, you now have the freedom to do things you want. You know, again, when your mom is around, your mom is going to tell you, don't do this, don't do that, don't go there. Do you remember the first time you figured that out?

That you could, like, curse? Or you could, like, do something, and there wasn't a parent watching? I threw a big party. Oh, there we go. Okay. Technically, I didn't throw it. my friend threw the party at my house oh so he figured it out before you i know he's like oh your dad is not home oh he's away for business why don't we hang out at your place

and and when he said it i thought it's like six or eight people it turned out to be more like 36 or like 50 i don't know i. I mean, that was crazy. What was it like growing up? And then we'll move past the young phases and get into what you've done from that launching pad. But what was it like to grow up in a home where dad was the center of global attention? And I don't know if you were aware that your family had wealth or if you had access to it, but what was that like? And I'm thinking about Generation 1, Generation 2. Are you familiar with that, the generations of wealth? And so are you G2? You can say so.

Or was your grandfather? No. No. So dad was self-made. Yes. And then you were Generation 2. You can count that, yeah. Yeah.

And then there's a particular profile around G2, Generation 2. And Generation 3 kind of squanders. Right? Right. Yeah. And then there's a particular profile around G2, generation two and generation three kind of squanders, right? Yeah. They have a hard time figuring out because they were not close to the, to the apple or no, they weren't close to the tree where the apple first fall from the tree. Okay. So you were generation two, you were close to the source and you were figuring out how to go for it. Okay. Was God bless it. I don't even know what my question was at this point. What did I just ask you? What do you want me to answer? I want to know what it was like growing up in a family where dad had global attention and you were somehow in the shadows. Well, I guess, he didn't have quote unquote global attention or he wasn't like the center of wherever he was at the beginning.

So we were growing with him. So it wasn't like from day one I was in the shadow. Cool thought. So there is a distinction there. When we were growing up, I guess two things. Number one, my dad was still going through kind of the early stage of his own career. And second was, I guess, because my grandfather, those time back in China, those were hard times. And I kept listening to stories about just how tough life was back in the 60s, for example, including the Cultural Revolution and things like that. Is there a thought that your grandfather instilled in you um well not directly um not directly but

indirectly through my dad absolutely yeah my dad was heavily influenced by his dad and i am influenced i guess directly and indirectly by both of them the reason i ask is because my grandfather was one of my great mentors. And that generation was rad. That generation was unbelievable, their commitment to core values. And so he installed a very specific thought. There was one story of my grandfather that will forever stick with me. And this is something I tell my daughters too now, even though they're still very young. And that is, like, back in, like, the 60s, those were, like, tough times.

And we, like, my family back then, they were a big family. It was tough to even find food, enough food to put on the table for the whole family. So there were times when everyone was basically suffering, starving, basically. And that included your dad? Including my dad, yes. And my dad was one of the younger kids in the family. So he, again, the bigger kids in the house, they were not the one who were taking care of the smaller kids. They were the one who grabbed the biggest bite and go. In sport, we look for the young kids, the youngest in the family

because we know something about them. They had to figure out how to be scrappy. Right. So in sport... It's about survival, sort of. Yeah. Okay, keep going.

Sorry. Yeah. But then there was this one time when a neighbor, and they were going through extreme hardship and they had no food at all. They knock at our house, my grandfather's house, and basically say, hey, can we have some food, right? I mean, we really have nothing to eat today or tonight. And on the table, there were, let's say, 10 people around the table.

It wasn't even enough for the 10 or for six anyway. But my grandfather still split half of the food and gave it to the neighbor. Now, at that moment, that story was told by my dad to me early, like when, I don't know when I was like five or six. At that time, I had no idea. But he just want us to know that this is the core value of our family. And even though... What is the value? Yes, which is even no matter how tough it is for us, if we have even the tiniest ability to do something for other people who are to launch what we're going to get to now, your life efforts, to be able to influence the world. Isn't that amazing that your influence is around food as well?

True. I never connect that. You're the first one who connect those thoughts. See, your hair is starting to stand up now, isn't it? We're just starting. This is making my grandparent proud. Yeah, we're just starting. So let's see where this goes in the next 30 minutes or so. Okay. Finding mastery is brought to you by momentous. When it comes to high performance, whether you're leading a team, raising a family,

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What's coming up for you right now? Well, you want to then jump to present day? Yeah, I want to. Fast forward? Well, yes. Not yet, though. Okay. Okay, because there's one more phase I want to try to understand.

So that's like the early formative years. The people that influenced you were mom, dad, and your grandparents, grandfather in particular in this story. And then I want to tell you a funny story. Can I tell you a funny story? And then we're going to get to some more difficult questions is that my grandfather, those same generation, I think, I think we're the same generation. And so my dad says, listen, we were poor. And he goes, Mike, you have no idea what a wish sandwich is. I said, a wish sandwich?

And he says, yeah, that's what I grew up on. We'd have two pieces of white bread and I wish I had some meat. So he says it like tongue in cheek, like harden up, son. Like you have no idea what it's like to have a wish sandwich. Because if I wanted to, you know, some meat in my sandwich, I could have it. And so I'm so grateful, though, for that future generation, those previous generations to be able to develop the ability to share perspective. Definitely. I mean, on that, like like similar story right when we i mean when we were having

dinner lunch or dinner at home and again this is when i was like maybe six years old seven years old and like one day for whatever reason i did not finish my bowl of rice um either i was you know i want to go out to play or i was too full. I had no idea. And I was never scold, like rarely scold by my parents at home. I was a pretty good kid in general, but they sat me down and like basically lecture me for half an hour for not finishing like the final one fifth of the bowl. Because again, like the wish sandwich idea is how they would explain just how tough it was to put that food on the table. And even at that point, obviously, we were not in poverty, clearly, but that concept and that value is still core. And we never, you know, that never leaves you.

So they made it very clear to me and and which becomes highly relevant to what i'm doing today so again if you start connecting the dots they do make a lot of sense yeah that's great okay so thank you for that uh wish sandwich uh that is equivalent to my bowl of rice not finishing i got yelled at for like half an hour okay all right so let's um let's let's jump ahead to now what you're doing. And then I'm going to want to go back again to understand some risk-taking parts of your life. Okay. So Green Monday. Yes. So you're the founder of Green Monday. And walk us through what it is, because

you've got my attention. When we first spoke and when I realized from a friend of ours who was sharing what you're doing, what it is that you're working to experience globally, you got my attention. So walk us through what it is and what you're trying to do. Sure. I guess I will still need to start with my personal experience. And that was 15 years ago. And I turned vegetarian in 2001. That was out of just personal reason, compassion for animals.

I didn't understand the standard or who drew the line between which type of animals we love and which types of animals we decide to slaughter and eat. For whatever reason, that question or that idea came to my mind. I suddenly became mindful that, hey, that chicken that I was eating is alive, right? And that beef that I was eating is alive. And if you give me the knife or give me, you know, whatever tool to kill that animal myself, I wouldn't do it. So why would I eat that meat? Why would it be okay if someone else does the killing, right? So I thought it would be hypocritical if I love some animals on one hand and then kill the other ones or eat the other ones. So that was my personal

reason. But very soon after that, I started to realize that food has a huge correlation to environment, to global sustainability, and to some of the biggest problems that our world is facing today, and that is climate change and global food insecurity. And actually, the third one would be our health concern, our health crisis in general. So technically, three of the biggest problems. The cost of agriculture in modern times is astounding in water, in actual resources, and the waste. Can you teach us on that a little bit? Because just as a quick background for me, I became a vegetarian in 1989. And I think I was like, I felt like I was early.

That was early. You're a beyond pioneer. No. Well, but there was lots of people for years, thousands of years before us. But there wasn't a Whole Foods. And so it was really hard to find. And so I became unhealthy. And even though I was educated and I was making good decisions, I became unhealthy because I didn't have great access or enough time to get the legumes and the beans and all the things that I needed to generate some protein.

So can you teach us about some of the cost you're this conversation um i'm becoming uh as we're talking like going jeez man i need to go back to some roots here about um consumption right so um i'm not happy about this right now because you know yeah you're a little guilty right yeah yeah and i want to talk about a zen story of um of flesh in a minute so sure yeah sure. Yeah. But I'll walk through just how food is related to the world, particularly how inefficient it is, a way to produce food. Well, first of all, United Nations said over 10 years ago

that climate change, of course, is from carbon footprints. And when we think about carbon footprints, we think about the energy sector, fossil fuel. We think about transportation industry. We never think about livestock. UN published a report, and I remember when I saw that, I'm like, no way. It says that the emission from livestock industry, meaning cattle, goats, pigs, all the livestock animals, they produce collectively more carbon, greenhouse gas than transportation. I thought that was a typo. It's like, did I

misread that? I mean, how could a cow be the same as a car? But as it turned out, the cow is way worse than a car in terms of emission because it doesn't just emit carbon dioxide. It also emits a type of gas called methane, which is 20, 30 times worse in greenhouse effect than CO2. Is this like a cow patty or is this when a cow dies? No, this is when the cow is just living daily. It's through their farting and through their burping that they emit this gas. You saying that is awesome. Well, it's not the most pleasant thing to say, but it's happening by minute, by second basis. And again, even that thought is funny, right? I mean, it's like, huh?

Sorry, that thought is creating greenhouse gas. I love it. I don't know if it's your accent or if it's like you say it, that cracks me up. But that concept itself is in an ironic way. It is funny, but at the same time, it's also, huh, really? And so that was the first thing that caught my attention. And then the second thing that I continued to drill deeper, and I realized that, wow, I mean, this is bad. And that is, again, animals, they consume a lot of food.

They consume feed and water in order to grow, right? You need to feed them before they are fed to us. And for the same piece of land that can feed, you know, a hundred people, if you simply grow plants or vegetables or fruits, you can feed only one-tenth or even one-twentieth the number of people if you grow animals, if you use the land to grow and to grow food to feed the animals and to raise the animals and then to be fed to us. So anytime when we are talking about water consumption, land use, food efficiency, food production efficiency, and greenhouse gas effects, meat is always at least 10 times, if not 20, 30 times worse than a plant-based diet. Okay, if I'm really mechanical right now, because you're stirring stuff up for me, how do you get enough protein in? How do we get enough protein? How do you? And how do you recommend others? Me personally.

Well, as a beacon for a vegetarian way of living. Well, actually, I mean, that's the first question that people ask is, oh, where do you get your protein? Plants have protein. Okay. Obviously all types of bean, peas, soy, nuts, vegetables. I mean, vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, they are rich in protein and they're rich in many other nutrition as well, calcium, you name it. And it's a much better source of nutrient than meat because with meat, besides the protein, you are also getting cholesterol. And nowadays with factory farming, you're also eating secondhand antibiotics basically because they are all fat antibiotics and all the type of chemical and hormones that are injected to these animals in just such an inhumane process. Have you ever heard a calf be taken from its mother? Oh, I mean that. I grew up on a farm. Yeah. Oh my goodness. You'll never forget that squeal. That is happening daily. Yeah. You'll never forget this. Yes. So I think there are plenty of information out there that can teach people how to eat healthily in a very balanced diet.

One rule of thumb basically is the rainbow diet. Do you know Rich Roll? Sorry? Do you know Rich Roll? No. A friend, colleague. I want to introduce you guys. He'll be fascinated to meet you and he's um he's making a incredible footprint in the space of um healthy living through a

vegetarian way of living yeah so and he's one of the he's one of the most fit men in the world and uh he's broken a lot of barriers on performance so i want to introduce you guys i think there'd be a real accelerant to what you're doing and there are a lot of athletes on performance. So I want to introduce you guys. I think there'd be a real accelerant to what you're doing. And there are a lot of athletes nowadays, um, who are vegan or vegetarian. Um, Djokovic is, is, uh, uh, is known. He just opened a vegan restaurant recently. Uh, Serena Williams is vegan. I think she turned, she turned vegan like four, five years ago. And since then she has won like four or six grand slams since she turned vegan and that was when she was like 27 or 28 so she's still well like extending the peak of her career where does fish fit into the the conversation for you um well usually when we talk about now personally actually

i'm not vegan uh it's very tough to be vegan in Asia because egg is still a very core part of the meal. I pretty much cut dairy entirely. But egg is the last thing in Asia that is a little bit difficult to cut. But usually we don't include seafood. When we talk about green or vegetarian, it's meatless. And of course, fish is still a type of meat. Is that for environmental reasons or is that for philosophical reasons? Me personally? Yes. Both, but I think in that case,

you can say it's maybe more philosophical. It's a life, right? So the damage or the footprint of seafood versus meat, of course, or particularly beef or lamb is much lower. So environmentally, I think it's not as damaging. Another way to put it is slightly more sustainable. Of course, there are also unsustainable practices, but we won't go there.

Okay, bring us into Green Monday. Yes. And I have been telling people those just despicable things with the meat industry and why we should cut down on meat for the longest time. And people always found it fascinating, but it doesn't stick in their mind. And it's hard to convince one person at a time. So finally, about four and a half, five years ago, another good friend of mine, he's a marathon runner. He's really into marathon. And he doesn't just do like New York or Boston marathon. He does Gobi Desert, North Pole. So he's hardcore. And he cut down on meat consumption. And the more he cut meats,

the faster he run, the better his numbers or his records. So one day, and he's an iconic social entrepreneur in Hong Kong. He has started numerous startups, but they are all social startups. Is he a friend? He's a good friend. Can you share his name? Francis Ngai. He's my co-founder. He's a fellow co-founder of Green Monday.

Beautiful. Francis Ngai. How do you spell his last name? N-G-A-I. N-G-A-I. Yes. Thank you. And so one day, we always brainstorm and discuss various ideas to use business to change the world. We believe that just traditional not-for-profit, although of course it's still very good, it doesn't entirely solve the problem. At the end of the day, one of the biggest force to change the world is still business. A lot of times it's for worse, but still some for the

better. So social business or social venture is the space that he and I became very much into. And finally, one discussion came to food. We were having lunch, as expected. And we came to this subject of, hey, David, he basically, he raised the question, David, well, forget about those different issues. He said, what about food? Is there something there that we can do? And that was the moment when I say, you know what, I have been wanting to do something about food? Is there something there that we can do? And that was the moment when I say,

you know what? I have been wanting to do something about food and use this as champion, a new way of eating for the longest time. Because throughout this time, I was encountering the question that you just asked earlier, which is, oh, how do you get your protein? And again, I became vegetarian in New York, but when I moved back to Hong Kong, that transition was difficult because a lot of those restaurants were just traditional vegetarian restaurants.

They were not healthy. Similar to when you were vegetarian like in 89 or early 90s. They were not healthy. So I noticed there's this huge discrepancy between, first of all, perception, and second is options available. Both the perception and options are not up to standard.

So finally, we say Green Monday, what we want to create is, number one, can we create a movement to get every, tell people what's wrong with the food system what's wrong with the way we eat what were you doing at this time in your life you'd already graduated from one of the top universities in the world right and so we didn't even talk about that that in of itself is like what some people you know so you've checked a lot of really amazing things that you've done but what were you doing if we go for all of that, this would go for like 10 hours.

Yeah, I know. Are you saying that you're full of accomplishments? I love that. So, okay. No. All right. There's so many questions. What were you doing at that time?

I started my first company when I was 23. Keep going. I love it. This is right out of college. This is like one and a half year after college, after graduating. 1999. That was, again, with the dot-com and the internet, you know, the bubble, right? And I graduated in 98.

So a year and a half after that, I started my first company. And by the way, and I failed my first company like two years after that in 2001. When you say fail, what does that mean? Did you lose a bunch of money? Did you lose time? Well, the company closed. We couldn't continue. I guess that's what I mean by failing. We got our angel funding. We were building up a team. We had 24, 25 people working on a great idea. We had venture. I had no idea back then. With a PowerPoint of like 15 pages,

I was pitching to some of the biggest VCs on Sand Hill Road. And they were committing. They loved the idea. And they were verbal conversation, verbal commitment to invest in us. But then the market started crashing. NASDAQ dropped from 5,000 to less than 1,000 in less than 12 months, I think. And, well, obviously, they end up using the money or the capital to save their own portfolio. And many even listed companies

died in that process. So we ran out of funding, basically. And that was my first experience of entrepreneurship. But that was also a beneficial one because all entrepreneurs or all people who accomplish anything, I think, in their life go through setbacks and failures. And that was my experience. You know, when you say those words, my antenna come up. How do you think about failure? And how do you think about setbacks and obstacles? And how do you, how can you, what are the processes that you've used to move through setbacks and obstacles?

So let's start with failure. What is your working definition of failure? Now failure actually is not really in my vocabulary today, because to me, it's just data. It's very valuable data that tells you, hey, this path is not working. Try another path. So as a matter of fact, it's a very useful and positive thing. But that's how I look at it today. But back then, of course, failure means you try to accomplish something. That's your goal. And you were not able to. And when you say that, I can see this data-driven conversation where it like mechanical. This is the information. Don't do that. But I don't feel that from you. It feels from the feeling that when we're talking about this is that

you've transcended this idea that it's mechanical information because you're using your head and your heart. And it's not that you're overwhelmed by your heart nor overwhelmed by your head. Does that seem accurate to you? Or is it more mechanical? Like it's just information? Okay, well, from an information, like a technical or mechanical standpoint, I guess that's the entry-level way to explain it to people. But I have gone through enough personal experience

of so-called failures. And each time at the beginning, it was tough. You know, of course, no one likes failure, right? But then like two months later, or two years later, or 10 years later, somehow that failure data, when you use that into the new thing that you start doing, or that I start doing. And I realized that, hey, that piece of data, once I fit into this new puzzle, hey, it helped me solve problems quicker. I become more experienced and it saves so much time. And now it becomes inherent to me that actually whatever so-called failure happens, it's just some data that I can use down the road. So I guess that brings it to more than just a mechanical level, but to a mental or spiritual level that I don't get frustrated as much.

Maybe just a little, like a tiny degree, but that's it. I mean, whenever it happens, I say, okay, then maybe it is telling me, it is a sign basically that, hey, this is not the path, try another one. This is not the right timing, try another time. It doesn't mean I am a failure. There is a major, now I'm, now, now I definitely know that failing, so-called failing at a thing and failing as a person, they're absolutely not the same thing. People usually tie those two together. Yeah, they do. Especially when one of the parents is really successful. I need to do something really extraordinary to match the extraordinary kind of process of my parents. And then I've also learned that people,

parents that haven't experienced global or national success in athletics in particular, is they parent their kids in sport way different than the parents who have had national or global success, is that they don't push as hard. So the parents that are out there screaming and hollering on the sidelines, like that proverbial image, most of them have not had uber success in sport and or business. Those that have, there's this deep and rich understanding that it takes a long time to get good at something. So keep playing, keep figuring it out. And it's just information, whether you strike out or not, it's just information. So then let's pivot.

How do you use the information when you've got an internal or external setback? How do I use that information? Now, for something to work, for a success to happen, first of all, I realized that it takes internal and external circumstances to align. Internal means personal or from a team standpoint, especially in sport, right? So it's not one person losing a game. It's the team losing a game. So internal, those things I count as internal. So things that we sort of can control, but there are external factors that we cannot control. Well, your opponents,

the weather of the day, timing, business cycle. They happen every seven years, six years, now maybe shorter, but you go through business cycles in every industry. Now, if we are going through a down cycle, even if you're a genius, you know, your companies may still be barely surviving. And if we're going through an up cycle, you can be a moron, but you come up with something really dumb. But hey, people will buy it because they just have money. Yeah. Yes. And we witness a lot of that. I mean,

so the first thing I realized was that, hey, the people who succeed do not necessarily mean they're genius. And genius and people who fail, oftentimes, they are also very brilliant. It's because of these internal and external factors. So when we talk about data processing, then I study engineering. I major in engineering. So when we talk about data processing, then I study engineering. I major in engineering. So when we talk about data processing, then I start to process internal data, personal, team, other things that we can control. Let's break those down. And then external ones, let's break those down.

So good. Yeah. That it's the same strategy that I, I don't know if I use it quite as linear as you did in the engineering model, but what are the things that you can control? What are the things that you can't? And then let's develop a plan according to both. And then let's over invest if there's such a phrase on the things that we can control and then figure out the capabilities that we need on those things that we can control. And let's be really concrete. You can control your thoughts, your behaviors, your responses, your emotions, maybe emotions. I think about harnessing them, not controlling them. And then develop the capabilities that you need, the skills, and then invest in those so that you can weather and adjust to the external things that don't go the way according to plan.

Right. And one of the things that we can control, people don't realize they can control, is your attitude, is your thought when something bad happens or when something good happens. What is your ideal mindset? What does that look or sound like in your head? Well, the ideal mindset is never to get too high or too low. You're at a very relatively stable

but obviously positive side of of the energy level you're on a not but not uber ultra high but just stable steady good a good level of comfort a quiet level of confidence that would be a good level of energy. For you? For me. Yeah, okay. And that feels like there's an on-ness for you. Not like an over-production on-ness, but like you're on, you're full. Yes. And something that we certainly share is, once I start to,

well, during that time, my first failure, this is back in 2001 of losing that startup, that was the time when I start to learn, um, and get into the subject of mindfulness and focus on the present, you know, be aware, focus on the present. If, you know, if you lose the business, okay, what can I do now? Um, and then I realized, Hey, the first thing I can do now is, well, there's no point of dreading, right? So let's make sure I don't waste that experience.

Play back. It's like watching a ballgame. Let's play back the whole game again. What did I do wrong? Even though I always blame it on the crash, market did not do well. It was the bubble burst. I mean, you tend to tell people that it's not your fault. But of course, internally, there were things that we were just so, we were really green, we were immature.

And there were a lot of execution mistakes that happened along the way. And so I didn't just sweep it down the floor or under the carpet. And that's it. I actually do, basically it's like a playback and say, hey, actually I could have made that, I could have made a better decision on that. And slowly I developed that habit of, again, living in the present. And even if it is during a so-called failure, process that failure, make sure you maximize the learning from that. And if you maximize the learning, then actually it's not failure. Finding Mastery is brought to you by Cozy Earth. Over the years, I've learned that recovery doesn't just happen when we sleep. It starts with how we transition and wind down. And that's why I've built intentional routines into the way that I

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I'd love for you to check them out. Head to calderalab.com slash finding mastery and use the code finding mastery at checkout for 20% off your first order. That caldera lab c-a-l-d-e-r-l-a-b.com slash finding mastery so how do you do is it literally like while you're driving you're doing an index of or is it do you sit down and map out on a wall controllables uncontrollables this is where i i made we made decisions this is where i missed the forecasting like do you do a cost some sort of linear model or is it like an introspective time where you sit with yourself and just entertain and observe i guess both i mean from a technical or as you use the word mechanical standpoint i actually i would sit down uh and like in front of either a board or a notebook right and seriously play that. It's almost like a game, like first quarter, second quarter, you know, that's on the technical side, but also on a more spiritual level,

then yes, I would sit down, you know, close my eyes and observe my emotion, observe my attitude or energy change and just say, hey, you know, do I have to take it that hard? And even if I take it that hard, would that help? You just closed your eyes when you're speaking? Yes. Where did you go? Sorry. Where did you go just now when you're closing your eyes? Well, I guess you start to get into that inner journey, right? It's that inner exploration process that somehow when you have to reflect, I mean, it's better to focus when you have your eyes closed. For you, is that how you do mindfulness training? Do you close your eyes? It helps.

It definitely helps. Now, of course, I practice mindfulness with eating, with walking, even with driving, but, um, but most of the time, the most efficient way is still the most effective way, sorry, is still sitting and with eyes closed. When I first was exposed to mindfulness, the person who was teaching it to me said, eyes open and, you know, sit. And I it was that's hard i found well it's hard period you know to do mindfulness training and um i think the better i get at it the harder it becomes and when i say better it's like i think that i understand it more because then what ends up happening is i realized that like i can barely string two breaths together so before when i

first started i was like oh i can this is you, this isn't that hard, but then as you get better at it somehow or become more exposed to it, it is really challenging. So I want to ask you, um, I, I asked my teacher, I said, well, when do we close our eyes? He says, when you've been doing this for 25 years and you haven't fallen asleep yet. So how do you stay sharp enough when you close your eyes to not move into a theta brainwave, which is an overly relaxed brainwave for that high focus, effortless focus, if you will, to be engaged? Well, of course, at the beginning, we all go through the process of trying too hard, using too much effort and say, okay, I have to focus, focus on my breath. I cannot let other thoughts get into my mind. My mind is supposed to be empty.

Am I doing it? Am I doing it now? Am I doing it? Yeah. Yes, exactly. Am I still doing it? This isn't it. This can't be it.

Yes. And then you also go through this. You have this expectation, which is, oh, they say this practice is so magical, right? So what's going to happen to me in 10 minutes? Am I going to fly? I want to tell you how my teacher got me involved. He said, listen, when you do this right, and he pauses and he goes, okay, so you're a young man. I think I was like 21.

He says, this is like a full body orgasm. So as a 20-year-old, I said I was like 21. He says, this is like a full body orgasm. So as a 20 year old, I said, what is that? Oh, that's really interesting. Okay. So what do I do? It's not as a 20 year old, as any person, what is that? But again, people use all these kind of imagery or analogy of this just utopian state that they reach when they practice, right? And when you listen to so much of those stories, you start to have expectations. So we all go through that phase that, on one hand, you really assert effort in trying to be the perfect meditation or the practitioner. And on the other hand, you always wonder,

what's going to happen to me? If it doesn't happen today, when will it happen? Will it happen in like a week, a month? So I, of course, I went through those times. What does your practice look like now? Is it a sitting training? Most of it is sitting. Morning, afternoon?

Well, preferably morning. But sometimes it's just with work and everything. And I have two kids now. So, um, morning is kind of loud. That's an understatement. So, um, then I probably spend more time, uh, do it, uh, over the weekend and try to find quiet time. Do you ever have a thought that you've that, um, mindfulness is a training to be present and you're really present in most of your day or much of your day and living mindfully is, doesn't require as much training. Do you ever have that thought that, um, is that this is me thinking about how much time I spend now doing the mechanical train mindfulness training, as opposed to 20 years ago when I was sitting and doing a lot of breathing work. And I'm wondering if you've ever had some of those

thoughts. Well, I mean, of course, at the beginning, you go through those techniques that people teach you, right? So focus, breathing in, breathing out. How do you sit, you know, your neck, your back, everything. But of course, as time evolves, and you, once you sit, you really, you are supposed to relax, and there's no perfect way, like relaxing your mind, relaxing your body, not relaxes and just, you know, sitting and slouching in the couch, not that type of relax. But once now now um sitting down it it takes me like a few minutes depending on the day sometimes less time and just it's just let letting those thoughts just sink and have it's like water right stop stirring that water and start to just let the clarity come to the surface, it becomes, now it becomes relatively effortless. And actually, you cannot really assert effort to it anyway.

And if you, if these random thoughts come up, and of course they do, you just, you observe them. Oh, I start thinking about tonight's dinner. Oh, I start thinking about tonight's dinner. Oh, I start thinking about tomorrow's game. Then you just bring yourself back and say, okay, let's focus on the present again. And it becomes a relatively natural process. But by training that and by practicing that, you start to bring that practice to your regular life. So, you know, if someone comes in… This is what I'm trying to ask. Yes.

Like, am I being lazy? Yeah. And I don't know if you know the answer to this. I don't know. And I asked Jon Kabat-Zinn, a mutual friend of ours, and he says, no, I think that that's really an important question. Like, at what point do you start to bleed into living mindfully? And the formal, the structured training seems to tailor off. Hey, you can't get sloppy with it. So I'm just wondering on your journey, if you've reached any of the, not reached, but had some of these same questions about living mindfully and training mindfully? Well, I mean, at the beginning is, okay, you are mindful when

you're sitting and the moment you leave your seat, you start to get back to your normal mode, right? The chaotic, random stress way of life. But I think at some point, you know, the more you practice and when you are dealing with, again, let's say dealing with a decision, right? I mean, you really want to focus on thinking about a certain thing, something that you need to decide. But during that process, then you realize, how come I start thinking about all this random stuff again, right? That is when the practice starts to come in and they start to help you and say, all right, focus on the present. Okay. If this random thought comes up, just slowly, gently, just, you know, put them aside. You don't have to be mad at yourself. I mean,

there's nothing wrong with what, I mean, our brain is not trained to just think one thing only, right? So you just gently tell your mind, it's like, okay, well, you know, set that aside for now, come back to this thing that is very important that you need to deal with now. So that was, I cannot name one example, one case that I start to apply it, but then very soon you start to think and work and act in a more mindful way. I mean, even when you're, again, using food as an example, when you're eating, it's not like you're just looking at your phone, watching the score, the box score, and doing a million other things.

You start to say, oh, this chickpea is really fresh. Or this kale, you know, well, this chickpea is really fresh or this kale. Well, I'm thankful for this meal. We worked so hard and you're at the table and this food is something to be grateful for. And that transition, it kind of at some point happened naturally. But once you transition into that mode it feels really good it feels really good because like i listened to one of like your um obviously many of your talks but one of the talk is you know you don't there's no big moment in sport you know it's just focused

on this moment this moment is the big moment and just cannot put it in a better way. I mean, forget about the game on Sunday. Like, let's say today is a Tuesday, let's say, and the game is coming up on Sunday. It's a big game. No, just focus on now. You're at the practice facility focus. And that makes so much sense. And again, in business or in whatever arena we're in, we are in our type of sport, right? Business is a sport. Obviously, it's a competitive field. So start to apply that.

And it does wonders. I love it. And when you think about where you're taking your business, can you talk about some of the ambitions that you have for Green Monday? I think business is a force. Business innately is good. It is a place where people can fully exhibit and display their creativity, their innovation, their drive, their motivation, teamwork. Innately, it is a good thing. But the key, of course, is what do you do with all of those energy? What do you do with that force? Do you use it for good or do you use it for bad? Now, unfortunately, when push comes to shove,

when bottom line is involved, when quarterly results or earnings report or investor press conference is involved, then we start, you know, at those junctures, then business start to tilt towards the number, the numbers rather than the value. So we say, hey, you know, well, Green Monday is a social venture, is a social venture group. And let's still cultivate all the positive things about business, but channel them for good. Channel them for good. And this good is not just one dimension. It's actually 360, meaning social good, environmental good, people good. And this good is not just one dimension. It's actually 360, meaning social good, environmental good, people good. And not just good today, but good for 10 years later,

or even 100 years or 1,000 years later, because we're talking about sustainability. So that is how we look at it. In a sense, Green Monday is disruption to our attitude or habit towards food. But it is also disruption to what we think about green and the way we think about green and sustainability. And it is definitely a disruption to business, the way we conduct business. And what you've done is you've taken something that is doable for millions, which is to invest in one action on Monday. That's at least how I've understood it. Correct. And so if you make one action on Monday that is related to sustainability or green, whether it's in food or whatever sustainable practice that you might have, that that would be a day to attribute your decisions and your actions according to sustainability.

And do I have it close to right? That is pretty much what it is. And so more specifically, what are you asking people to do on Monday? And then share, if you would, share the big vision about how for-profit can feed nonprofit and there's a movement that you're working on. Right. Now, the action is designed to be simple, so simple that 7 billion people, there isn't one who cannot participate, and that is simply choose a plant-based diet over a meat diet one day a week, or if not, even one meal a week.

Okay. So you're starting with one meal on Monday or one day? Well, we say one day, but of course to some people that one day is still too much, then that's okay. We can further break it down to even smaller baby steps. Let's not lose that some people, they only get one meal a day. True. Yes. And that would, you know, the global perspective of the condition of the world is, I feel so grateful to be able to muse about concepts and ideas about wellness and, you know, but there's a real... There are 1 billion people today who are suffering from hunger, from famine.

Is that 1 billion? 1 billion. One-seventh of our population? Yes. One-seventh of our population do not have enough food. And 1.5 billion people do not have access to clean water. And that number, the water one, is going to rise to 3 billion people not having access to clean water in 15 years. Jeez.

Okay. So the action, the doable action is commit Monday to a plant-based diet. I love it. And you're using really good science for habit development is you're putting something on schedule and you're allowing it to not allowing it, but you're creating an action that is doable and that is 100% under their control. Okay. And then you're collect, uh, connecting them to other people that are doing the same. Okay. So if I make that commitment and I say, I love this. And I really want to challenge people listening right now to go for this. And I'd love if you can guide me in some kind of way or us.

I'm going to do this at home with my family. And can you connect us or me to people or create a pocket of like love where the finding mastery folks are going to do the same thing? Like, is there a way to connect us properly? Absolutely. Um, well, first of all, food by definition is a social activity. We eat with our friends, we eat with our family, with our coworkers. So that is how, that's the entry we go in. On one hand, we are approaching individuals, but on the other hand, we go to organizations, companies, schools, and influence the person. Now, sometimes the decision can be on the individuals, but there's another way to do

it, and that is pre-determining the choices before the process, before the action actually happens. The best analogy I like to make is, let's say there are 50 people in the room, and you and I need to decide, you know, need to order food for the 50 people. Now, if we just randomly, without being mindful, we would choose, you know, pepperoni pizza, sweet and sour pork, you know, whatever, we'll order all these dishes. Now, the way to go Green Monday as a group is, let's say the two of us, we make decision for the group, we'll order all these dishes. Now, the way to go Green Monday as a group is, let's say the two of us, we make decision for the group. We simply choose half of the food we order to be

plant-based and half to still be meat or seafood. The line doesn't need to be, okay, if our goal is to reach 50%, let's say, right? There are two ways to do it. And people always think, oh, if we need to change the diet, so let's make 50% of the people vegan. So out of 100 people, let's make 50 people vegan, convert them. Actually, my answer is no. Well, that is one way, but that's not going to be the most effective way. I can barely convert five out of 100,

or maybe even two out of 100 is difficult. The other way is let's convert 100 people, but change the ratio of what they eat. If we change these 100 people from 100-0, 100-meat, 0-green, or 90-meat, 10-green, shift to 50-50 for everyone by determining the choice ahead of time. So that, in terms of connecting people, right, that's how we go into, now we're in so many global companies. We're in 300 universities around the world. Green Monday is in 300. The movement, yes.

And we're growing exponentially. We're in 10 countries right now. And the idea is just exactly what we said is influencing, you know, the Mike and David, the people who influence the decision for the rest, and not a zero or one. It's not a black or white. It can be somewhere in between. And if everyone implement that example of shifting half, or at a dining table at home, right? Let's say we have four dishes or six dishes. Again, it doesn't need to be entirely green or plant-based. Half meat, half green on Monday, and then also on the other days.

Then in essence, you are changing more than one-seventh. You're actually changing half. But without people needing to complain about, you know, people needing to protest or any backlash against people. That's why we don't use terms like, we actually, we, in our campaign, we don't use terms like meatless or vegan. Because vegan or meatless, these are two, like just two straight. There's no in between. It's just, it's either do or don't. We don't use those terms. Green Monday is about creating common ground where connecting people, a lot of people can share this and do this together. Is there somewhere that somebody could go? Like, let's say that I'm not running a company, but my family's going to do this,

or my five friends and I are going to do this. Is there somewhere people can go to learn more and or to be part of the social connectivity? Well, there can go. There are obviously different tiers, right? They can obviously come to our website, and there's a lot of information on the website. Make a pledge.

I mean, that's something that they can take action right away. It's greenmonday.org. That's the website. Greenmonday.org. And if they make a pledge, what does that money do? What does it do or where does it go? On a weekly basis, they receive reminders, newsletters, guidance from us. It could be recipe. It could be information. It could be infographic. Just that weekly ritual. Start to build that weekly ritual with them, along with them. That's the information way.

And physically, right? Now, we started this movement and this whole social venture in Hong Kong. And we now are in thousands of restaurants. And these are regular restaurants, not vegan or vegetarian restaurants. These are just regular restaurants, but they have green menu. They have Green Monday choices. And these choices are not just available on Monday. These are available five or seven days a week, depending on how many days they are open. And instead of seeing a V,

like a V stands for vegan food or vegetarian food, they start to see this Green Monday, our three leaf logo. Now there's a huge, and I'm talking to a psychologist. So there's a big difference when they associate that logo and they choose that vegetarian dish, it's because they are fulfilling a mission. Rather than, oh, today I need to go vegan. It's very different. I mean, the V only, it used to be just a description of the food, right? It means no meat, right? It's meatless. And if you are not a vegan, you will skip. You will automatically skip the Vs, just like I would automatically skip the meat, because I don't belong to that camp. They don't belong to my camps. With our movement and this symbol, it becomes something that everyone

can and should join in, and they feel accomplished. Like when they order that, oh, that Green Monday choice, all of a sudden they say, wow, I'm doing something for the planet. And of course, doing something for themselves as well from a health standpoint. And they feel accomplished. Those are the success that we cultivate in each individual. And in the case of Hong Kong, we just did a survey, actually, besides the thousands of restaurants that now enhance their plant-based menu within their restaurant. Even McDonald's actually now have more plant-based choices because of us. I'm like the first vegetarian spokesperson ever for McDonald's. And I appear on their commercials to talk about the new like healthy

food uh menu i'm is unprecedented even i find it amusing uh when those ad came out i appear on multiple different types of um you know uh interviews commercials advertising but the most ironic and funny one is actually is McDonald's yeah so McDonald's the the let me be careful of what I say here the hamburgers that you know let me just stop talking okay that is funny that you're speaking on the other side is the most and we are able to get into I mean there's this hot pot restaurant hot pot chain and in Chinese tradition hot pot usually they eat a lot of beef. It's like endless, you know, one plate after another. And they start to implement a Green

Monday package or Green Monday menu so that like of the meal that you eat, half would still be meats, but the other half would be mushroom, tofu, corn, fresh vegetables, even some of the more hipper type of veggie like kale. So how are you funded? How's the nonprofit funded? The nonprofit, we go to, again, either family office, philanthropists, or charity, grant givers. And now after four years, we're fortunate and we're happy to say that, proud to say that we are now funded by some of the most respected names in our city. And we are growing internationally and we're talking to global top tier, again, philanthropists or charity organizations for support in this. And they are amazed by the impact. These are very tangible impact that they

can see. And once you convert, we can translate, let's say the number of people who go Green Monday into how much carbon we are saving, how much water we are saving. Now, in four short years, right now in Hong Kong, Hong Kong is a city of 7 million population. Now, 23% of Hong Kong population are now practicing at least one plan-based day per week, at least one. That's 23% of a city of 7 million people. And of those 23%, to be exact, I think 12 is one day, eight would be half the time, and 3% are full-time, vegetarian or vegan. So add those up, it would be 23. That translates to 1 million tons of CO2, which is equivalent to 40 million trees that would require to offset that 1 million tons. And that's per year? Per year, annual.

And it also translates to 300 million lives saved. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay. Jeez, that was important too. How many trees did you say? 40 million trees. 40 million trees a year. People that are choosing Green Monday,

based on your idea and the movement package that you've created, you're saving 40 million trees a year. Yes. And then how many lives? 300 million animal lives. That's rad. That is just in the city of Hong Kong. We haven't started counting.

What's that feel like to say out loud? It feels surreal. I city of Hong Kong. We haven't started counting. What's that feel like to say out loud? It feels surreal. I can't believe it. You're smiling and grabbing your head. Where do you feel it in your body when you talk about saving that many lives? I feel humbled. I feel humbled because to be… Where in your body do you feel it?

I guess the whole body. It's surreal to think, as much as we plan and calculate how to create a message, how to build a movement, how to build partnership with all these restaurants and schools and companies, but to see them actually become reality, nowadays, people are talking Green Monday just like a lifestyle. If you don't go green on

Monday, you are not cool. Like, and like people would talk to people and say, Oh, you know what? Um, have you, have you, have you heard of that? You know, movement? Have you, you, do you know that we're saving this much water and, you know, and kids, the best part is when kids educate their parents. Like they do Green Monday at school and then they go home and say, you know, mom, I don't want to eat beef or I don't want to eat meat at home on Monday. And those were, that put, you know, that just, you know, put, it's just, I don't know how to describe that feeling. When we talk about helping others, we talk about support, then challenge. And as a coaching model, if you will, support, then challenge. So if you could challenge people that

are listening right now in a proper way, how would you challenge people that are engaged in exploring and finding mastery? What would you challenge them right now to do? Challenge me, challenge us. On trying to adopt Green Monday, you mean? Yeah. I mean, what is there to lose? I mean, even if you cannot go all plant-based one day a week, then shift the ratio, as I said, right? Yeah, got it. Okay. Yeah. I mean, we basically create a situation that no one can say no to this because the worst is, hey, you know, and if someone say, even shifting the ratio is not good, they say, I still want my four dishes of meat.

Then I say, well, then let's cut down on the high impact meats. Red meat is the most, is the highest impact. Then let's shift from red meat to white meat or seafood. But at the end of the day, we are still making change. Brilliant. Where can, I've got two more questions. I'm

mindful of time for your schedule. I want to know how you understand or articulate finding mastery. Is there a definition or what does that phrase mean to you? I'm sorry, not finding mastery, but mastery. How do you define it, think about it, articulate this concept of mastery? Personally or for other people? Yeah, just however you would talk about it. There's no bumpers on this question. I think it's just taking responsibility of your own thinking and behavior, that would be, I mean, the reason why we get into trouble is because we cannot master our thinking and behavior, right? So if we simply take full

consequence, be mindful, well, first is be mindful and then take responsibility of that consequence then just that process is a form of mastery to me love it where can we find out more about what you're doing and where can we find out like i know it's green monday and then so is and it's the website what about social media are you engaged in yes oh instagram facebook i mean so fine on instagram, I'm Green Monday David, and Facebook is simply David Young. And Green Monday, in Green Monday. Okay, so Facebook has two, Green Monday. Oh, yes, Facebook, that's Green Monday, our Facebook page, and my personal Facebook page. Last name is Young, it's Y-E-U-N-G.

And I guess I'll just quickly add one more point is that Green Monday movement is only half of the equation. The other half of the equation is business. We have a venture capital arm called Green Monday Ventures that invests in companies that come up with innovation in the plant-based food and beverage space to empower people to make that switch. And we also open a couple locations, and we're going to have a few more by the end of this year. A store called Green Common, which is a plant-based superstore that is an all-in-one restaurant, supermarket, and cooking studio that allow people to come shop, learn, eat in one place. It's the first of its kind in the world. What size are we talking about?

About 4,000 to 5,000 square feet for our flagship store. And where will that be? They are in Hong Kong right now. We will have at least four locations by the end of this year. And basically, it's like a green temple, a green eating temple. So whether you love to eat healthily and good for the environment, or simply you just enjoy the environment, the majority of the people who come, they're not vegan or vegetarian.

A lot of them are just normal people who come and enjoy great food and completely redefine. We help them redefine, empower them to redefine that experience or the misperception that they used to have. And that's why this all-in-one model is about changing culture and then empowering them with options. And those were the two things I mentioned earlier is, again, one, what people, what are the misperceptions that we need to change

and how to make it cool and hip and social for them to join this movement. And then the other part is from a business standpoint, we need to give people good choices, good tasting, appealing choices. Because otherwise, no matter how good the rationale is behind, I mean, we still love our food and no one is going to choose food that are tasteless, that are boring, right? I mean, we still need to give them great tasting and nourishing food. And that's what we do.

I love it. I'm wishing you the best success. I think that what you've done from concept to application and to create a movement is inspiring. And you've taken a shot at it. And to make the world a better place is no easy undertaking. So I'm wishing you the best success. I'm going to bring this home to my family. And I want to challenge people that are listening to be able to see if they can get their arms around making a commitment on Monday to go Green Monday and to make a plant-based decision around your diet on Mondays.

And then maybe Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. Exactly. We'll see where we take it. And that's what has happened to a lot of people. Yeah. And I want to encourage people to go to greenmonday.org. Yes. Okay.

And figure out a way to get connected. Maybe it's put some money at it. Maybe it's some social engagement, whatever it is. Or come to our social media page. Yes. Yeah, there you go. And then, you know, I'm going to start doing this. I want to post something on social media channels that we have about Green Monday.

I want to do it every Monday, you know, or maybe Sunday night. I don't know. So, yeah. So let's figure out on the back end on how I can help and, you know, stimulate those thoughts as well. Appreciate it. It's great to be here. Thank you for having me. My pleasure. So thank you. And those that are still listening, uh, you can find us at finding mastery.net and you can go over to iTunes and subscribe, and you can also hit us up on social at Michael Gervais on Instagram and Twitter. And you can also do, um, uh, Facebook finding mastery. And then, uh, we've got an

Instagram on finding mastery as well. So there's lots of ways to find us. I hope you find David and, uh, look forward to hearing about green Monday and the choices that you make, um, moving forward. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much for diving into another episode of Finding Mastery with us. Our team loves creating this podcast and sharing these conversations with you. We really appreciate you being part of this community. And if you're enjoying the show, the easiest no-cost way to support is to hit the subscribe or follow button wherever

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The door here at Finding Mastery is always open to those looking to explore the edges and the reaches of their potential so that they can help others do the same. So join our community, share your favorite episode with a friend and let us know how we can continue to show up for you. Lastly, as a quick reminder, information in this podcast and from any material on the Finding Mastery website and social channels is for information purposes only. If you're looking for meaningful support, which we all need, one of the best things you can do is to talk to a licensed professional. So seek assistance from your health care providers. Again, a sincere thank you for listening. Until next episode, be well,

think well, keep exploring.