This podcast episode focuses on the importance of guiding the next generation and instilling hope for a brighter future amidst challenges.

Zach shares his reflections on the struggles young people face today, including anxiety, depression, and a sense of hopelessness, attributing these issues to a lack of positive guidance from older generations.

He emphasizes the need to transform pain into power, encouraging listeners to view their hardships as opportunities for growth and connection rather than obstacles.

Through personal anecdotes and insights, he inspires individuals to recognize their potential to make a positive impact and to actively participate in upgrading the world around them.

The episode culminates in a call to action for listeners to share messages of hope and encouragement with those who might benefit from them, particularly the youth, who are seen as the future.

Takeaways:

• Zach emphasizes the importance of guiding the next generation towards a hopeful future.
• He believes that pain can be transformed into power to create positive change.
• The podcast encourages listeners to challenge the negative narratives surrounding the next generation.
• Zach suggests that we should actively participate in building a better world together.
• He highlights the need for conversations that help clarify what building the kingdom looks like.
• Zach stresses that achieving success should not come at the expense of others.

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/zkosturos/

What's up, guys? Zach Kosturos here. Welcome to another episode of the Operation Upgrade podcast.

This episode is actually going to be a little different because I don't have a guest with me this time.

I was on vacation with my family last week, and then we had the election, and so things were pretty crazy, pretty busy, and I just didn't have time to put that together. So I'm going to do something a little different, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to do a little intro here. That's what you're listening to.

And then I'm going to splice in a couple videos that I posted on my Instagram page over the last few days.

And I'm doing it because when I started Operation Upgrade, it was like, what's the theme of my life that I'm most passionate about that I think can hopefully help some other people?

And really what it came down to, as I thought about it and I chewed on it and I talked to people about it and I explored it, was I really just think that we don't spend enough time really thinking about, what are we here for? Why are we here?

And for me, I think the answer to that question, at least the way that I see it, is like, when God created us and he put us on the Earth, he invited us into something.

And I think the thing that he invited us into was to participate in upgrading the world, to participate in upgrading our own lives and the lives of the people around us, to participate in making the world a better place, to make it look more like the kingdom. There was a point, and maybe I'll do something with this someday, where I was going to call this conduit, but conduit with a K.

Our lives are supposed to be a conduit for God to build his kingdom through us on Earth today. And I don't know that we spend enough time talking about that.

And so what I wanted to do with Operation Upgrade is I wanted to explore what does that look like when people pursue that? And not out of obligation or requirement, but out of response, like we're pumped to go out and upgrade the world.

And then what do we do in scenarios where even in my business, in my line of work, what do we do in scenarios where it's not always clear what building the kingdom looks like? Right. I don't want to upgrade my life at the expense of someone else's life.

And yet there are times in business, there are times in everything in life where we're faced with a choice and the choice isn't always clear.

And then we need to be able to have conversations with people and bounce ideas off of each other to say, hey, do you think that we're doing this the right way? Do you think that everything we've set up has been set up in a way that actually the result of is that it looks more like the kingdom than what.

The guy I've been learning so much from lately, Jamie Winship, what he says is the Empire. And I love that analogy. The kingdom versus the Empire.

And so I'm getting back to the point of this episode, which is I've been thinking a lot about the Next Generation.

In many ways, I feel, and I've learned this as well over the years, that we're usually most or best equipped to help the person that we used to be or. Or the person that is who we are, but a few steps behind. And when I think about who is that? For me, it's that young, driven, competitive man, right?

Like that young guy who. He's an athlete and he wants to go out and he wants to.

He wants to battle, he wants to compete, he wants to push himself, he wants to achieve things, he wants to make an impact, right? That's who I was. And in many ways, I still am.

But I can remember being a high schooler and young in college, and it was like, man, I just wanted to make a mark. And then as I got older and I got into business, it was, hey, I want to build something and I want to succeed. Like, I don't want to fail.

And so I was learning all the time, trying to do the best I could. And then. And by God's grace, that's worked out pretty well in many ways.

But now I'm at this point where I'm going into, let's say, the second half of. Of my life, so to speak. And I'm thinking, okay, did I miss anything along the way?

I certainly have learned a lot of things, so that means I probably missed some things. And now it's more about how can I just take part in whatever God has for me to take part in that's going to help other people?

And so when I think about that, I think what I could do is I could share what I've learned along the way and what I'm learning as I go with people who were like me before.

So that doesn't mean that this is only for those people who are like me, but it means that those are probably the people who will primarily, it will resonate with the most. And As I thought about that, I thought, man, we have really, I think, let down the next generation in so many ways, right?

You hear about this next generation and it's suicide and depression and anxiety and worry and hopelessness and all these things. And I go, well, whose fault is that? And I think, well, it's our fault and it's our parents fault.

It's whoever it was who was leading the next generation. And so I wanted to put together some short videos and I think I'm going to keep doing this for a while.

So if you're not following me on Instagram and you're on there and you want to check them out, you can check out my profile. They're on there. It's under Z COSTUROS Z K O S T U R O S.

I want to keep talking to the next generation, at least for a while, because they are our future. They are the future. And I think that there's a bright future that's available to them.

But they need people like us to show them what it looks like, to help them see it, and then to help them figure out how do we create it, how do we build it, how do we, like I said earlier, be a conduit for that beautiful, amazing future. And I just don't think there's enough of that going on these days. And so anyway, what I'm going to do now, I'm going to transition.

Hey, and if you like, what I'm going to transition into, which is these two videos from my Instagram page, I'd love to have you check those out on Instagram and you can follow me there because I do post content that's a little bit different there than I do on the podcast or the YouTube channel where you might be consuming this. But I'd also like you, if it spoke to you, if anything in there resonated, share it with somebody.

Share it with somebody in that next generation that needs to hear a message of hope, a message of encouragement, because that's really what I hope for it to be. I would also love for you to like and share this podcast and those videos and anything else that you hear that might be helpful.

Because I really would like to encourage people around the world, wherever they might be, who God has prepared these kinds of messages for, to say we can upgrade our future. We can win the battle against entropy, at least in some way, shape or form. And there is a bright future out there.

There is an upgraded future, There is an upgraded life. And those are the kinds of people that I want to Spend more time talking to.

That's the kind of message that I want to spend more time getting out into the world. Because listen, there's no shortage of doom and gloom everywhere all the time.

And I think that the only way that our future looks like the past is if we just keep doing the things we've been doing. And if we want a better future, it's. And it's out there. But we have to be willing to do different things.

We have to be willing to think differently, learn differently, communicate with each other differently, see the future, see what we're trying to build and create differently.

And so anyway, I hope you enjoy what you'll hear after this and if you do, again, if you could like it, share it, subscribe, love to have some, subscribe some more subscribers and get the word out. And yeah, that's what I got for you this time. So I appreciate you watching or listening, however you're consuming this. And I'll see you next week.

Thanks.

What's up, guys? Hope you're doing well. Let's go on a little walk on my lunch break here. Thought I'd shoot something here real quick and share it.

It's the day after the election and it was a crazy night, right? But that's not what I want to talk about, really what I want to talk about. And I think I'm going to start doing more of these.

I really just want to start sharing the things that I've learned, the lessons I've learned in my life that have made the biggest impact allowed me to continually upgrade certain aspects of my life. And now I was thinking about, I don't really have at least that I know of any super original ideas.

I think I am where I am today, first, by God's grace, and second, because there's been people who have been willing to teach me what they know, people who came before me who gave me a hope for a better life, gave me a hope for a better future. And they were willing to share the lessons that they had learned, no matter, you know, what the cost. And they were courageous.

Think of books that like they wrote about Warren Buffett and how much those changed my life. Just as, you know, random books and the Bible, obviously, and YouTube videos.

Like so much of my life has been completely transformed just because people have the guts to share what they know on YouTube. And so that's what I want to, that's what I want to do.

Because if you think about it, and this is the point of this video is the next generation needs guidance. There are A lot of information out there. And listen, I'm not claiming to be the arbiter of all the right information. I'm learning every day too.

But there's a lot of stuff out there that is leading these young kids astray. This next generation of people, and they're our future, right?

And so I just think part of the reason this is just my opinion that the next generation, we hear about suicides and depression and all this stuff is because, man, we're painting a really bleak picture of the future for them. You got one one side of the equation telling them that the world's rigged against them, they're never get ahead.

Everybody's trying to screw them over. Everybody's trying to, sorry, that was a car. Take advantage of them. Just demoralizing the living, you know what out of them.

Oh, that's not very encouraging, Right?

Then you've got the other side, like some of the Christians out there who are basically telling them, hey, the world's going to hell in a handbasket, you better buckle up because the future is going to suck and you're going to go through the worst time in human history and there's nothing you can do about it because it's preordained. And basically the future is terrible. But someday you'll get to maybe die or get raptured or whatever and go to heaven.

And when I think about that's depressing in so many ways.

And I think what we're missing, what the next generation is missing from our generation and the generation before us is where's the hope for the future?

Where are the people telling them, hey, there's a brighter future out there, but you're not going to attain it, you're not going to create it, you're not going to build it, you're not going to forge it, you're not going to shape it.

If you keep thinking the same way that you've been thinking, you got to think a different way, you got to see something different, you got to learn some new things. You got to receive something that you've never received before. You got to have. You got to become, I should say, who you were created to be.

And that's probably not who you are today. And we get to help shape that. And so I'm just.

I wanted to share this, especially after the election, no matter which side you fall in the aisle to just say, hey, are we painting? Are we helping to paint a picture of what the future could look like that gets the next generation excited?

And then are we engaging in Teaching them and guiding them and directing them to actually a benefit and create that future. Because like I said, they are the future. And I just have been thinking about it a lot. I've been learning a lot from this guy named Jamie Winship.

J Jamie J A M I E Winship W I N S H I P And man, that guy and what he shares has been absolutely changing my entire life and in ways that I can't describe.

So if you have, if you're feeling stuck or you're not sure, what should I be doing with my life or what's the point of all this, or how can I get over something I'm afraid of, I would recommend you check them out. And that's part of why I'm deciding to shoot this. Because I want to be somebody who can champion the next generation.

To say, hey, listen, the world isn't rigged against you. And even if it is, there's something that you can do about it.

And whether or not there's a tribulation coming and a rapture and all these things, I don't think anybody really knows. But that doesn't make any real difference in terms of how we're supposed to live today, man. We're not.

At least I don't believe we're supposed to live like we lose. We're supposed to live like, hey, we're here to upgrade the Earth. We're here to upgrade each other's lives.

We're here to, as Jamie would say, connect, reconnect what's been separated. We're here to cast out fear with love.

And I know there's been so many times in my life that when I'm living in that fearful state, the last thing I am is loving. And yet most of us, we don't realize the only way to get past the fear is to actually love, to love.

And anyway, I don't even know why I said that other than to say, as I think about the next generation, my kids, nieces and nephews, friends, kids, all I can think about is, man, I love these kids.

And I'm certainly not going to teach my kids that the world is rigged against them and that there's nothing they can do about it and that their future is screwed. I think that's part of how we got here. So instead it's teach my kids how to learn who they are, who God made them to be, what he created them to do.

Teach them that the whole world is hell bent, it seems, on separating from each other, on competition, on differentiation, when the reality is we really win when we learn how to collaborate. We really win when we learn how to connect.

We really win when what we're doing is positively impacting the lives of the people around us, when we're not getting better at their expense, but were getting better together. And so anyway, that's just something that I had on my heart this morning, something that really spoke to me recently that I've been thinking about.

So I don't know if any of that spoke to you. If it did, awesome. Let me know what you think. If it didn't, you can just disregard it. But yeah, I just.

I have a heart for that next generation and I hope that you do, too. So hopefully something in there spoke to you and have a great day. What's up, guys? Hope you're doing well today.

I'm out here on another lunchtime walk and I really enjoyed shooting that little video on my last one. Just comes easier to me than some of the other things that I try and record or whatnot.

So anyway, thought I'd do another one and want to say first, thanks for everybody who reached out and the comments that you had and the feedback that you shared. It means a lot. And I'm going to stick with kind of a. This theme of speaking to the next generation. I don't know for how long, but I just really.

They're all my heart and I think that what I share, it applies to me, too, and you too, even if you're not part of the next generation. Because the things that work are usually universal and most of us are raised in the next generation.

So anyway, what I wanted to share about today was something I've been thinking a lot about. And what it really comes down to is so often we live through pain. We live through trials, tribulations, we live through hardship.

I know in my life I've certainly had my fair share, and I know you have, too. And then sometimes we go to counseling and we try and figure out how to deal with that pain or that hardship.

We try and figure out how to make sense of the things that have happened to us that don't make sense, or that if we had to do over again or if we had control over, we would never subject ourselves to those things. And some of those things are horrific and some of them are just unfortunate. But we don't like pain. And we don't like pain for a purpose. Right?

Because pain's painful.

But I think so often what we see is that it's easy, it's easier, I should say, to turn pain into something that holds us back, pain into something that almost destroys our future in so many ways. When I think the secret really lies in. And if you look at, like, the lives of people who have.

Who have, I don't know, I hate to use the word achieve all the time because it's not always about achievement, but maybe who have attained to a life of purpose and meaning and productivity to the extent that's positive, you know, the life that they desire, that they're after, that's good for them and good for the people around them. So often the secret sauce that they have is that they found a way again by God's grace.

But also they, I think, have to have a perspective to turn pain into power. And I think, man, that is the secret sauce.

The craziest thing is God made us in a way where we actually have the ability to turn our pain into power to do good, power to achieve to the degree that it's positive, power to change the lives of the people around us. We literally, like, I think in so many instances, and the Bible says it, what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good.

He took something that was painful, hurtful, harmful, and he turned it into power. Power to do good, power to, as I say, my little theme here is to upgrade the world around us, to upgrade our lives and the lives of our family.

And so as I think about the next generation, I think our generation's done a really poor job overall of teaching them that pain has purpose. And the purpose is to turn the pain into power.

Not to ignore the pain, not to act like it didn't happen, not to never deal with it, not to call people who don't know how to deal with it weak, but to help each other see that at the end of the day, like, we get to choose how we perceive the pain. We get to choose to allow our future to be ruined by the pain of our past, or to allow our future to blossom and to flourish into something bright.

Because we found a way to turn that pain into the fuel we use to actually upgrade our lives, to actually upgrade the lives of the people around us, to actually go on and make the world a better place. And that was something I was really thinking about. Because you can't avoid pain. We're all going to experience it.

Some of us are going to experience it to much greater degrees than others, but we all have the same choice of what we do with it. And so I guess I would just say if you're living in a situation where it doesn't make sense it is painful. It hurts.

You're pissed about it, you're sad about it, you're broken about it. I think that God wants you to know that he wants to use that pain. He has a purpose for it, if you will receive the purpose he has for it.

And I'm not saying that God wants you to be in pain all the time.

I'm just saying that we have this ability to turn what's supposed to be so negative, what's supposed to break us, what's supposed to separate us and tear the world apart and make us hate each other. We have the ability to use that to forgive and reconnect, to create, to imagine, to dream and to fuel the future that we want.

And again, when I think about the next generation, there is a bright future.

And honestly, like, the older I get, the more it becomes clear to me that a lot of the stuff that we've been taught our whole lives is just like 5 degrees off. Like some of it's really good.

And it can probably help you get rich if that's what you're after, or super good looking or ripped or whatever, if that's what you're after. But man, it can also lead you over the course of a 3,000 mile journey to the complete wrong side of the shore that you're trying to go to.

And so my goal, again, I don't. I'm not here to say I have all the answers or some infinite wisdom.

This is just stuff that I've learned or that I'm learning mostly through making mistakes along the way. And so I'm just hoping to bring a different perspective to say that, yeah, you know what, there's lots of people who can teach you how to make money.

Lots of people who can teach you how to get healthy. Lots of people who can teach you, I don't know how to find a date or a wife or a husband or whatever. And those are all good.

There's nothing wrong with those in and of themselves. But ultimately my interest is like, how do we create a community of people where, you know, those aren't the outcomes that we're aspiring to?

The outcomes that we're aspiring to, which I alluded to in my last video, is that like our lives are being upgraded, not at the expense of others. That's a tricky thing. There's lots of stuff I have to think about every day about how do you make that happen?

That's why I think it needs a community conversation. We got to talk about it, figure out a better way.

But just this idea that there is something that we were put here to create a better world and we can do that. And anyway, lost my train of thought there, but that's what I get for rambling on these next generation.

I love you, care about you, our generation too, and our parents generation. And I just think that, oh, I remembered my train of thought is just want to bring a different perspective to say, life is holistic, right?

What does it gain? What does it profit the world?

Or what is it?

What good does it do to gain the world and lose our soul? And yet at the same time, what good does it do to waste your life doing nothing? Right? There's a balance in there.

There's a balance of wanting to live up to the potential that God gave you to use the talents he gave you to make an impact in the world. There's nothing wrong with that. As a fact, as a matter of fact, I think to a degree, all of us should aspire to it. But here's what I've learned.

I got wrong for so many years of my life, like, seriously, until a couple of weeks ago, maybe a couple months ago now, is I just grew up and I don't think anybody innately taught me this or encouraged this. I think it was just the way that our society works. I grew up thinking, I have to make it happen. Like, I have to go make something happen.

Sorry, if you can hear there's a plane over me, I have to go make it happen to grind and hustle. And what I lost, what I missed in all of that was actually God has an invitation for me and my success. Quote, my success is not about what I do.

It's not about how I perform. It's not about what I make or how I look or what people think about me.

It's about just, in so many ways, did I just receive, Did I accept the invitation that he had for me? Am I doing that on a daily basis saying, lord, today is not about me. It's not about me going and doing something or making anything happen.

Not about the end in mind as we're taught to believe. It's about me waking up and saying, I want to receive what you have to give me today.

What do you want to invite me into that's bigger than me, that you've equipped me for, that is in line with my gifts and talents that in some ways, in many ways comes easy to me, that I enjoy, that I love, that I thrive at? What do you want to invite me into that I can receive so that instead of me hustling and grinding and trying to make it happen. I just get to walk in.

Hey, I just have to accept the invitation, show up, be who I am, and he'll take care of the results.

And if, like I said earlier, if you're struggling right now and you are living in that pain or you're in a place of pain, I just really want to encourage you that God can show you if you ask him what's the purpose of the pain and where's the power in the pain. And then if you'll just receive what he has for you instead of trying to strive to make it happen, I think your whole life can change.

And I can tell you that in the last few months that's the journey I've been on and oh boy, has my life changed. And so anyway, that's why I'm here sharing these things. Hopefully something in there spoke to you.

A lot of what I share is just the things that are speaking to me, things that are really changing my life. I like doing this on the walk because makes my walk go a lot faster and more fun, more enjoyable. So anyway, I hope you have a great day.

Next time I do a walk, I'll try and shoot another one and love to hear what you thought in the comments if something spoke to you or maybe you thought I missed something. But anyway, I hope you have a great weekend and I will see you next time. Thanks.