Sometimes, we get so caught up in the numbers, the milestones, and the visible markers of success that we forget why we started the journey in the first place. Evan Spiegel’s words remind us that true value isn't found in a spreadsheet, but in the heartbeat of the people we serve. When we shift our gaze away from the bottom line and toward the actual experience of the person on the other side of our work, something magical happens. We stop chasing shadows and start building something with real substance. This shift in focus allows us to find meaning even when the external results haven't quite caught up to our efforts yet.

In our daily lives, this looks a lot like choosing kindness over efficiency. We might be trying to finish a project or manage a household, and it is so easy to focus on just getting it done. But if we focus on the experience—the feeling of peace in our home or the sense of connection in our team—the results naturally begin to stabilize. It is about prioritizing the quality of the moment and the well-being of those around us. When we nurture the environment and the people within it, the success we crave often arrives as a beautiful, unexpected byproduct of that care.

I remember a time when I was trying to organize a small community garden project. I was so obsessed with how many vegetables we would harvest and how much the project would cost that I completely ignored the people helping me. I was stressed, and the energy was heavy. I was focused on the 'business' of the garden rather than the joy of gardening. Eventually, I realized that if I focused on making the experience wonderful for my volunteers—providing snacks, sharing stories, and making it a place of laughter—the garden actually began to thrive. The harvest was better than I expected, simply because the foundation of care was so strong.

Failures are going to happen. There will be days when the crops don't grow or the plans fall through. But if you have built a foundation centered on a wonderful experience, those failures are just lessons rather than endings. They are simply redirections in a larger, more meaningful story. As you move through your week, I invite you to take a deep breath and ask yourself: Am I focusing on the outcome, or am I focusing on the heart of the experience? Try choosing the heart, and watch how the rest begins to fall into place.