It was 5:35 AM on Wednesday morning. My wife somehow convinced me to take off work for the day so that we could hang out for 24 hours (in the cold) in order to get free Chic-fil-a for a year - 52 coupons to each person if you are of the first 100 people. By default, the wheels in my head started turning as I tried to decide if this would be worth doing or not.

52 coupons x 2 people = 104 coupons.  104 x $5.45 per meal = $566.80. The value of the coupons alone was enough to convince me that it would be worth it, but then when you add in time with friends, time to rest, time to play, and even time to get a few things accomplished, it became more clear that this would be worth doing.

It was then that it occurred to me, we all have different ways of determining worth. We value some things more than others, or at least let them play a bigger factor in our decision making than the next thing. Within one decision, we are able to juggle ten different factors in our head and put them in order of importance.

As I mentioned, my mind immediately thought about the monetary "cost verses gain." I'll admit, I'm not super proud of the fact that money plays a big role in my decision making. Perhaps it's because of my role as the provider of the family, or that I want to be a good steward with every purchase I make so that money is not wasted. Whatever it is, I know that I need to do better job of valuing relationships over money related things. My wife is great at keeping me balanced in this arena. God knew what He was doing when he put us together.

I'm not going to tell you how YOU should determine worth, but I will suggest that you strive to make money secondary. There have been too many people in history who have regretted their own pursuit of money when there were people all around them just needing some time and love.

To put money in its rightful place, I have found that having a financial game plan in place helps a ton. When my plan consists of getting out of debt, saving for my future, and monitering my spending, I am able to focus more on the things that matter in life. By applying financial discipline you will be able to experience more freedom. This may seem a little backwards but it's true. Go ahead and experience it for yourself.

How do you determine worth? What financial plan are you using in order to put money in its proper place?

Let's start valuing the important things in life and put money secondary. I still don't have this totally figured out. Let's learn this together...