Remember the end of Ghostbusters when they fried the skyscraper sized Stay Puft Marshmallow man with their proton packs like a smore being incinerated by a flame thrower in the middle of the gasoline fight from Zoolander? That’s what I want to do to stress.

Have you ever felt like that, obscure movie references aside?

If you remember this post you know I used to be the mayor of overbooked. I pushed myself passed the point of burnout and exhaustion. That season of my life it cost me my health, my friends, and precious years I’ll never get back.

The good news is I learned a lot from it. I learned how to take better care of myself and still do what matters most. When you get right down to it, there’s really only three things you needs to do to annihilate stress:

1. Identify what’s most important.
Making a list of what’s important, the people and things you really love, is the first step. Most people don’t do this. And most people who think about doing this justify not doing this with the last sentence. But you’ve got to ask yourself: do I really want to be like everyone else? Do I really want to have no margin in my life like everyone else? Do I really want to respond to every noise my phone makes like I’m one of Pavlov’s dogs? Or like it’s a shock collar that will send a 1,000 volts through my torso if I don’t answer every message in the first microsecond of receiving it?

I don’t. And I don’t think you do either. But until we know what really matters, what is truly worth captivating our soul, we’ll always respond to the immediate like it’s the urgent because we won’t know the difference.

Identifying what’s most important will allow you to craft a plan for your life which will help you live what your soul is longing for. When you’re ready, here’s a free tool that will guide you in bringing your life back to life.

2. Schedule it.
Knowing what’s most important is great, if you do something about it. If you don’t it just sits in the back seat of your heart. And it will haunt. That’s the stuff divorce court and ulcers are made of.

Don’t do that. Make time to plan how you’ll live out your priorities. Where you spend your time shows what’s really important to you. So plan to spend your time where you say you value it the most. Here’s five steps to help you do it.

3. Ignore the rest.
Easier said then done, right? But it’s the only way to keep your mind from flooding, your heart from feeling like it’s going to explode. When you know and own what’s really important you’ll always be able to get here. Remember what Bill Murray taught us about this.

Right now you may feel like your under a tsunami of stress. I’ve been there. We all have. The good news is there is a way out. Identify what’s most important, schedule it, and ignore the rest. Those are the life preservers you need to get back to shore.

What are you going to do to annihilate stress this week?

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It’s not Onamonapia.

Or Fluffernutter.

Or Fudrucker’s (unless it’s immediately following the question, “Where can I get a hamburger filled with delicious flavor?”)

No, it’s none of these.

The 1 word everyone is dying for you to say is their name.

A few years ago I was hanging out with a group of kids at church. A girl came up to me and asked, “Do you know my name?” All the kids stopped what they were doing to see if I would get it right. So I did the only thing a pastor in my position could do when he’s called out by a 3rd grade girl in front of a bunch of her peers: I lied.

“Why, of course I know your name.”

As I turned to sneak a peek at her name badge to see what it was, she quickly sensed the uncertainty in my voice like a werewolf ready to pounce on a car full of teenagers at a drive-in from a cheesy Ed Wood movie, covered it with her hand, and said, “What is it?”

She had me.

The responsible thing would have been to just own up to that instead of trying to fake my way through it. But I didn’t. Instead I wanted to make like the venerated Wizard of Oz, but really I was just the dopey guy behind the curtain.

Another time, when I was in college, there was a guy who lived next door to me and my roommate named Jason. Or so I thought. For almost an entire year I kept calling this guy Jason. One day as my roommate and I were heading to dinner, we noticed “Jason” coming back from the library. I waved to him and said, “What’s up, Jason?” He replied, “Hi Jimmy!”

I turned to my roommate and said, “Man, I can’t believe Jason forgot my name. In fact, I think he calls me a different name every time I see him! What’s up with that?”

My roommate started laughing. “Jeff,” he said, “His name’s not Jason. He’s been calling you a different name every time you see him because you always forget his name. It’s…” [I'd have finished that last sentence but I still can't remember his name.]

I think Jason (or whatever his name is) was a bit harsh. He could have just said, “Hey Jeff, actually my name is…” the first time I messed it up and we probably would have been fine. He never did. But I got the message.

There is something sweet about hearing our name, as though someone is excited to see us, that is like honey to our soul. It is reminds us that we are important. That we are special. That someone values us enough to call us by who we are. A name is a truly powerful thing.

I write this post more from a place of inadequacy then a place of strength. I still struggle with this. I need to get better, but I’m working on it. A person’s name is so special to them. Use it often. Use it well.

That’s what a little girl and a guy named Jason taught me, anyway.

When’s a time you called someone by the wrong name and you found out about it later?

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I was reminded of how to get unstuck from a rut when my Father-in-law almost beat me at Words with Friends.

Last Sunday I couldn’t think of a word to play. I turned to my wife to help me crush her dad. She was only to happy to help.

Sarah came up with the word “Blah” up against the word “Fold” like this:

It was brilliant and gave me the points I needed to stay in the game.

After I played her word (don’t tell my father-in-law, OK?) I said: “I’ve never played a word alongside another word like that before!”

Then she said something very insightful like she normally does: “Maybe you should start.”

And that’s when I remembered how to get unstuck whenever I’m in a rut: Do the same thing, but in a different way.

I’m a creature of habit. It’s good because I am dependable and get things done (which makes me sound like I have more in common with a golden retriever then I ever hoped to). It can also be a bad thing because I get stuck in ruts fairly easily. In order to be more creative, in order to get out of our ruts, we need to do the things we normally do, but in a different way.

If you normally…

…Have your meetings in a conference room, try moving them to Starbucks and buying everyone their favorite coffee.

…Show a video clip when teaching, try using a object lesson.

…Have your small groups inside a building, try going outside on a sunny day.

…Post a note on someone’s Facebook wall, try handwriting a personal note, then posting it on the wall of their cubical.

…Study in your office, try studying at the park or by a lake.

…Do your quiet time on YouVerson.com, try pulling out an actually book (scary, I know), reading from it, and journaling in a notebook (not the electronic kind).

…Don’t have lunch with a certain co-worker, try inviting them out one day this week (on you). Make the conversation all about them. You’ll be surprised at how much you learn. You may even end up with a new friend.

…Pray in your house before work, try prayer-walking around your neighborhood, lifting up each of your neighbors as you pass their house.

…Respond to emails, texts, voicemails, etc. every nano second, try responding only once in the morning and once  30 minutes before you leave work. Then unplug for the rest of the day. You’ll be amazed at how much more you get done.

…Have some noise on (TV, radio, iPod, etc) when you’re alone, trying being in silence for 10 minutes. It’ll feel like an eternity at first. But the more you do it the more relaxing it’ll be and the more focus you’ll have the rest of the day.

If you’re stuck in a rut, there’s a way out. Keep doing the stuff you’re supposed to do, but try doing it in a different way. It’ll bring a breath of fresh air to your work, your relationships, and your soul.

What’s one rut you need out of? How will you do what you normally do, but in a different way?

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