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Simple tools · Lesson 5 of 10

Worry Time: Give Your Worries a Place and a Time

Learn how worry time works: postpone worries to a short daily slot, then plan what you can act on and let the rest go for now.

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THE WRITTEN LESSONFollow along at your pace

Worry time is a simple way to give your worries a place, so they do not follow you all day. WiserHours has no article on this technique, so this lesson uses three outside sources, linked at the end: the NHS Every Mind Matters page on tackling worries, a page from MindWell Leeds, and a review of trials on worry postponement.

Postpone, don’t fight

Instead of trying to stop a worry, you postpone it. You set a short, regular slot, about 10 to 15 minutes on most days, and save your worries for then. The idea is not to ban worrying. It is to give worries an appointment, so they can wait.

A clock with a quarter of the face shaded amber, and a week of boxes M to S with six ticked. Labels read Fight it, crossed out; Postpone it, ticked; 10 to 15 minutes; and Worries wait for this slot.(opens the full-size picture)
A short slot on most days, and worries wait for it.

During the day

When a worry pops up outside that slot, write it down in a few words, tell yourself you will deal with it at worry time, and go back to what you were doing. The list is where the worry waits. Keep it somewhere you can reach, so jotting is quick.

A person at a desk with a laptop, and a notepad headed Worry list with one item, Get it wrong?, and a pencil. A speech bubble reads Later, at worry time. A label says Back to the task.(opens the full-size picture)
Write it down, say later, and go back to the task.

In worry time

When your slot comes, go through the list. For each worry, ask: can I do something about this? If you can, write a specific plan: what, how and when. If you cannot, notice it, acknowledge it, and let it go for now instead of dwelling on it.

A question box reading Can I do something about this? with two paths. Yes: a plan, with a checklist and the labels What, How and When. No: notice it, with an open hand and the words Let it go for now.(opens the full-size picture)
Two answers: make a plan, or notice it and let it go for now.

Give it two weeks

It may feel hard at first. That is normal, and it should get easier as the habit settles in. Try it for about two weeks, keeping your list, then look back at how it went.

A two-week calendar with the weekdays ticked, and a line graph titled How it feels that starts bumpy in Week 1 and becomes smoother by Week 2. Labels read Hard at first is normal and About two weeks, then review.(opens the full-size picture)
Hard at first is normal. Try about two weeks, then review.

What the research says

A review of seven trials with about a thousand people found that postponing worry cut how long and how often people worried, by a small amount, compared with simply writing worries down. These were small effects, and long-term results are still missing, so treat worry time as something to try, not a guaranteed fix.

Two pairs of bars, How long you worry and How often. In each pair, the bar for Postponing is slightly shorter than the bar for Just writing them down. Labels read 7 trials, about 1,000 people; Small effects; and Long-term results missing.(opens the full-size picture)
Small effects in seven trials, and no long-term results yet.

YOUR TURN

Read more

The first three links are the outside sources this lesson relies on. The last two are WiserHours articles on related ideas.

Read the full lesson script

In this lesson, you'll learn worry time: a simple way to give your worries a place, so they don't follow you all day.

Instead of trying to stop a worry, you postpone it. You set a short, regular slot, about ten to fifteen minutes on most days, and save your worries for then.

When a worry pops up outside that slot, write it down in a few words, tell yourself you'll deal with it at worry time, and go back to what you were doing.

When your slot comes, go through the list. For each worry, ask: can I do something about this? If you can, write a specific plan: what, how and when. If you can't, notice it, and let it go for now.

It may feel hard at first. That's normal, and it should get easier as the habit settles in. Try it for about two weeks, then look back at how it went.

What does the research say? A review of seven trials with about a thousand people found that postponing worry cut how long and how often people worried, by a small amount, compared with simply writing worries down. Long-term results are still missing.

So remember: postpone, don't fight; one short, regular slot; and in worry time, plan it or let it go. Before the next lesson, choose your worry-time slot for the next two weeks. Next, you'll learn to turn a worry into a next step.