Worry Time Technique: A Step-by-Step Guide

Worry time means choosing a short, regular slot, usually somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes at the same time and place each day, and saving non-urgent worries for it. When a worry turns up, you note it in a couple of words, remind yourself it has a time, and go back to what you were doing. In the slot you read the list, deal with anything practical, write out what still bothers you, and stop when the time is up. Health-service guides differ on details such as length and how close to bedtime it should be, so treat the first two weeks as an experiment you adjust.

Prepared by Let It Out Editorial TeamUpdated 2026-11-01

What scheduled worry time is, and what it is not

Worry rarely waits for a convenient moment. It turns up in the supermarket queue, halfway through an email, or as you reach for the light switch. The Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI), an Australian public mental health service, notes that worry can happen at any time or place, often without an obvious trigger.

Worry time, also called worry postponement, gives worry a fixed appointment instead. You don't try to stop the thought. You note it, put it off until a set slot later in the day, and give it your attention then. In research it is called stimulus control, and a 2024 meta-analysis of seven randomised trials found small reductions in how often and how long people worried, compared with simply recording worries. Our science page covers what those studies can and cannot tell you.

It is not a way to ignore real problems. A health or safety concern or a deadline today needs action now, not a slot at 6pm. Worry time is for the what-ifs and not-yet problems that keep tapping you on the shoulder.

Step 1: choose the time, place and length

Pick one slot and keep it the same each day. CCI's worry postponement sheet suggests the same time, place and length every day, gives the example of 6pm, in a study, for 20 minutes, and says the time should be convenient enough to keep up and not close to bedtime. It suggests a place that is comfortable and free from distractions, but not somewhere you use all the time, such as your usual chair in the lounge.

Recommended lengths vary, as the table shows, and none is a rule. A sensible starting point is 15 minutes at a fixed time in the late afternoon or early evening, put in your calendar or diary as the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) NHS Trust's guide suggests.

How different sources set up worry time
Source	Suggested length	Suggested timing
CCI worry postponement sheet	The same each day, for example 20 minutes	The same time each day, for example 6pm; not close to bedtime
NHS Every Mind Matters	10 or 15 minutes	Every day or so, before bed
Mindwell, Leeds' mental health website	About 15 minutes	Whatever works for you; a morning slot may help if you worry at night
RNOH NHS Trust patient guide	Around 20 minutes	A specific time in your calendar; avoid just before bed
Research trials, for example McGowan and Behar (2013)	30 minutes	A fixed daily time and place

Step 2: postpone a worry when it turns up

When you notice you are worrying, first check one thing: does this need action now? NHS Every Mind Matters suggests that if there is something practical you can do about a worry straight away, you do it, and if not, you schedule a time. Everything that is left goes to worry time.

Then write it down briefly. CCI suggests a couple of words only, on paper or in a small notebook. Mindwell suggests telling yourself, I'll think about this at my worry time. CCI adds reminders you can borrow: you will have time to think about it later, you will be in a better position to deal with it then, and there are more important or pleasant things to attend to right now.

Then move your attention somewhere specific. CCI suggests turning to the present moment and doing something practical, positive, pleasant, active or nurturing: washing up, a walk, the next job on your list. Expect the worry to come back. Each time, the answer is the same: it already has a time.

Step 3: what to do during the slot

When the slot arrives, sit in your chosen place and read the day's notes. CCI suggests worrying only about the things you noted if you feel you must, leaving any that no longer bother you, spending no longer than the time you set, and writing your thoughts down rather than going round them in your head. The RNOH guide adds useful questions: do I feel any different about this worry now? Did the thing I feared happen, and how did I cope? Is it still a problem?

A simple run-through:

Set a timer. Our free worry-time timer runs 5, 10, 15 or 20 minute sessions in your browser.
Read the list once and cross out anything that has faded or been dealt with.
For each worry left, ask whether there is something practical you can do. If so, write one next step and when.
For the what-ifs, write them out on paper for the remaining time instead of replaying them.
When the timer ends, stop, even mid-thought. Mindwell suggests saving new worries for the next day.
Close the notebook, or throw the list away as the RNOH guide suggests, and move on to something else.

When a worry won't wait

Start by checking whether this worry really can't wait. If it involves your health, someone's safety, a payment due or a deadline today, it is not a worry-time item: act on it or contact the right person. Our guide to solvable and hypothetical worries helps with that sorting.

If it is a what-if that only feels urgent, try these editorial suggestions one at a time. Mindwell also recommends the worry tree if refocusing is hard after writing a worry down.

Write a fuller note. One sentence instead of two words can make it easier to trust that the worry has been captured.
Tally, don't replay. If it comes back, add a mark next to it rather than thinking it through again.
Give your hands something to do. A practical task tends to hold attention better than trying not to think.
Accept a partial win. Postponing half your worries on the first day is the skill starting, not failing.

Common problems, and what to try

I keep forgetting the slot. Set a calendar alarm and attach the slot to something you already do, such as the end of the working day. If you miss one, don't double up; just keep tomorrow's. Mindwell suggests keeping a worry time list for about two weeks before reviewing progress, which is a fair trial.

The slot feels pointless. An empty list is a common outcome, not a failure; CCI's sheet says worries that no longer bother you need no further action. Sit down for a minute anyway to keep the habit, then finish early. If instead the same worries return every day, check whether one is a practical problem that needs a plan rather than more thinking.

Worries arrive at bedtime. Advice differs. NHS Every Mind Matters suggests worry time before bed, CCI and the RNOH guide suggest keeping it away from bedtime, and Mindwell says some people who worry at night find a morning slot helps them sleep. If thoughts arrive once the light is off, write a couple of words in a notebook by the bed and leave them for tomorrow's slot. Our guides on overthinking at night and waking up worrying cover both ends of the night.

Worry time makes me feel worse. Shorten it, move it or stop for now. A self-help routine should fit you, not become another rule to break.

Worked example: a Wednesday with worry time

This example is invented to show the process. Priya sets her worry time for 6:15pm, 15 minutes, at the kitchen table rather than on the sofa where she relaxes. She puts it in her phone calendar with a reminder.

At 9:40 her manager mentions Friday's presentation and her mind jumps to freezing in front of the team. She writes: freeze Friday. At lunch she remembers the boiler's strange noise; that is practical and takes two minutes, so she emails the landlord there and then. At 3pm a friend still hasn't replied to Monday's message, so Ana quiet goes on the list.

At 6:15 she reads the list. Ana replied at 5, so that line gets crossed out. Freeze Friday is partly practical, so she writes: run through the slides once, Thursday at 10. The rest is a what-if, and she spends the remaining minutes writing out what she is afraid of. The timer goes, and she stops.

At 10:50, in bed, freeze Friday comes back. Priya adds a tally mark in the notebook on her bedside table, reminds herself it has a slot tomorrow and turns over. The worry didn't vanish, but it stopped running the evening.

A worry-time template to copy

This is an original editorial template, not a clinical worksheet. For a paper version with tick boxes, use our printable worry-postponement worksheet.

My worry time: time ___, place ___, length ___ minutes
Reminder set in my calendar: yes / no
Before postponing: does this need action now? If yes, do it or schedule it
During the day: a couple of words per worry, plus a tally mark if it returns
In the slot: is it still bothering me? If not, cross it out
Practical: one next step, and when
What-if: write it out until the timer ends
After two weeks: how often am I worrying outside the slot now?

When worry time isn't enough

Worry time is a self-help technique. Most research on it comes from studies lasting a few days to a month, and the 2024 meta-analysis notes that it often forms part of cognitive behavioural treatments for worry.

If worry is hard to control on most days, if it is affecting your sleep, work or relationships, or if worry time hasn't helped after a fair try, talk to your GP. The NHS says adults aged 18 and over can also refer themselves to an NHS talking therapies service without a referral from a GP. A therapist can help tailor the approach or suggest something that fits better.

If a notebook isn't practical, the Let It Out app lets you capture a worry by text or voice and set a revisit timer for it; it is a capture tool, not a treatment.