A Gentle Guide to Worry Time: Scheduling Your Anxious Thoughts

The idea behind worry time is disarmingly simple: instead of fighting worries whenever they turn up, you give them an appointment. Not because worries are unimportant, but because a mind that knows it will be heard later can let go a little more easily now.

How to do it

1. Pick a window. Fifteen to twenty minutes, at a regular time that isn’t close to bedtime.
2. Keep a “parking” note. During the day, when a worry appears, jot a few words and tell yourself, “I’ll come back to this at 5:30.”
3. Show up for the appointment. At worry time, read your list. Think about each item, and for each ask: Is there something I can do about this?
4. Turn worries into actions. If yes, write the next small step. If no, practise letting it stay unresolved for now.
5. End on time. When the window closes, do something absorbing and physical — make tea, walk, tidy.

What to expect

Many people find the first few days awkward. Worries will demand attention right away, and that’s normal. The skill you are building is not stopping thoughts; it is postponing them without a fight.

Worries often press hardest when the day goes quiet, at bedtime or the moment you wake, so it can help to read about morning anxiety and how to fall asleep when your mind is racing alongside this technique.

Why it works

Worry time is a form of stimulus control, a technique developed by psychologist Thomas Borkovec and colleagues in the 1980s. Instead of trying to stop worry, which tends to make thoughts rebound, you limit where and when it happens. In early studies, people who confined their worrying to a daily 30-minute period reported fewer worry episodes and less anxiety over several weeks than people who simply monitored their worries. Later work has found benefits for both anxiety and sleep.

Two ideas sit behind it. First, trying hard to suppress a thought often brings it back stronger. Postponing is gentler: you are not saying “never”, only “not now”. Second, scheduling teaches your mind that worries are a manageable event, not an endless background noise. Many worries also lose their urgency by the time worry time arrives.

A sample worry-time page

Divide a sheet of paper into three columns and fill it in during your window.

The worry	Can I do something about it?	Next small step
“I haven’t heard back about the interview”	Partly	Send one polite follow-up on Thursday
“What if the pain in my back is serious?”	Yes	Book a GP appointment
“What if the economy gets worse?”	No	Practise letting it sit; plan one thing to do this week

For the “no” items, the aim is not to solve them but to notice that you cannot, and to let them stay unresolved. If they feel urgent and overwhelming, how to stop worrying about things you can’t control goes deeper.

Making it easier

• Keep the same time and place. A regular slot, such as 5:30 at the kitchen table, trains your mind to save worries for it.
• Avoid doing it in bed or right before sleep. You want the bed to be associated with rest, not worry.
• Keep the parking note close. A notepad or phone note stops you from trying to remember worries.
• Start with ten minutes if twenty feels long. You can lengthen it later.
• Skip a day if you have nothing to worry about. That is a success, not a failure.
• Move afterwards. A short walk or a task with your hands helps your mind to close the session.

A worked example

Dana worries about work and money throughout the day, and the thoughts peak at bedtime.

1. Window: 6:00 to 6:20 p.m. at the kitchen table.
2. Parking note: during the day, she writes “Mum’s appointment” and “overdue invoice” in her phone.
3. At worry time: she reads the list. The invoice needs an email, which she drafts. Her mother’s appointment is out of her hands, so she writes “I can’t control this; I’ll call her tonight.”
4. Ending: she stops at 6:20 and starts making dinner.
5. At bedtime: when the invoice thought returns, she tells herself, “It’s already handled; the email is drafted.”

After two weeks, Dana’s evenings feel quieter, and she notices fewer worries even make it onto the list.

Common mistakes

• Using worry time to ruminate for an hour. Keep the window short and end on time.
• Trying to ban worries between sessions. Postponing works better than suppressing.
• Skipping the action column. Turning worries into steps is what makes the technique useful.
• Scheduling it too close to bedtime. It can stir your mind up just when you want to wind down.
• Giving up after two days. It often feels awkward at first.

If it doesn’t help

Worry time is a small tool, not a cure. If worry feels constant, overwhelming or is affecting sleep and daily life, speak with a healthcare professional. Techniques like this often work best alongside support, not instead of it.

If your worries keep circling health symptoms, health anxiety calls for a slightly different approach, and how to stop overthinking covers the wider habit of mental loops.

If your worries are mostly about what might happen next, see how to stop worrying about the future.

When worry regularly jumps to the worst possible outcome, read how to stop catastrophizing.

Frequently asked questions

What is worry time?

A technique in which you postpone worries to a short, scheduled daily window, usually 15 to 20 minutes, instead of trying to fight them whenever they appear.

Does worry time really work?

Research on stimulus control, the approach behind worry time, has found reductions in worry and anxiety. It tends to work best when practised consistently, and it is not a cure for severe anxiety.

What time of day is best for worry time?

Choose a regular time that is not close to bedtime, such as late afternoon or early evening.

What if I have no worries during worry time?

That is fine. Skip the session or use it for something else. Often worries lose their pull by the time the window arrives.

Can worry time help with worrying at night?

It can, because it gives worries a place to go earlier in the day. If worries still wake you, see why you feel more anxious at night.

When should I seek professional help for worry?

If worry is constant, uncontrollable or affecting sleep, work or relationships, speak to a doctor or therapist. Cognitive-behavioural therapy is effective for chronic worry.

The bottom line

Worry time works by postponing, not suppressing. Park worries during the day, meet them at a set time for 15 to 20 minutes, turn what you can into small steps and let go of the rest. It is a small tool, but a steady one.