Stop Worry Techniques

Stop worrying! There is a way to break the fretting habit. Researchers have discovered ways to shut out thoughts that can distract you from work, sleep or pleasure. The trick is to restrict worry to a certain time and place so you can spend the rest of the day productively. Chronic worriers who learn to reserve worrisome thoughts until a later time are able to prevent spending up to 50% of their waking time on this habit. They are also less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and insomnia.

5-Step Action Plan

Step 1: Establish a half-hour worry period at the same time each day and in the same place. Avoid doing this near bedtime to help reduce the problem of insomnia. The most popular time is late in the afternoon or early evening. Identify a particular table and chair and call this your "worry furniture" for the next 30 minutes.

During this time, write down your intense concerns and fears and try some problem solving. Can you come up with some solutions? For example, what can you do to reduce feelings of self-consciousness, fear of failure and apphrehension about the future? Think about these worries in your mind. When you are finished, you may jot down some thoughts on a piece of paper. What's useful about this step is that it helps you to postone excessive worries that intrude upon daytime awareness and efficiency.


Step 2: Learn to identify early signs of worry. Many people mull over things for 10 minutes or longer before they even realize their preoccupation. But if you can catch yourself in the early stages, worrisome episodes are easier to control.

Tell yourself: "I don't have to think about this now, I can worry about it later".

This may be difficult for some people, because worry is a habit. Minutes later, they may find themselves worrying again. It takes time and effort to change an old habit, and you may find yourself practicing this step over and over again.


Step 3: Use your half-hour worry period any way you want. You don't have to worry about huge issues - as long as you postpone daily concerns to this time period. One positive thing to do during this time is to focus on lesser worries. The more you practice and succeed at that the more adept you will become at handling increasingly difficult situations.


Step 4: Concentrate on the task at hand. You may fear that if you stop worrying the very catatrophe about which you are concerned will be more likely to happen. This superstition only squanders good mental energy and intrudes upon awareness.

Although some people find moderate amounts of worry helpful and comforting, excessive worriers anticipate all kinds of negatives and catastrophic future events, however unlikely. For example, socially anxious people often worry they may do something foolish or be humiliated or rejected, and thus avoid social situations entirely. Even individuals with a simple phobia may anticipate an event by thinking about it or imagining it. These intrusive thoughts can disrupt their attention and disturb their performance. Such people must busy themselves in order to take their minds off obsessive thoughts.


Step 5: Define just what it is you are worried about. Is your time spent worrying about events that will never happen? Is it spent fretting about things that can't be changed by all the worry in the world? Or are you using worry as a substitute for emotional issues, such as worrying about your job rather than confronting a lack of trust in your own abilities?

Use your worry time to distinguish between the things you can do something about and the things you cannot. Then plan a course of action. Make a list of positive changes to make and break down goals into manageable steps. Use this as a guide toward a solution. Plan to reward yourself each time you unknit those brows and concentrate on the positive aspects of your life. Good luck!