Why I ask clients to write a worry list at 6pm

Worry loves the hour before sleep. Giving it an appointment earlier in the evening is one of the simplest techniques I teach.

Lots of people tell me their anxiety is fine during the day and loud at night. That makes sense. During the day the mind is busy; at 11pm, in a dark room, it finally has space to rehearse everything that could go wrong tomorrow.

Worry postponement is a well-researched technique from CBT. The idea is not to stop worrying, which rarely works, but to schedule it.

How to do it

Choose a fixed 15-minute slot, ideally early evening, at a table rather than in bed. During the day, when a worry arrives, jot down a few words on your phone or a notebook and tell yourself you will look at it at 6pm. Then return your attention to whatever you were doing.

At 6pm, sit down with the list. For each item, ask whether it is something you can act on. If it is, write the next small step. If it is not, notice that, and let it sit on the page. When the 15 minutes are up, stop, even mid-sentence.

What to expect

For the first week it will feel artificial, and worries will still slip through at bedtime. That is normal. Most people I work with notice by the second or third week that many items on the list have lost their charge by 6pm, and that knowing the slot exists makes it easier to let go at night.