Attention Cost Calculator

◌ Metacognitive Therapy Central

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What is your attention costing you?

See how much time you spend worrying, ruminating, checking and monitoring, what you hope to gain from it, and what the same time could support in the life you want to build.

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About 3 minutes

Your direction

What would you like more of in your life?

Choose one or more areas that matter right now. We will use them to make the cost of your current attention habits concrete.

Stronger friendships More presence with family Move a project forward Work or business Rest and enjoyment Physical health

Make it personal Write one goal that someone could see you doing or completing

Write an action or result in the outside world. Do not write an inner state such as confidence, calm or motivation. Write what you would do if you had more confidence, calm or motivation.

Your time

On an average day, how many hours do you spend on these activities?

Worrying and rumination often blend into each other, so they are combined in one estimate. You do not need to calculate overlap. We do that for you.

How much time you spend worrying about what can go wrong and/or ruminating about things

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8+

Checking for certainty, reassurance or answers

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8+

Monitoring thoughts, feelings or symptoms

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8+

0 means no time8+ means 8 hours or more a day and is calculated as 8

The calculator uses your combined worrying and rumination estimate as the base. Checking and monitoring often happen during the same period, so we add only the amount that goes beyond that base. We use the larger of your checking and monitoring estimates, not both added together. This gives you a conservative estimate and avoids counting the same hour twice. The percentage uses 16 waking hours per day.

How long have you been worrying, ruminating, checking or monitoring in this way? Choose months or years

The promise

What do you hope this thinking will give you?

Most people do this because they are trying to help or protect themselves. Choose every reason that fits you.

Certainty Clarity Better decisions Preparation Control Protection

Something else

Important question

Think of the last 10 times you worried, ruminated, checked or monitored. How often did it produce a genuinely new and useful conclusion?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0 means never10 means every time

The cost

What tends to happen when your attention stays there?

When you are caught up in worrying, ruminating, checking or monitoring, how much does each consequence interfere with your ability to function?

Poor concentrationIt interferes a lot Standstill and delayed actionIt interferes a lot Less presence in relationshipsIt interferes noticeably Mental tirednessIt interferes a lot StressIt does not interfere at all AnxietyIt does not interfere at all Low moodIt does not interfere at all Low confidenceIt does not interfere at all Another consequence in your situation How much does this interfere with your life?It does not interfere

Your alternative

Make your goal specific and measurable

You have already written your overall goal. Now break it into something you can clearly do and measure. Include how much, how often and by when. For example: complete three 45 minute strength sessions each week, have two uninterrupted evenings with my family, spend five focused hours each week developing my business idea, see one friend every weekend, or read for 30 minutes before bed four evenings a week.

Make it measurable Break your goal down into specific, measurable items

What should we take into account about your situation?

Choose anything that affects how much time or energy you can realistically use. This helps make the comparison fit your actual life.

I work full time I have children or caring responsibilities My energy varies because of health or sleep I work shifts or irregular hours I study alongside work or family life My goal depends partly on another person I have limited money or practical resources I only have certain times of day available

Something else about your situation

Your personal estimate

Your estimated time, reported usefulness and personal costs

Time used on worrying, rumination, checking and monitoring

1,278 hours

Your estimate across 2 years

Time you could use for your goal each day

35 minutes a day

That is 4 hours 5 minutes each week, based on one-third of your personal estimate.

Where your estimated time goes

To avoid counting the same time twice, worrying and rumination form one base estimate. The chart adds only checking or monitoring time that goes beyond that estimate.

1 hour 45 minutesper day

The promise and your actual result

The promise

A useful answer

Your actual result

2 out of 10 times

gave you a genuinely new and useful conclusion

That is 20% useful and 80% without a useful conclusion.

What this drains in your life

Each filled red section represents one level of interference you reported.

The opportunity in front of you

What the current pattern costs you

You are losing 1 hour 45 minutes a day to worrying, rumination, checking and monitoring.

That is 12 hours 15 minutes a week and 10.9% of your waking time.

What that amount of time could make possible

These are separate examples of how the same weekly time could be used. They are not added together.

The next few months What one-third of this time could help you build

These are concrete practice targets, not guaranteed outcomes. Your result depends on how you use the time, the quality of your practice and your circumstances.

Your next small step

Choose a 10 minute experiment. For the next 10 minutes, decide not to continue worrying, ruminating, checking or monitoring.
Postpone it. If the urge returns, tell yourself: “I will leave this until my 15 minute thinking window at 7 pm.” Then leave the question unanswered for now.
Use the 10 minutes differently. Take one small action in an area of life that matters to you.

Simple options: make one customer call, outline one content idea, take a short walk, prepare some food, read a few pages, or message someone you would like to see.

At 7 pm, you can decide whether you still want to use the thinking window. You do not have to use it just because you scheduled it.

You are not doing this because you want to lose time. You are trying to help yourself. But based on your answers, the strategy is costing attention that could support the life you want to build.

This is a reflective educational tool, not a diagnostic test. Your estimates are calculated on this device and are not submitted or stored.