A worksheet combining values clarification with activity pacing and self-regulation, suited to fatigue, burnout, overwhelm, and living with a long-term condition. It helps you clarify what matters across life domains, recognise the boom-bust (overactivity then crash) pattern, and build a paced activity plan based on a sustainable baseline with gradual planned increases rather than activity driven by how you feel on the day. It also helps you spot early signs of over-doing and plan rest, so that you can live your values sustainably over time.
Values, Pacing and Self-Regulation
PreviewWhen energy is limited, how you spend it matters more, not less. Clarifying your values helps you decide where your limited energy is best invested, so that pacing becomes about protecting what you care about, not just doing less. Think about the kind of person you want to be and the directions you value, even if your condition makes them harder right now.
Note what you value in a few life areas, and how important each feels right now.
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Which one or two valued directions would you most want your energy to go toward at the moment?
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Boom-bust (also called the over-under activity cycle) is very common with fatigue and long-term conditions. On a 'good' day, you push to get lots done (boom), often to make up for lost time. This overshoots your current capacity and is followed by a flare or crash (bust), where you can do very little and may feel low or frustrated. Then a good day arrives and the cycle repeats. It is an understandable pattern, not a failing. Mapping it is the first step to smoothing it out.
How much does the boom-bust pattern (push hard on good days, then crash) describe you?
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On a good day, what makes you push and overdo it? (e.g. catching up, not wanting to waste the energy, expectations of yourself or others.)
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What does the crash (bust) look like for you afterwards, and how long does it usually last?
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What does this cycle cost you, in terms of the things you value?
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A baseline is an amount of an activity you can do consistently, even on a worse day, without triggering a crash. This is the foundation of pacing. The trick is to set it lower than you think you can manage, based on what is reliably sustainable rather than what you can do on a good day. A steady, slightly-too-easy baseline beats an ambitious one that tips you into bust.
For a few key activities, work out a baseline you could sustain even on a below-average day. Use time (minutes) or a quota (amount) rather than 'until it is done'.
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Pacing means doing your baseline amount on good days AND bad days, by plan and not by how you feel. Which baseline will be hardest to stick to on a good day, and why?
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Now turn baselines into a plan. Two principles make pacing work: (1) activity is planned in advance and time/quota-based, so you stop when the plan says, not when symptoms force you; (2) increases are small, gradual and planned (for example, adding 10 percent or a couple of minutes only after the baseline feels reliably easy for several days), rather than jumping ahead on a good day. Breaks are scheduled before you need them, not earned by overdoing it.
Plan how you will carry out and gradually build a key activity. Schedule breaks and small planned increases.
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Pacing also means switching between different types of activity (physical, mental, social, restful) rather than doing too much of one. How could you alternate tasks to spread the load across a day?
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Self-regulation is noticing your early warning signs of overdoing it and responding before a full crash, plus giving yourself genuine permission to rest. Rest is part of the plan, not a reward you have to earn and not a sign of failure.
Which early signs tell you that you are starting to overdo it? (Tick any, and add your own below.)
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Any other personal early warning sign?
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When you notice these signs, what is your plan? (e.g. pause now, take a planned rest, switch activity, stop at the baseline even though you feel able to continue.)
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Resting before you crash is a skill, not a weakness. Write a permission statement for yourself for the moments when stopping feels hard.
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How confident are you that you can catch the early signs and rest before a crash this week?
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The point of pacing is not to do less for its own sake. It is to spread your energy so you can keep showing up, over weeks and months, for what matters most to you. Connecting your plan back to your values helps it feel purposeful and worth the short-term frustration of holding back on good days.
How will pacing yourself help you live your top values more consistently over time?
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Holding back on a good day is a trade: a bit less now, in exchange for more consistency later. Write a reminder of why this trade is worth it for you.
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Date to review how pacing went and adjust the plan
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‘Values, Pacing and Self-Regulation’ is an interactive cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) worksheet. As a core CBT skill it is used right across the model, with presentations including depression, anxiety, OCD, trauma and low self-esteem, rather than being tied to a single diagnosis.
It is designed to be used within therapy rather than as a standalone self-help tool: a therapist introduces it, works through it collaboratively, and helps make sense of what it surfaces. You can preview the full worksheet above, then assign it digitally for clients to complete between sessions on any device — or download it as a print-ready PDF.
Most people work through it in around 20 minutes. It moves through six short steps:
Completed on the Formulate platform, your client's answers are saved automatically and shared straight back to you, so you can review them before the next session rather than waiting for a paper copy to come back.
In common with other CBT methods, ‘Values, Pacing and Self-Regulation’ works by re-engaging with meaningful and rewarding activity (behavioural activation). The aim is not positive thinking but a clearer, shared understanding of what keeps a difficulty going — and practical, testable ways to change it.
Because it is a CBT tool it stays focused on the here-and-now links between thoughts, feelings, the body and behaviour, and it works best as one part of a wider course of therapy rather than as advice or a diagnosis.
Formulate provides educational CBT resources for use with a qualified therapist. They are not a substitute for professional assessment, diagnosis, or crisis care.
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This worksheet is grounded in established cognitive behavioural therapy theory and practice. Key sources include: