Low mood
Behavioural activation worksheet: a free printable to plan small things when your mood is low
Updated 23 October 2026 · 9 min read · Free to print
A behavioural activation worksheet helps you see how what you do links to how you feel, then plan small, scheduled activities that matter to you. You log your days with mood, achievement and enjoyment ratings, choose a few tiny steps, do them, and review. It is a self-help tool, not therapy.
Drawn from behavioural activation, used in talking therapy for low mood · Part of feelings and calm
Fill it in here (it saves in this browser, but not in a private window), print it, or download the PDF. Free, no sign-up.
When your mood is low, it is easy to do less. You skip the walk, put off the call, stay in. That feels like rest, but it may also shrink your day until little in it gives you anything back. Behavioural activation turns this round. Instead of waiting to feel better before you act, you plan small things on purpose and watch what they do to your mood.
This worksheet takes you through the usual steps. First you log what you do across a few days, rating your mood, how much each thing gave you a sense of achievement, and how much you enjoyed it. Then you think about what matters to you, choose a few small activities, give each a time and a place, and rate them afterwards. A short review at the end shows what to keep, shrink or swap. If you get stuck choosing, the activity list is a menu of small ideas to pick from.
This is not therapy and it is not a way to find out what is wrong. It does not diagnose anything. If your low mood has lasted two weeks or more, or it is getting in the way of work, sleep, eating or the people around you, please see your GP and do not wait for the worksheet to fix it. Support is there to be used, and asking for it early is sensible.
If you are thinking about ending your life or hurting yourself, thoughts like these are serious. Stop here. Call Samaritans on 116 123 (UK and Ireland), call or text 988 (US), or find a line in your country at findahelpline.com. More helplines: selfgrowth.org/help. If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number.
How to use this worksheet
- 1Start with the check-in at the top. If any of it applies, use the support section first and come back to the worksheet later.
- 2Fill in the activity log for two or three ordinary days. Write it as you go if you can. Jot down what you did, not what you think you should have done.
- 3Keep the plan small. A five-minute walk beats a gym session you never start. If a step feels too big, make it smaller until it feels almost too easy.
- 4Do the plan, rate it, and use the review to adjust. You do not need to do all of it in one sitting.
The worksheet
selfgrowth.org
My Behavioural Activation Worksheet
Log what you do and how it feels, think about what matters to you, plan small scheduled activities, rate them afterwards and review. Self-help, not therapy. If you are thinking about harming yourself, stop and see selfgrowth.org/help.
01Before I start: a quick check
This sheet is for low mood in everyday life. Thoughts of ending your life or hurting yourself are serious. If any of the first four apply, set the worksheet aside and use the support lines below.
Tick any that are true right now:
If I ticked any of the first four, the person or line I will contact first (my GP, a friend, Samaritans 116 123, 988 in the US, findahelpline.com) is:
02Step 1: what I actually do (activity log)
For two or three ordinary days, note what you did at different points of the day. Rate three things from 1 to 10: your mood, how much it gave you a sense of achievement (you got something done, however small), and how much you enjoyed it. A rest or a meal counts. Rate honestly, not kindly or harshly. There is no right pattern.
Entry 1
Entry 2
Entry 3
Entry 4
Entry 5
Entry 6
Entry 7
Entry 8
03What the log shows
Read your log back like a detective, not a judge. You are looking for links between what you did and how you felt, not for proof of anything.
Which activities came with a higher mood, even slightly?
Which gave me a sense of achievement, and which gave me enjoyment? Were they the same ones?
What did I do less of, or stop doing, that I used to do?
Did my mood change across the day or between days? What was happening around then?
04Step 2: what matters to me
Small steps work better when they point somewhere you care about. A value is a direction, such as being kind, staying curious or being around people, not a goal you finish. Write a few things that matter to you in each area, even if you are not doing them much at the moment. Skip any area that does not apply.
Relationships and people (family, friends, neighbours)
e.g. being a good friend, staying in touch
- 1.
- 2.
Looking after myself (body, rest, food, health)
- 1.
- 2.
Work, study or things I contribute
- 1.
- 2.
Interests, creativity, nature, fun
- 1.
- 2.
One thing I used to do that mattered to me and I have dropped:
05Step 3: choose three small activities and schedule them
Choose three activities for the coming week. At least one should be linked to something you wrote above, and at least one should be tiny. Give each a day, a time and a place. A plan with a when and a where is easier to start than 'sometime this week'. Do not wait until you feel like it. The aim is to act, then notice what happens.
Entry 1
Entry 2
Entry 3
How likely am I to do these, as planned? (If it is under 7, make the steps smaller.)
What might get in the way, and what will I do if it does?
06Step 4: do it, then rate it
After each planned activity, fill in one row. Rate how you felt before and after, and the achievement and enjoyment you got. If you did not do it, write that down without blame and note what got in the way. That is useful information for the next plan.
Entry 1
Entry 2
Entry 3
Entry 4
Entry 5
07Step 5: review and next week
Look at your ratings. A small change, or none, is still information. Mood does not always rise straight away, and some activities pay off in achievement rather than enjoyment.
What did I notice about how what I did affected how I felt?
For next week, I will:
My plan for next week, in a sentence:
When you're done, a moment to reflect
- What do you do less of when your mood is low, and what does that cost you?
- Which activity gave you the most, and was it achievement, enjoyment or both?
- What tiny step would still be worth doing on your worst day?
- Which value, from the section above, could you act on this week in a small way?
- Who could you tell about this plan so it is easier to follow through?
Done for now?
Save today's answers as a dated entry. You can come back, fill it in again and compare the two side by side.
Does behavioural activation work?
Behavioural activation means planning more of the activities that matter to you. It is a talking therapy that focuses on what you do rather than only what you think. A therapist helps you notice how your activity and mood are linked, then plan more of the things that matter to you and give you something back. The activity log, the achievement and enjoyment ratings and the scheduling steps on this page follow that outline. No single founder is agreed.
There is real research behind it as a treatment. In a 2006 trial by Sona Dimidjian and colleagues, 241 adults with major depressive disorder were assigned to behavioural activation, cognitive therapy, antidepressant medication or placebo. Among the more severely depressed, behavioural activation did about as well as medication, and both did better than cognitive therapy. In the 2016 COBRA trial by David Richards and colleagues, published in The Lancet, 440 adults were assigned to behavioural activation from junior mental health workers or CBT from psychological therapists. After 12 months, behavioural activation was not worse than CBT on a standard depression questionnaire. A 2007 review by Pim Cuijpers and colleagues combined 16 studies of activity scheduling and found no significant difference from other psychological treatments.
The limits matter. In these studies, trained people delivered the treatment, and the people taking part were being treated for depression. COBRA left out people who were acutely suicidal. We found no study showing that filling in a worksheet alone gives the same results, so please see this page as a way to try small, planned steps, not as treatment. If your mood does not lift, or it gets worse, talk to your GP.
These are educational self-reflection tools, not therapy.
If you want to go deeper
- Dimidjian, S., Hollon, S. D., Dobson, K. S., Schmaling, K. B., Kohlenberg, R. J., Addis, M. E., et al. (2006). Randomized trial of behavioral activation, cognitive therapy, and antidepressant medication in the acute treatment of adults with major depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(4), 658-670.
- Richards, D. A., Ekers, D., McMillan, D., Taylor, R. S., Byford, S., Warren, F. C., et al. (2016). Cost and outcome of behavioural activation versus cognitive behavioural therapy for depression (COBRA): a randomised, controlled, non-inferiority trial. The Lancet, 388(10047), 871-880.
- Cuijpers, P., van Straten, A. & Warmerdam, L. (2007). Behavioral activation treatments of depression: a meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 27(3), 318-326.
Your questions, answered
- What is a behavioral activation worksheet?
- It is a page that walks you through behavioural activation: logging what you do and how you feel, choosing small activities linked to what matters to you, scheduling them, and reviewing what happened. This one is a self-help version of an idea used by therapists. It is not therapy and it does not diagnose anything.
- How do you do behavioural activation?
- Log your days for a few days with mood, achievement and enjoyment ratings (Step 1). Note what matters to you (Step 2). Pick three small activities and give each a time and place (Step 3). Do them and rate them (Step 4). Review and adjust (Step 5). Make steps smaller if you do not start them.
- Does behavioural activation work?
- In research, it has been tested as a therapy given by trained people. In a 2006 trial of 241 adults with major depressive disorder, behavioural activation did about as well as antidepressant medication among the more severely depressed, and both did better than cognitive therapy. In the 2016 COBRA trial of 440 adults, behavioural activation from junior mental health workers did no worse than CBT from psychological therapists after 12 months. A 2007 review of 16 studies of activity scheduling found no clear difference from other psychological treatments. None of these tested a worksheet on its own, so we cannot say this page works the same way.
- Is behavioural activation the same as CBT?
- No. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) works with both thoughts and actions. Behavioural activation focuses on actions: what you do, how it affects your mood and what you value. In the COBRA trial it was compared with CBT as a separate treatment. If you want to work with thoughts as well, The thought record worksheet is a place to start.
- What if I do not feel like doing anything?
- That is the situation this is built for. You do not wait for motivation. You choose something small enough to start, give it a time, do it and then check what it did to your mood. If you cannot start even a tiny step for days, or your mood is getting worse, please see your GP.
- Is there a behavioral activation worksheet PDF?
- Yes. Use the Download PDF button for a clean, print-ready copy, or Print to print straight from the page. It is free, with no payment and no email needed. You can also fill it in on screen, and your answers save in your browser.
- Is this worksheet a substitute for therapy?
- No. It is a self-help tool, not therapy or medical advice, and it cannot tell you what is behind your low mood. If your low mood has lasted two weeks or more, or is getting in the way of daily life, see your GP. If you have thoughts of ending your life, call Samaritans on 116 123 (UK and Ireland), 988 (US), or find a line at findahelpline.com.
Keep going, related worksheets
Behavioural Activation Activity List
Free behavioral activation activity list: tick small activities, pick three to schedule, then rate each. A pleasant activities list for low days.
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Thought Record Worksheet
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CBT Triangle Worksheet
Free CBT triangle worksheet: map one moment into thoughts, feelings and behaviours and see how they link. Self-help, not therapy. Free printable PDF.
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