Keeping a One-Line-a-Day Journal

A one-line-a-day journal is exactly what it sounds like: each day you write one line to record the most memorable or noteworthy thing about that day. The special thing about this journal is that you don’t write in it for just one year and then move on. One-line-a-day journals are typically used for three or five or ten years: you return to the same journal page for a given day each year, and by the time you finish the journal, you have accumulated a record of those years. It lets you capture a picture of change and growth as well as the meaningful patterns and rituals you return to each year. 

Kept over time, this short-form journal becomes a valuable record of personal milestones and daily events both large and small. In our busy lives, we often focus on how much we have to do—but writing on the same page each year builds in time for reflection and reminds us how full our lives already are. It can help us remember easily forgotten little moments, like a meal we enjoyed or a conversation we valued. You can also use these journals in a focused way to record special times in your life or important long-term projects, like the first years after a child is born or the progress of a dissertation. 

One-line-a-day journals are a great entry point into journaling for anyone who has trouble sticking with a journaling habit. Bite-sized entries make this kind of journaling easier to build into your day than a more open-ended journal, which can feel intimidating for a beginner. And they make a wonderful project for experienced journalers too: a quick daily exercise that becomes a special keepsake over time.

Setting up your journal

To set up your journal, you can use a special journal designed for one-line-a-day journaling or adapt a regular planner or journal to the purpose. Dedicated one-line-a-day journals, like Leuchtturm’s Some Lines a Day journal or Hobonichi’s 5-Year Techo, often cover a span of five years, which is a nice length: long enough to be meaningful to look back on, but short enough to prevent becoming unwieldy.

If you want to make your own journal, you can also use a regular planner or notebook for this purpose. Just make sure it has enough space to write a little bit every day over the course of several years. Daily planners are ideal, since they already have enough pages dedicated for every day of the year. The Hobonichi Techo works very well: you can divide up the gridded daily pages into yearly sections, and use the yearly index to mark down special dates and anniversaries. A lined or gridded notebook with 365 pages (or two notebooks combined) also gives you plenty of space to write.

Getting started

You can start your one-line-a-day journal at any time. The new year is a great time to begin if you like to form new habits and resolutions, but any time you feel motivated is the right time to dig in. You can easily begin and end this type of journal in the middle of the year.

Consistency is what builds a one-line-a-day journal into a special record, so the most important thing is to try to build it into your day. These journals are designed to be quick: look for a time of day when you have five minutes to yourself, like the end of your work day, or before bed, or when you drink your morning coffee. And when you miss a day (we all do!), try not to let it derail you. You can always fill it in later or skip it once in a while; just try to build the habit.

For stationery lovers, these journals can be a fun opportunity to break out your favorite supplies! You can use a different color ink to write your daily sentence each year, or use stickers and stencils to denote milestones or good days.

What to write in a one-line-a-day journal

A one-line-a-day journal doesn’t have lots of space for elaboration—that’s not the goal here. To keep it manageable, keep it short. (Some dedicated journals of this kind do have extra space if there’s a memory you really want to elaborate on, or if you want to paste in mementos from your day, but it’s not necessary. You can always keep another journal for longer-form writing.)

Pick the most memorable parts of your day. These can be big things—special moments with family, events celebrated, milestones reached—or they can be small, a feeling you experienced or an idea that made you stop and think. Your record doesn’t always have to be positive, and it doesn’t have to be momentous. It’s a reflection of life—hard days, good days, boring days, and all. This type of journaling is an exercise in looking for the parts of our day we find worthy of remembering, whether it’s a conversation that challenged us, a meal we enjoyed, or a long week we made it through. Sometimes time and distance will give us a new perspective when we recall that moment again.