Hibi - Here I Breathe In

My Daily Journaling System

I’ve always struggled with consistency in journaling. I’d try different apps, notebooks, and methods, but nothing ever stuck for more than a few weeks. The problem wasn’t motivation, it was that most systems felt either too rigid or too chaotic for how my mind works.

Then I discovered the Kindle Scribe and something clicked. The digital paper feel, the ability to organize pages, and the simplicity of black ink on white background appealed to me. I decided to create my own daily journaling system.

Enter my system: Hibi

I named it hibi (ひび) - short for “here I breathe in”, which is also a Japanese word meaning “daily” or “everyday.” The name felt right; this journal has become my daily breathing space for thoughts, plans, and reflections.

The Structure

Each day gets exactly one page (maybe two sometimes). At the top, I write the date, and next to it, a title, but here’s the key - I don’t write the title until the end of the day. The title emerges from whatever happened, whatever I wrote about, whatever dominated my thoughts.

This end-of-day titling has become one of my favorite parts. It forces me to synthesize the day into its essence.

My Symbol System

Instead of separate sections, I use bullet symbols (inspired from bujo) to indicate what I’m writing about.

• - log - day to day logs, what happened today, things I did or observed
• * highlight - important moments, achievements, or standout events
• ! insight/idea - sudden realizations, creative thoughts, or important discoveries
• ? question - things I’m wondering about or exploring
• ☰ detailed info - extended notes, context, or additional information
• ~ reflection - thoughts, emotions, realizations about experiences
• + event - scheduled appointments, meetings, or planned activities
• ☐ task - open/incomplete tasks that need to be done
• ⊡ partially worked on - tasks that are in progress but not finished
• ⊠ completed task - tasks that have been successfully finished
• x cancelled task - tasks that are no longer relevant or needed
• ↗ postponed task - tasks moved to the next day (added beside original entry)
• = list - header for creating organized lists or categories
• . list item - individual items within a list or subcategory

The Two-Day Lookback System

This is where it gets interesting. I only look back two days when planning today. If I had a task scheduled for yesterday that I didn’t complete, I don’t rewrite it - I just add a ↗ arrow next to the original task, making it ↗☐.

If I skip it again the next day, it becomes ↗↗☐. After three skips, I make a decision: either rewrite the task fresh on today’s page (and strike through the old one to show it’s been moved), or cancel it entirely with x.

This system prevents task list bloat while keeping me honest about what I’m actually willing to do.

A Day in Practice

Here’s what March 15th looked like:

2025.03.15

  - woke up at 0530, felt groggy
  + meeting at 1000
  ☐ review quarterly goals by noon
  ! an app for hibi
  - deep work session 9-12, made good progress
  ☐ send follow-up email to client
  ☰ grocery list
    . milk
    . eggs
    . bread
  ~ feeling grateful for quiet evening at home

On same day before bed, when I review the page. I put the title for the day. I cross off the completed tasks. And for the tasks I didnt complete, instead of rewriting them on next day’s page, I add ↗ in front of the task. So an end-of-day update looks like this:

2025.03.15 - All work and no play

  - woke up at 0530, felt groggy
  + meeting at 1000
 ↗☐ review quarterly goals by noon
  ! an app for hibi
  - deep work session 9-12, made good progress
  ⊠ send follow-up email to client
  ☰ grocery list
    . milk
    . eggs
    . bread
  ~ feeling grateful for quiet evening at home

The arrows tell me I have these tasks carried over from previous days without cluttering up today’s page. If I skip them again tomorrow, they’ll become ↗↗☐ on March 15th’s page.

What I’ve learned

Mixed content works for me. Having logs, tasks, and reflections all mixed together mirrors how my mind actually works. Life doesn’t happen in neat categories.

Writing the title forces me to think about what the day was really about, beyond just what I accomplished. Looking back at my daily titles, I can see themes emerge - which days were productive, which were reflective, which were scattered.

When I see ↗↗[] next to a task, I have to confront whether I actually want to do it or if I’m just carrying it forward out of guilt. The two-day lookback has been particularly revelatory - I’m learning which tasks I consistently avoid and why. It’s become a tool for self-awareness as much as productivity.

Currently I do this on the Kindle Scribe - it feels like paper but gives me the organization and searchability of digital. Maybe in future I can looks into a small A6 notebook for a more physical touch.

This is not a necessary daily ritual for me, but I do it most of the days. Some days I write half a page, other days I fill two pages. Some titles are profound (My Resistance to Change), others are mundane (Laundry and Leftover Pizza). Both feel equally valid in capturing the reality of daily life.

The system feels sustainable because it’s flexible enough to handle chaotic days but structured enough to provide clarity. Also at the end of the week I just review the whole week and collect all the highlights and the learnings of the week.

This digital daily breathing space has become essential to how I process life, one page at a time.