How to Do a One-Minute Daily Mood Check-In

A one-minute mood check-in has two parts. First, one word or one number for how today has felt overall. Second, one short note about what seemed to affect it, such as "slept badly" or "lunch with my sister". Do it at the same point each day, write it down, and then close the notebook. There is nothing to work out and nothing to fix in that minute. You are making a small, honest record you can look back on later if you want to.

If you are struggling

A check-in is a way of noticing, and it cannot replace talking to a person. If low or difficult feelings keep coming back, are getting worse or are making ordinary things like work, eating or sleeping hard to manage, talk to a doctor or a qualified mental health professional. If you think you might harm yourself, or you are in danger now, contact your local emergency number or a crisis line straight away. You do not need a week of notes to ask for help.

Armored Kitten is not a therapist, a crisis service or a medical device. This guide is general wellbeing information only.

What goes in the check-in

Keep it this small on purpose. A long form feels like homework on a hard day, and a hard day is exactly when you would skip it.

One word or one number. Choose a short scale once and keep it. A five-step word scale works well because the words are plain and none of them is a judgement:

If numbers feel cold, use only the words. If words feel like too much, use only the number. Both are fine, as long as you use the same scale each day so the entries mean the same thing when you read them back.

One note about what affected it. Write the first ordinary thing that comes to mind: "long shift", "rain all day", "argument about money", "walked to the shops", "good call with Dad". One line is enough. You are noting what was around the mood, not explaining it.

You can add energy as a second number if it helps, because a tired day and a sad day can feel similar but are different things to notice. Leave it out if it makes the minute longer.

When to do it

The best time is the one you will keep. Attach the check-in to something you already do daily, so you are adding ten words to an existing habit instead of building a new one.

Evening suits many people because you are describing a full day. If bedtime check-ins keep you thinking when you would rather be winding down, move it earlier. The evening wind-down checklist has ideas for closing the day once the entry is done.

Once a day is plenty. Checking several times a day can turn a quick note into constant self-watching, which is the opposite of the point.

What the check-in is not for

This is the part most mood check-in advice leaves out, and it matters more than the format.

It is not a diagnosis. A run of low words does not mean you have a particular condition, and a run of good ones does not mean everything is fine. A check-in has no way to tell you what is happening in your health. If you are worried, the notes can be something you bring to a professional, who can actually assess it.

It is not a score for you. A "2" is a description of a day, not a mark for how well you coped. Avoid adding up numbers, averaging them or setting targets like "get to 4 this week". Feelings do not respond to targets, and chasing a number tends to make honest entries harder.

It is not a pass or fail. Writing "very difficult" is a successful check-in. The aim is accuracy, and a low day recorded honestly is more useful later than a good day you exaggerated.

It is not a reason to cheer yourself up. You do not have to end the entry on a positive note or find a silver lining. "Difficult. Bad news from the landlord." is complete.

It is not a conversation with yourself. If the minute keeps stretching into twenty minutes of going over the day, shorten the note, or stop checking in for a while. Tracking is optional.

Example: Sam's first week

An illustrative example (Sam is made up). Sam wanted to understand why some weeks felt heavier, so she tried a check-in each evening while her tea brewed.

On Tuesday she noticed herself starting to write a paragraph about why she always feels like this. She stopped at "slept badly, skipped lunch" and closed the notebook. On Thursday she forgot, and on Friday she did not go back and guess. The gap stayed a gap.

At the end of the week she did not try to work out what it all meant. She had seven nights of practice at a ten-word habit, which was the only goal for week one. Reading entries back is a separate, weekly job, and it works better once there are a couple of weeks to look at.

A check-in card you can copy

Write this on a card, in your phone's notes or inside the cover of a notebook.

Daily check-in (one minute)
When: after ____________________ (my existing daily moment)
Today felt: 1 Very difficult / 2 Difficult / 3 In between / 4 Mostly okay / 5 Good
What affected it: ______________________________
(Optional) Energy: 1 to 5 ____
Rules: one line only. No averages, no targets, no guessing missed days.

When you skip days or cannot find the word

Real check-ins rarely look like a neat grid. A few situations come up for almost everyone.

You missed a day, or a week. Leave it blank. Do not fill it in from memory, because a guess written days later is a different kind of entry. A blank only means nothing was recorded; it says nothing about how you felt. The same idea applies to habits, as the guide on what a missing habit entry means explains. Start again with today's entry.

The day had two very different halves. Pick the word for most of the day, and let the note carry the rest: "In between. Awful morning, fine evening."

No word fits. Write "unsure" or "flat" and a note. An entry in your own words is better than forcing one of five.

Every entry says the same thing. That is still information. You do not need variety for the check-in to be worth doing.

Checking in makes you feel worse. Some people find that naming the feeling every day keeps it in front of them. If that happens, stop for a while or switch to only noting the ordinary thing that happened. If the low feelings themselves continue, that is the moment to talk to someone, as described above.

You are having a very hard day. Skip the format. One line saying "very difficult" is enough, and a smaller plan for a difficult day will help more than any note.

How Mood & Support in Armored Kitten can hold it

Armored Kitten works one manageable step at a time, and a check-in of one word and one line is about as small as a step gets. If you would like somewhere other than paper to keep it, the companion has an optional Mood & Support area in Telegram and in the Mini App.

• Saving is off until you choose it. In the Telegram chat, send /mood consent to read what is saved, then /mood consent confirm to turn it on. In the Mini App, open Mood & Support and choose "Turn on optional Mood saving".
• A check-in is a mood choice and an energy choice for a date. The mood options use the same five words as the table above, and energy runs from "Very low energy" to "Lots of energy". In the chat, /mood 3 3 saves mood 3 and energy 3 for today. The check-in itself has no note field, so keep your one-line note in your own notebook or phone.
• Your history shows gaps as gaps. /mood history 7, 30 or 90 lists what you saved in that range, and the Mini App shows the same range. It says plainly that days without a check-in are missing data and do not show how you felt. You can edit or delete any single check-in.
• You decide how long it is kept. Choose 7, 30 or 90 days. /mood off pauses new saving, reminders and check-in invites, /mood delete previews and then permanently removes your saved Mood records after you confirm, and /export includes them in your account export.
• Invites are optional. While saving is on, if you have not checked in for two days, the companion may send a short invite in your local afternoon or early evening. It never includes your mood, it can be skipped, and its opt-out button switches the invites off.
• Access. Mood & Support is part of the optional Plus membership. Saving check-ins needs an active Plus membership or an active trial. The general guidance, activity ideas, the human support options and deleting saved Mood data remain available without either.

The companion does not interpret your check-ins or tell you what they mean. They are your own self-reports, and the app labels them that way.

Questions people often ask

Is a number or a word better? Whichever you will keep using. Words are easier to read back months later; numbers are quicker on a busy day. Pick one and stay with it.

What if I do not feel anything in particular? Write "in between" or "flat" and note what the day held. Ordinary days are part of the record too.

Should I check in when I feel fine? Yes, if you can. Good and ordinary days make the harder ones easier to understand when you look back.

Can the check-in tell me if something is wrong? No. It is a record of how days felt to you, not an assessment. If you are concerned about how you have been feeling, talk to a doctor or a qualified mental health professional, and bring the notes if that helps.

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