My Favorite App: 1 Second Everyday

December 27, 2018

On January 1st last year, I was sitting at my computer and saw my good friend Michelle Stoker post a video recapping her previous year. Second by second, day by day, the video went on. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it – I didn’t even want to blink because I would knew miss something. I instantly messaged her saying “What is this video and why did you never tell me about it?!” That day, my new goal for the year became to create my own video diary for 2018.

I downloaded the 1 Second Everyday app instantly (they recently announced it is now free!). I started recording videos. Day by day. I was creating my video diary of the year. Every month that went by I would watch my new compiled video and feel this odd sense of accomplishment. But, what I wasn’t expecting, was the joy that this video and app filled me with. Every day I would wake up and anticipate my video for the day. What was going to make me happy today? It made me pause numerous times throughout the day and recognize all of the good that was surrounding me. Even on “boring days” where I worked from home I would take the time to recognize something that made me smile – whether it was a walk with the dogs, lighting a candle, receiving a letter in the mail, watering the plants of wearing fuzzy socks. The app forced me to look at life differently, and I’m so grateful for that!

In addition, I love that I have more concrete memories from the year! I remember the people that I got together with. I can recall those vacations more easily. I haven’t forgotten the books that I read. I remember all of those little days that made up this wonderful year.

Take a look at my video from 2018 (not sure why the audio disappears a few times in here… sigh… technology can’t be perfect. lol)

As 2019 approaches, I’m looking forward to finding the joy and remembering the big and little moments of the new year. I hope you’ll join me in documenting your days too!

Tips For Using 1 Second Everyday

  • Use your phone camera to record your videos. Don’t worry if your video is longer than one second, you can crop it when you upload it in the app.
  • Record horizontally instead of vertically! The app compiles the video in a horizontal screen, so if you use vertical ones you’ll have black borders on the side.
  • In my opinion, the best one second snippets are captured when your camera is kept still and your subject does the moving (rather than moving your camera for 1 second – a panning video can be too fast to comprehend when it gets smashed with all of the other videos).
  • Preview how your 1-second video will be trimmed each day by using the green rectangle at the bottom of the reel. For example, if I have a 6-second snippet of my dogs playing, I can trim that down to one second by sliding the green rectangle at the bottom of the app. By pressing on the section of the video that’s highlighted in the green rectangle I can see exactly which 1-second clip will be included in my final video (as opposed to just hoping that I got the right snippet!).
  • Adjust the app settings to send you a push notification reminder if you haven’t added a second by a certain time each day. I love this feature because it is virtually impossible to forget to record my second when I see the notification in the top bar of my phone.

Enjoy! Here’s to being even more intentional with what brings you joy in 2019!