As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I’m itching for a new 30 x 30 challenge. I find them so motivating. When I have one going, genealogy research shoots to the top of my priority list. (Among Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies, I’m an Upholder.)
These past couple of months I’ve let other tasks take priority over genealogy research and I miss my ancestors! So for the month of April, I commit to doing 30 minutes of genealogy research for 30 days. Who’s with me?
For those of you interested in participating, please know that the rules are your own. For example, I will consider myself successful if I research every day and the 30 day average is at least 30 minutes. There may be some days where 30 minutes will be more than I can do (especially since I’m going to an organizers’ conference the first week in April), but I’ll counterbalance that with longer sessions. I just want to do some research every day.
It’s up to you to decide what you want to work on. For me, it’s genealogy research. For you, it might be organizing your genealogy research. Really, anything counts as long as it fits into your own criteria.
If you’d like to join me starting on April 1, please leave a comment. Happy researching!
Count me in.
Terrific!
I would like to join the 30 x 30 challenge. I need to get my family pictures organized.
Great! Organizing family pictures is a great 30 x 30 project. You’ll get so much accomplished with daily action!
This is my first 30×30. I’m in the midst of Diana Elder and Nicole Dyer’s Research Like a Pro Study Group, so this will count as part of my 30×30 committment. I have a couple days to formulate the month. I took Gretchen’s tendencies quiz. I’m a questioner.
Wonderful, Cheri! I think being a questioner is a great tendency for genealogists! Welcome to the challenge.
I accept the challenge!
Fantastic!
30 minutes a day of scanning documents is what I will be doing. Thank you for the motivation.
Scanning for 30 minutes a day is a great project! I hope it goes well.
I’m going to try the challenge, but because my days can be very busy or very open, I’m going with a 900-minutes in April challenge (30×30).
I took the quiz and I have to laugh! I got what I suspected she’d say before I was halfway through the quiz—Rebel! And I don’t think anyone who knows me well would be surprised!
Kim, I love that your Rebel nature is switching up the challenge to make it work for you. That’s fantastic.
I’m in! I have five of my great aunt’s photo albums to scan. I uncovered them while helping my mom and her cousin organize closets. While taking a break to look through the old photos my second cousin began telling stories about each photo. I don’t want to miss the opportunity to record those stories along with names of the relatives in the photos. I don’t know if I can accomplish this daunting task in thirty days but it’s a good start!
Lynn, regardless of whether you finish the task, you’ll make huge progress with daily effort over this month. It’ll be great!
I want to do the challenge. I am in the middle of digitizing photos and years of paper research but I also want to do some real research during the month.
I took the quiz and I am a rebel, also not a surprise. I recognized myself immediately but I also think I have one particular family line where that tendency was pretty dominant! I’ve always felt especially connected to them. LOL!!!
Bette, mixing “real research into your digitization project will make the whole thing more fun, I suspect. I’m sure you’ll get tons done in a month. Glad you’re joining the challenge!
I’m in. I want to work on my photo backlog.
Terrific, Leslie!
I think my challenge will be 30 minutes of organizing per day since I’m trying to work on organizing what I have without doing more research until I’m mostly caught up (but so hard to stick to it!). This way I can feel better that a consistent amount of organizing gets done even if I do end up doing some research too.
Amber, I know the challenge of trying to get through the backlog before doing new research! The daily effort of the 30 x 30 challenge will help you get your backlog done swiftly, which will be great!
I’m in. Just finished our taxes.
Marie, I love that you can reward yourself for finishing taxes by doing daily genealogy research!
Actually, since you started it, I kept going. I even have a special marker in my calendar to cross out “30×30” on a daily basis 🙂 And I really made progress, be it organizing or sorting through my DNA data, getting in contact with matches etc. So you can definetly count me in 🙂
Barbara, I can’t tell you how happy knowing you have a special 30 x 30 marker for calendar makes me. The organizer in me is all tingly.
So have long have you been doing the daily research? I’m not sure what you meant by “since you started it.” You’re an inspiration!
Well, I am doing it since I read the first blogpost about it. I cannot remember, but having a look at my calendar it is at least since the beginning of the year.
I’m in. I have a large collection of pictures to scan, notes to organize and family letters to write so setting a timer should help me. And this will help me focus.
Excellent, Trisha! I find setting a timer really helps my focus too.
Definitely in for the month of April!. There is lots to do.
Great! Welcome to the challenge!
I took the quiz too and I am a questioner.
Looking at the month, there will be some days that I just can’t do it and other days where I have a large block of time. I think I will take the approach that Kim is taking. I am going for the 900 minutes in April. I am going to go through my records of four ancestors. I want to write up a timeline for each of them.
Mary, a timeline for four ancestors is a great goal for a 900-minute month! And I think being a Questioner is a great thing for a genealogist. Welcome to the challenge!
Time to try one of these challenges. I will be heading into retirement soon & know that I will have more time but, this should get me into a routine. I have been doing well lately on my hits. Now to get organized with loading info into tree.
Excellent, Tammy. Yes, processing those hits by loading info into your tree is so important! (And I think it’s fun, but I’m weird.) I love that this challenge will help you set up your post-retirement genealogy routine.
So far so good. Not quite 30 minutes yesterday but, I will make up for it today.
I will have house to myself. Nothing like quiet & no interuptions to get it done.
That’s terrific, Tammy. I hope you enjoyed your interruption-free research!
Count me in
Fantastic, Sandra!
So glad you are doing another 30×30, Janine! I got a ton done in January and kept it up in February. March fell apart since I was out of the country for a while. I have already put a 30×30 note on my Google Calendar for every day in April. Looking forward to getting back to my research and filling out my Evernote research log again!
That’s wonderful, Christy! I’m so glad you find the 30 x 30 challenge so helpful.
Oh, and BTW, I took the quiz. I’m a Rebel. The day I knew my dad accepted me for who I am was the day he got me a T-shirt that said “Madcap Bohemian Rebel” — it even had a skull and crossbones made out of a happy face. Some might say I’m a Rebel without a Clue, though.
I am going to do this! April is my month to get on track. Feeling motivated!
Yes! It’s going to be a great month!
I am going to do 30 minutes of newspaper research for 30 days. Everyone keeps telling me that I should utilize newspapers more. So that’s my challenge this month. Thanks for all you do and being such an inspiration for my research. Have a great month!!!!
Newspaper research. What fun! I hope you make lots of great discoveries. Thanks for your kind words!
Yes, count me in too Janine.
Excellent!
Yes, it’s time for me to accept this challenge! My goals: complete a minimum of 10 more ancestor Excel spreadsheets (to include all the info I have on them so far); since I re-upped on Ancestry again I need to re-do as much of my family tree as I can (don’t ask, long story about them screwing up my previous account and passwords); finish labeling and importing the last batch of photos I sent out for scanning: and try to scan more of my photos, I’m aiming for 10 per day to make a dent. I will be visiting the grown kids for 3 days so my goals for those days are just to post my #genealogyphotoaday – and take more photos of us together!
Welcome to the challenge, Carol! I’m glad you have such clear goals!
I just discovered something and I thought it is worth shariing. Because I am doing a 900 min challenge instead of 30 min per day, I needed a way to track my minutes. So i set up a note in Evernote. I haven’t used Evernote in awhile, so things look a little new to me. When I started a new note, I saw a link to ‘templates’ in the note. When I clicked on it and played around, I saw found a ‘Habit Tracker’ template, for a 30-day Challenge.
I don’t know how to link to it, but if you click on the ‘templates’ link in your new note, you will find the habit tracker template under ‘personal well being’. If you hover over the upper right corner, a square with 3 dots appeared. Click on it, then click on ‘apply template’ and you are ready to track! Hope someone else finds this helpful!
Kim, thank you so much! I have been ignoring that template link that appears in new notes and I’m so glad you found this template and shared it with us. I can see how it would be helpful for all sorts of thing. And it builds in that great “don’t break the chain” motivation.
I’m in. I’m writing the family history (a re write of a 1916 book) focusing on “my line” and to include the women who married into the family and their ancestry. I have 4 chapters of 13 “done.” with documented sources. What I need to do in this 30×30 is read the book I have on how to use Evernote! and the book I just bought on photo organizing and then make a plan to use both of these resources for the next 30×30! I also have one month left in a Genealogy Bank subscription and “should” research there!
I know I’m replying late but I’m in!