For the past few months, I’ve had this one pile on the corner of my desk that contains primarily genealogy items. When I’m hurriedly putting away the stuff cluttering my desktop, I just keep straightening that pile and leaving it there. It’s almost become a feature of the landscape of my desk. Somehow I’ve adjusted my thinking so that I have been considering my desktop clear even with that pile sitting there.
I think one of the reasons that I wasn’t dealing with it was a perception that it would take some time to really process the information in it. I was afraid that if I rushed it, I might lose valuable clues the pile might contain for my genealogy research. And I simply wasn’t taking the time to do it. (Work has been very busy lately.)
I know if I take some focused time and go through that pile, I will further my research and I won’t have an unsightly pile on my desk. But it hit me this morning that if I start but don’t finish, I’m still better off than not starting at all. So I took a photo of the pile, and wrote all the text above this line. Then I set my timer for 15 minutes and started going through the pile.
Here are some of the things I found in the pile:
- Notes from my research trip to Kentucky and Alabama. I added tasks from those notes to my Genealogy To-Do List for the appropriate surname. Then I filed the notes in my paper files.
- A packet of information I’d sent for from the the State of Alabama Archives pertaining to my great great grandfather, Laban Taylor Rasco. I put a sticky note saying “Analyze/process” on the packet and added that task to my Rasco To-Do List. Then I filed the packet in that couple’s file.
- Notes from my notebook that I took on the research trip. One page had notes on Adamses on one side and notes on Rascoes on the other. I scanned the Rasco side, printed it and put in in my Rasco file for later reference. I filed the original sheet in the appropriate Adams file.
- Notes written on several pages of two notepads I keep on my desk. I tore off the notes, logged any tasks on my To-Do list and filed or tossed the notes. Then I put the notepads where they belong.
- A random list of how common my family surnames are. Some time ago, I found myself on a website (which I didn’t source) where you can enter a surname and see how common it is. I typed the data into Evernote so I can find it later if I ever remember it.
- A small sticky note with a list of death certificates I’d found recently that needed to be added to my Reunion software. I checked each name to see which certificates had been entered already. Two out of five still needed to be added and I noted that on my to-do list. I threw away the sticky note.
- Some brainstorming notes about this blog. I filed them and made a note on my business task list to review them.
When the 15-minute timer went off I had just a few more pieces of paper to deal with. So I went ahead and finished, then did the filing.
Eliminating that pile took no more than thirty minutes. This is a pile I’d been looking at for several months. It had been mildly stressing me out, because I didn’t know its contents and it was in the way.
Now I feel in control of my research, I have clear next steps and I feel more eager to work on it. Plus I have a clear desk to enjoy. That’s the best 30 minutes I’ve spent in awhile!
What could 30 minutes of pile busting do for you?
You’ve inspired me. I always seem to have a similar genealogy pile on my desk. I will take 30 minutes after lunch today and do just what you did! Thanks!
That’s great, Elizabeth! How did it go?
The pile is greatly reduced, but a lot of what was in it were issues of genealogy society journals that I’ve kept because of an interesting source reference. I have folders for those, but another project is to go through those journals and determine the best way to keep the interesting source reference without having to keep the entire journal. Evernote is likely the way to go.
That’s an interesting challenge. Seems to me that scanning to Evernote is a great option! Congrats on reducing your pile!
Janine,
I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today’s Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2015/02/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-february-6.html
Have a wonderful weekend!
Thanks, Jana! I’m honored. I hope you have a great weekend too!
I need to go and do some pile busting in my room! I have a mixture of Genealogy stuff and other stuff in piles around the room which needs filing or binning!
Go, Marion! It’ll feel great!
Need to get a day off work to do that which won’t be happening before at least next week if not the week after! 🙁
I did this one day – in only 15 minutes, I was so much more organized. The little piles disappeared and I felt so much more focused. Thanks!
Fantastic, Jacquie! It’s amazing how much we can get done in just 15 minutes, isn’t it? 15 minutes of decluttering/organizing is time well spent.
I’m late coming to this page, but arriving late makes me ask this question: How many of those follow-up tasks have you attacked since you put them on your to-do list in February? In myself, I detect a strong bias in favor of “getting out there and acquiring data” over “sitting still and analyzing the stuff in Those Old Papers.”
Lately I’ve been using Ancestry at a library and using its feature that lets me “send home” the documents that I find instead of printing them out. When I get home, there’s an email message from Ancestry waiting for me. It contains the list of links that allow me to download the images onto my own computer, even though I don’t have an Ancestry subscription of my own. Very slick. Very nice to have those images and also very nice to have a list of all the work I did.
But. It’s ridiculous of me, but I resist the chore of actually saving those images on my computer, analyzing each one, updating my Reunion database with the new information, and adding the citation. After one hour of work in the library, I have several hours worth of work to process those documents, and somehow it has to be an act of self-discipline to do it within a day or two.
So one of my Ferengi Rules of Document Acquisition has to be:
Process what I have before acquiring more.
Marian, thanks for your comment and for keeping me honest! I looked through the list and I’ve actually done a lot of it. I did miss a couple of items that I’d added to my task list, so I appreciate your asking!
I actually enjoy the process of analyzing documents and entering findings into Reunion, so it’s not too hard for me to get that stuff done. Here’s what I know (for myself anyway): If I don’t enter it into Reunion, it’s pretty lost to me forever. So that’s pretty motivational.
It’s possible that a timer might help you get past your resistance to saving those images and analyzing and entering them. Maybe set a timer for 15 or 30 minutes and see how many you can get done. Perhaps once you get the ball rolling you’ll keep going; I think that particular set of tasks is very valuable, so it’s self-reinforcing.
I think you’re pot on with your new rule of document acquisition. And thanks for turning me onto the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition (had to Google it!)!
Love those old Deep Space Nine episodes. We all have some Ferengi in us!
I admire your progress with those follow-up tasks, and I admit that I enjoy those analyzing and updating tasks — that’s where the genealogy gets done. Maybe my mental block is about trying to process all those finds in one sitting? But, for me, it’s hard to remember where I was in my list of “finds” and return to it later if too much time passes.
Do you use Evernote? If so, you could forward the email you get from Ancestry into an Evernote notebook and create a checklist of the documents. Or copy and paste the list into a word processing document, just so you can keep track of what’s been done. But if you follow your new Ferengi Rule of Document Acquisition you should be able to stay on top of it!