Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Motivated by a little star

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I’m in the midst of this month’s 30 x 30 challenge, where I’m trying to do 30 minutes of genealogy research a day. I’m also trying to whittle my backlog of unprocessed documents down and to remember to enter my work in my research log each session.

I’ll be posting a mid-month update next week, but today I wanted to tell you about a little tweak I made to my workflow that has proven to be very helpful in getting to me use my research log.

Four or five years ago I created a spreadsheet where I can keep track of my backlog and also log how many minutes I researched. I usually use this spreadsheet during 30 x 30 challenges and I just start a new tab for each challenge. (You can read more about this spreadsheet in my post Keeping track of my backlog busting from a year ago.)

This year I added a column where I place a little star after I log the day’s research. It’s crazy to me how rewarding having that little star is. (You can see it in the close-up above.) It not only provides a visual reminder to log the session log, but it also gives me a little jolt of happiness because I’ve earned a star.

I love it when I can come up with easy way to motivate myself!

 

Free organizing class offered by NYG&B next week!

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January 9 to 13, 2023 is NYG&B Week! That week, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society is offering a week of “interactive talks, lectures and opportunities to digitize your own financial history.”

I was excited to see that the week kicks off with an organizing talk by certified genealogist and certified genealogical speaker Julie Miller. I think Julie is a terrific speaker and I was so pleased when she agreed to be interviewed for my How They Do It series, back in 2021.

D. Joshua Taylor, one of the other presenters is also a great speaker and How They Do It interviewee. I’m not familiar with Susan Miller, but I look forward to learning from her.

Here’s the lineup of events for NYG&B week:

  • Four Essential Building Blocks to Organizing Your Genealogy from Julie Miller at 7 pm eastern on Monday, January 9 (online only)
  • Onsite Research in New York, presented by Susan Miller at 5 pm eastern on Tuesday, January 10 (online and in-person)
  • Live Q&A with D. Joshua Taylor and Susan Miller at 4 pm eastern on Wednesday, January 11 (online only)
  • Preserving Your Digital Family History Materials presented by NYG&B President, D. Joshua Taylor at 6 pm eastern on Thursday, January 12 (online only)

In addition, if you’re in New York, you’re invited to bring your family records to the NYG&B each afternoon that week (January 9 to 13) and use their high-speed scanners to digitize them.

All these events are free of charge. Visit the NYG&B Week events page for descriptions and for links to sign up for each.

Keeping genealogy goals attainable

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I’m a big goal setter. Am I a big goal achiever? Not so much when it comes to genealogy goals. Every year I set them (and blog about them) and then I never look at them again. This year, I created a vision board (we recorded a podcast episode about that) and “Little and Often” is part of my vision board, to remind me to work on genealogy frequently.

So this year, in an effort to actually remember and attain my genealogy goals I am making them very simple. Here they are:

  • Research little and often
  • Take one genealogy webinar or class a week
  • Have no documents in my backlog on the last day of every month

Those goals feel attainable and easy to remember. I am going to have a 30 x 30 challenge for the month of January, which will help me stick with the little and often part of it. (Watch for a post about that next week.)

How about you? Do you set genealogy goals? If so, do you achieve them?

 

What to give the genealogist on your list?

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As a professional organizer, I see over and over again how difficult it is for people to let go of items they were given as a gift, even if those items no longer serve them. This observation has changed the way I give gifts. As I’ve written repeatedly on my organizing blog, I think it’s much kinder to give a gift that doesn’t have a chance to turn into clutter.

Luckily there are many non-tangible gifts that won’t turn into clutter. And if you have a genealogist on your holiday gift list especially easy, since there are so many fun, clutter-free gifts available, even at the last minute. I’ve updated the list I published last year, I hope you find it helpful. Here are my ideas:

  • A subscription to an online service, like Ancestry, Fold3 or MyHeritage
  • A membership in a local society (even if it’s not local to your gift recipient) that offers webinars, like the Florida State Genealogical Society or the Southern California Genealogy Society (among many others). Access to the webinar archives is an amazing, inexpensive gift.
  • A gift certificate to work with a professional genealogist
  • A photo consultation with Maureen Taylor, photo detective
  • My Orderly Roots Bundle (you could download it for them and email it, or contact me after you pay for it for a special code they can use to download it themselves)
  • Your help with their genealogy (maybe offer to spend a couple of hours on one of their brick walls)
  • Your help decluttering or organizing their research space
  • A trip together to a cemetery or research library
  • Registration for a genealogy conference
  • A date to attend the 2023 RootsTech conference together virtually or in person!

As much as I love clutter-free gifts, I do have a suggestion of a physical gift for the genealogist in your life who wears necklaces. It’s the family tree necklace from Lisa Leonard Designs, which you can have made with your own surnames. I adore the one I gave myself back in 2014.

Photo by Lore Schodts on Unsplash.