It’s August 30, which means that the 30 days of the August 30 x 30 challenge are up. How’d the challenge work out for those of you who participated? I hope that you made strides you wouldn’t have otherwise made.
I’m happy to report that I had an excellent month. I hate to say it out loud for fear of jinxing it, but I feel like doing genealogy research first thing in the morning is becoming a habit! I’ve been getting up a little early to make time for it. And I get started without any resistance. I have to say, it’s really a wonderful way to start the day!
I’ve also been able to create a habit of keeping a (very simple) research log, in Evernote. And as part of that logging, I always right down next steps. When I start my morning research, I consult my next steps, so I’ve been staying on track. Not once all month did I ask myself that overwhelming question, “What should I work on today?”
Tomorrow I’m going to go through the month’s next steps and compile a list of those steps I haven’t yet taken. I’m also going to take a look at a similar list I made at the end of July and see if there are some undone tasks there.
I know that having a 30 x 30 challenge has kept me on track. I’m going to try to continue the daily research in September without one. (I do have a week-long trip that might make that challenging.) If I’m not able to keep up with it, you can be sure that I’ll start a new 30 x 30 challenge in October!
Please report in and let me know how you did with your challenge, if you’d decided to participate. Even if you didn’t tell me you were participating, I’d love to know if the existence of the challenge was in any way motivating!
I didn’t participate in the challenge, but was inspired by it! I’m going to try my own, using Evidentia, every day in September.
I’m glad you found it inspiring, Carole! Good luck with your challenge!