Another 30 x 30 challenge has come and gone and I’m interested in hearing how things went for you. Folks are often in a great mindset in January to create new habits (I know I am), and I’m hoping that those who chose to participate in the January 30 x 30 challenge (30 minutes of genealogy research for 30 days in a row) found it beneficial!
So please, report in! I’ll start. Unlike last October’s challenge, this challenge for me was terrific. I was able to research each and every day and it was never a hardship. It helped that I had a lot of time at my desk this month (which I’m particularly grateful for because it’s been so cold out). And I think it also helped, for some reason, that I was also doing yoga daily. Something about combining those two daily habits was synergistic, I think. In any case, my research log is a thing of beauty because there’s an entry every day.
So what’s next? For me, I’m going to work on vanquishing the genealogy paper pile I discovered late in the month by spending 30 minutes a day with it until it’s gone. (That counts as research, in my book.) I’m not declaring a formal challenge but I’m hoping that I’ll work on it each and every day. Two months of daily research would really make me happy!
How about you? How’d your January 30 x 30 challenge go? Did you find it helpful?
I bet you’ll find some treasures in that paper pile and be thrilled to have them scanned and recorded in your database at last. Now to attack my remaining pile….
I’m confident you’re right, Marian. I’m enjoying the process, particularly since I’m doing it in 30 minute stretches and stopping!
I am curious about the yoga was synergistic with the research. For me, screen time often battles with physical care. Did you yoga first or second or either way?
I think the synergy was in the habit formation. Something about having made a commitment to do both things made the commitment stronger. As the month went on, I tended to do the genealogy research in the morning and the yoga in the evening, before dinner.
I just found you after listening to 2 podcasts. Generation Cafe & Getting to Good Enough. After cleaning my desk for Christmas holidays & putting my work away (desk is in kitchen), I pulled it some files out last weekend & said I am going to do a little bit each day. So then hearing your 30 day challenge (to late) I wished I would have known sooner. However I can still do it. I think this will be great. I also will conquer the “vanquishing the genealogy paper pile” at the same time. I have set up a file system but still working on it as the paper pile needs to go into it.
It’s never to late for a 30-day challenge, Tammy! I’m happy to have you join me in getting rid of paper piles. So glad you heard the podcasts and made your way here.
I made it through all of January with at least 30 minutes of genealogy a day. Sometimes I had to stop myself to not go overboard and stay up for hours again. Because I knew there would be the next 30 minutes the next day. Some days it was only reading blogposts or articles in magazines I stored forever. Or the society paper which came via snail mail 4 months ago 🙂 But it worked.. and I will go on in February
Excellent, Barbara! I love that knowing you’d have another 30 minutes from tomorrow stopped you from staying up all hours doing genealogy. I think that’s great!
Made it through January and between sorting, research and attending a conference I made my 30 minutes a day. I plan to continue my 30 minutes a day doin research and sortin. I enjoy your challenges.
Good job, Jerry!
January ended up being a great month for me! I ended up doing genealogy research for 17 out of 31 days (not all of it consecutively though). January has given me more completed research days than any other month since I’ve started this challenge last June.
While I didn’t finish my four (or five) step process for anyone in the month of January, I did come close to finishing it for myself. I’m hoping to finish the process for myself this week and be able to start on the same process for at least one of my parents next week. I’m hoping to finish at least my parents’ generation by the end of the month. We’ll see what happens though!
That’s terrific, Rebecca!!
I managed to average 30 minutes. It helped that I decided to try a newer software package, Legacy 9. Not that I am discarding my FTM 2012. Anyway, I definitely need to join the paper cleanup challenge. I too have an ‘office’ in a small corner of the kitchen. And my only bookcase needs to be shared with my gardening books and seed starting.
Congrats on your successful January challenge, Roberta! Glad you’re joining me in clearing out that paper. Kitchen offices seem to be particularly challenging to keep orderly.
I also averaged 30 minutes daily. I was able to locate all the census records up through all 8 of my great-grandparents, and I have a head start on my great-greats. I thought I had posted here before, but in looking at the posts, I can see I didn’t. I’m excited to keep working on my blog: https://www.shakingmyfamilytree.com/. Thank you for running this challenge, Janine!