Are you a goal setter? I sure am. Every year I set aside a day to work on my personal and business goals. This year, I did it on December 16. But I ran out of time to consider my personal genealogy goals, so I did that this morning.
I sat down with a pad of paper and I did a little brainstorming session with myself. I achieved some clarity really fast. The release of the 1950 census on April 1 creates a natural break in the year. I decided to focus the first quarter of the year on preparing for that day and cleaning up my existing research. The latter three quarters will be about new research and avoiding a backlog.
So here’s what I decided:
First quarter 2022:
- Eliminate backlog of downloaded files to process
- Continue checking my source documentation to make sure everything’s accurate and complete
- Prepare for the 1950 census
Rest of 2022:
- Glean as much information from the 1950 census as possible
- Shift my family focus to the Jeffries line (that’s my maternal grandmother’s line)
- Do a deep dive on my Civil War ancestor Richard Anderson Jeffries
One overarching intention for the year is to try harder to do daily research. For the last few years, I’ve found that in the absence of a 30 x 30 challenge, I ignore my research. Sometimes, I’m able to sustain daily research for months at a time, but that’s fallen by the wayside. In 2022, I’m going to try to do at least a little something every single day to keep my mind in the game. I know that, for me, that means researching in the early morning. Perhaps I’ll try to go to bed a little earlier so I can get up earlier to accomplish this. I plan a 30 x 30 challenge starting January 1, 2022, so I’ll have that support as I kick off the year.
I realize that I didn’t so much set goals this year as clarify my focus. And that’s good enough for me. It feels great. The plan for the year feels simple and attainable.
If you’ve set goals that you feel like sharing, please share in the comments. I’d love to hear them!
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
I have a Brady-Vizard (my dad’s parents) family reunion at a state park in Pennsylvania in June! My goal is to have completed (with what I have so far) booklets of the Brady and Vizard lines! I’ve never created a formal document, so this is going to be a slog, and I’m going to have to nail down citations and sources at last! – Joy
What a wonderful deadline and project to focus on!! I encourage you not to envision it being a slog, but rather being a pleasure. Enjoy!
Hi Janine,
Thanks for sharing your yearly review and 2022 goals. I agree the key is making goals simple and attainable. My 2021 goals were simpler than 2020, but in 2021 life kept getting in the way, so I reduced my extraneous commitments that no longer align with my goals. I have chosen to harness the Power of Three for 2022 and you post reminded me to set aside time to finalize mine.
Excellent, Cheri! I’m glad my post could be a reminder for you! Good for you for reducing commitments that no longer align with your goals!
I like your idea from a previous post to concentrate on a different ancestor for each quarter of the year. I also plan write up a summary report to clarify my research and share with family members. I’ll, of course, end each report with ideas for more research on the subject (one is never completely done!). I also include little checkboxes for short genealogy research in my weekly list now. Most weeks have 3 – 5 boxes. Seeing these empty boxes sometime encourages me to spend a little genie time. Yes….I’m a list maker, too!
Zenda, gotta love lists! Your plans sound excellent!
I have two main goals since finding out a few days ago who my gggrandparents on my paternal grandmothers maternal side I need to research that line of family. Secondly a conference in November so need to organise work that could be used in workshops. Hope everyone has fabulous Christmas New Year.
Maree Croxon
Oh nearly forgot daughters partner is making website for me busy new year
Maree, congrats on that discovery! How fun that you have a new line to research! A conference and a new website in 2022! It’ll be a great year.
I haven’t set any goals, but I have many possible ones to choose from LOL
That’s one of the challenges, Nancy, isn’t it? So many options! Good luck formulating your goals, if you choose to!
Looking forward to the challenge in January 2022. December has been a hit and miss on doing genealogy. I believe it has been more misses than hits. Next week will set up my goals for 2022. I usually do not complete all my goals. Concerning the 1950 census, if nothing else I want to know where I lived. I either lived in Albuquerque, NM or Annapolis, MD. Have a Merry Christmas.
Jerry, I think it’s wonderful that the 1950 census will solve such a personal mystery! I hope your goal-setting goes well.
One of my goals is to write up a narratives of my ancestors. I always start out strong in January and then… well… not much else happens. I think I get caught up in making it perfect. So maybe I really should focus on giving up perfect for progress.
Perfectionism can definitely get in the way of productivity! I’d suggest trying to let go of perfectionism (if you don’t already, you might listen to the podcast I co-host, Getting to Good Enough) and also give some thought to why you want to write up narratives of your ancestors. Write those reflections down. And then if you run out of steam, you can read them again and remind yourself why it’s important to you.