In the past, I was easily overwhelmed by my genealogy research. As my tree grew, so did my opportunities for research. I would sit down to research with no idea what to work on. A few years ago, I implemented a quarterly plan, where I would focus on one line per quarter, which helped narrow things down. That helped somewhat.
My focus got better when I implemented a few practices:
- I decided to focus on one line (my Adams line) all year. That was last year, and this year, I’ve been sticking with the Adams family.
- I started keeping an informal research log. At the end of each session, I write down next steps.
- I consistently research every day, even if it’s as little as 15 minutes. That keeps my head in the game and means I don’t have to refamiliarize myself with my research at the beginning of the session.
Things were going along very well for the last six to nine months. Then I went to RootsTech.
The double-edged sword of being focused is that you get a lot done, but you have blinders on about other avenues or opportunities for research. RootsTech stripped off those blinders and I took lots of notes about possible things to research. I also came back from the conference with a busy client schedule and not as much time for research.
The result? I feel like I’m floundering a bit. I’m still researching daily. I’m still writing down next steps, but I’m a bit all over the place.
So today, I’m resolving to regain focus. My intention is to do that by choosing a project I can complete in a reasonable amount of time, one that has a clear start and finish. I have a bunch of unprocessed documents in my Surnames folder. As part of my digital workflow, I’m supposed to process all documents as I download them, but when I was at the Family History Library right before RootsTech I wasn’t able to do that. I’m going to focus on extracting data from those documents and filing them properly. In the case of the handwritten deeds I downloaded, I’ll also transcribe them.
I’m already feeling better because I have a focus, I know what I’ll be working on and I’ll be doing so systematically until I finish. When I come across other leads, I’ll write them down in my follow up folders in Evernote. (I keep follow up folders by surname in my Genealogy stack.) I’m hopeful that by the time I finish with this project I’ll have my mojo back and be able to stave off those feelings of overwhelm!
Keep your eyes out for a new 30 x 30 challenge in April. I’m going to need one!
Unmodified photo by Chris Duglosz via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.
I am a scattered sort of person, the dog that sees the squirrel there and runs that way. Thanks for the good advice to try to focus on one thing at a time.
So nice to meet you in SLC!
Diane
It was great to meet you, Diane! Glad the blog post was helpful.
Good work, Janine! Processing our existing intake before looking for more should be a cardinal rule. It’s hard to stick to it — the thrill of discovery has passed — but It’s like delaying a thank-you note. The longer I wait, the more I dread doing it, because it’s a reminder of my own slothful ways, and it gets progressively more difficult to explain myself.
For several years, I gave up my Ancestry subscription and used it at the library with the “Send this record home” feature, which let me access “my finds,” the images and other info I found, from my home computer. Finding records for 2 hours and sending them home usually left me with 3-6 hours of database updates when I got home, but at least it kept me on track — one long list of all the documents to save and transcribe. It also made the best use of my hours at the library.
I love that analogy, Marian! I completely agree with the notion that processing our existing intake before looking for more information is really important. Thanks for commenting!
“It’s like delaying a thank-you note”
I laughed so hard at this… it’s so true!!! If I could get someone to input all of my nuggets, I’d be truly golden 🙂
I often joke that my genealogical research organization is like a mullet: business is the front (crazy-organized for clients) and clutter party in the back (a big ol’ mess for my own lines).
I love the idea of focusing on only one line a year, but I might compress that down to one line per quarter or month
That made me laugh out loud, Margaret! You’ll have to let me know how focusing on one line for a year, quarter or month works for you. For me, shifting gears quarterly was too frequent. But we’re all different. And I’m starting to miss my ancestors from my other lines!
It’s so easy to get waylaid with the research but I fixed my waywardness, I took up crocheting!
That’s so funny, Wendy. Does crocheting mean that you walk away from the genealogy and when you return to it you’re more focused? I’ve been an avid knitter for more than a decade now, but I find that the two hobbies take up distinctly different parts of my life. Genealogy is a daytime activity while knitting is typically a nighttime activity.
I’m 55 and I like to joke that I take up hobbies that make me the youngest person in the room.
I’ve been working on one of my lines for so long that I decided to give myself a break, but I did it for one main reason: I wanted to have some base knowledge for when I finally tackle my stack of DNA matches, most notably, which bucket to throw them in to. My mom has FINALLY gotten into genealogy (I’ve been doing this since I was 26 – I’m now 48), so she has been doing the newbie shotgun approach. My research, as I stated above, is pretty much on a particular line due to an ongoing book project. I did find that if I give myself a break about once a month (for several days), my focus is that much clearer when I go back to the main project. The side benefit? I have discovered some things in a round about way when other lines have crossed because of location, etc.
I’m lucky because I can research while I’m at my job… only problem – I have a mac at home, and the computer is a pc, so I can’t use the current cool feature of RootsMagic2go..
ah well….
I’m jealous you can do genealogy research on your job! I can imagine that taking a break from focused research would have its benefits! Thanks for the reminder.