Search Results for: genealogy goals

Make your goals visible

March 31, 2015 By Janine Adams 4 Comments

2015gengoalsscreenshot Today is the last day of the first quarter of 2015, so I thought I’d take a look at the progress I’d made on my goals for the quarter. Since I try to research one family line per quarter, the end of the quarter is significant. Tomorrow, it’ll be time for me to turn my attention from my Adams ancestors (my father’s father’s family) and start researching my Brown ancestors (my mother’s father’s family), according to the schedule I set.

At the end of December, I put together a nifty table with eight different potential accomplishments for each line. My goal was to check off four per quarter. It was a pretty great idea, if I say so myself. But it fell by the wayside for a simple reason: I completely forgot about it.

I just discovered the goal table on my hard drive a week or so ago. While I did not focus on those goals in the first quarter, I did manage to put Xs in a few squares.

So, as I look to the second quarter, I have printed out the table and put it on my bulletin board where I put other things that inspire me. (Like my written goals for this blog.)

Writing goals is an important first step. But I dare say that remembering them is just as important!

New Hack Genealogy Boot Camp: Get Your Genealogy Groove Back

January 10, 2014 By Janine Adams 6 Comments

I just signed up for the Get Your Genealogy Groove Back Boot Camp from Hack Genealogy. It will be held on Saturday, January 25 from 10 am to 1:30 pm central time. (Recordings are available to registrants who can’t attend live or wish to watch it again.)

This boot camp series is organized by Hack Genealogy, the blog run by Thomas MacEntee, founder of Geneabloggers. This particular boot camp consists of two webinars that are right up my alley:

Genealogy Goals: How to Set Them, How to Keep them, presented by Lisa A. Alzo
Managing the Genealogy Data Monster, by Thomas MacEntee

I’m really looking forward to hearing what these experts have to say!

The boot camps are very reasonably priced. I paid only $9.95 to register. That includes a $3 discount for ordering before January 20.

There are so many learning opportunities in the world of genealogy. I was attracted to this one because of the expertise of the presenters, the fact that it’s live (sometimes recordings just languish on my hard drive), and the very reasonable tuition. Can’t wait!

Reconnecting with my ancestors

December 6, 2018 By Janine Adams Leave a Comment

I miss my ancestors. November was a crazy month–in the first half I was busy with some big projects for my organizing clients and in the second half I was hosting a visit from my brother, Larry and his daughter, Miranda, who live in Australia. Then the three of us left to go visit my father in Walla Walla, Washington. That’s where I am now.

Looking at my research log, I see that I researched exactly once in November 2018. That is unacceptable and such a far cry from the almost-daily research I’d been enjoying.

Even though my routines are still messed up by traveling, at the beginning of December I pressed reset and started back with daily research. I missed yesterday, but I hope not to miss any more days this month. If I do, I’ll cut myself some slack and get right back on board.

This morning, I re-read a post I’d written in May 2017 where I talked about circumstances leading up to a (much briefer) research hiatus. In that post, I talked about the fall-back projects I have where I can make a little progress in a brief period of time and keep the daily research going, even if it’s very brief.

I’m so glad I read it and was reminded of my source documentation project from 2016, where I started going back through my sources, making sure they were cited consistently and that all the relevant data was extracted from each document. I also make sure that an image of the source document is attached to the source record in Reunion.

I’ve found that over the last half dozen years, I’ve become a more skilled researcher. Back in the day, I missed a lot, so this is a really worthwhile endeavor. When I started checking my source documentation in 2016 I had 300 sources and I’ve checked 85 of them. Two and a half years later, I have 896 sources. I’d like to think that at some point I’ll decide that I can stop checking the sources because I knew what I was doing and there’s nothing to be gained. I can’t wait to find out at what point that happened!

Unless feel like exploring something else, I’ll stick to reviewing my source documents for the rest of the year as I think about my genealogy goals for 2019. I’m excited to get back in the swing of things and reconnect with my ancestors!

Edited to add: During today’s source documentation checking, I discovered that my great grandmother’s sister was married the same day she was. My 2nd great aunt and her husband are on the same scan of the marriage record book as my great grandparents. Shame on me for missing that, but I’m so glad I was able to add a person to my tree simply by checking my sources!

It’s 30 x 30 challenge time!

March 1, 2017 By Janine Adams 27 Comments

Unfortunately, so far this year, genealogy research hasn’t been a top priority. The beginning of the calendar is typically a busy time for me as a professional organizer. People love to get organized at the beginning of the year and 2017 has been no exception. I took a couple of trips in February (including RootsTech!) and wrote and published with Brooks Duncan The Paperless Genealogy Guide. So I’ve been busy. And as a result, with the exception of the time I spent at the Family History Library in February, I haven’t had a chance to do a whole lot of genealogy research.

The antidote to that, for me, is to start a new 30 x 30 challenge in which I pledge to do at least 30 minutes of research 30 days in a row. I’m starting today. Will you join me? If you’d like, comment here and let me know you’re in. Then feel free to post your progress.

Time management is really priority management, isn’t it? When I do a 30 x 30 challenge, family history research becomes a priority because I don’t like to fail challenges. Add to it the accountability of posting this in public and I hope I’m setting myself up for success. (It didn’t work so well in January 2016, though.)

I’m going to add one thing to this challenge: In addition to doing 30 minutes of research daily, I pledge to document that research in a research log each and every session. That should really help me develop the habit of using a research log (one of my 2017 genealogy goals). Because daily habits are the easiest habits to form. (If you’re interested in creating the research log habit too, feel free to join my Facebook group, Genealogy Research Loggers!)

I’ll do a mid-month update. I look forward to seeing if anyone else is up for March 30 x 30 challenge!