Organize Your Family History

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Search Results for: 30 x 30 challenge

October 30 x 30 challenge check in!

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It’s the middle of month already and time for a check in for those who are participating in this month’s 30 x 30 challenge. How’s it going? Have you been able to research daily? Are you putting in 30 minutes a day? Even if you’re not, have you found the challenge helpful?

It’s been a good, if not great, month for me. When there’s a 30 x 30 challenge my research is definitely more on my radar. I have researched every day, except one, which I feel great about. The one day I missed I had a good excuse: my husband was hospitalized for five nights at the beginning of the month with a heart ailment (he’s doing well now). One of those evenings I just plain forgot to research. But I was proud of myself for remembering the other days! (My Trello daily task management board has been outrageously helpful.)

This month I’ve been focusing on reducing my backlog and until yesterday I was doing great. I started out with 96 documents to process and I have now have 60. Before yesterday, there wasn’t a day that my backlog of documents went up–I’ve been trying hard to resist adding documents. (So far this month, I’ve processed 48 documents and added 12.) But yesterday in order to feel comfortable adding a couple of documents I’d found on last year’s research trip to my database I had to do a little more research and then downloaded four documents that I didn’t have to process.

I have averaged 24 minutes a day, but I hope to bring that average up this weekend. I plan to keep working on my backlog. I have a fighting chance of getting it down to zero, which would be amazing!

How’s it going for you? Please let us know in the comments!

Time for another 30 x 30 challenge!

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I know it’s only been a month since my last 30 x 30 challenge ended, but in 2020 a month feels like at least three months, so it feels time for another. Will you join me in committing to doing 30 minutes of genealogy research (or organizing genealogy research or whatever you want) every day for 30 days stating October 1?

I was on my big trip to Walla Walla from September 6 to 19 and spent the weeks on either side of the trip preparing or digging out so I did virtually no genealogy research in September. I’m anxious to elevate genealogy to the top of my priority list, which is what these challenges do for me.

Who’s in? If you’re up for it, let me know in the comments. Here’s to a great October challenge!

August 30 x 30 challenge: Who’s with me?

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I’m in dire need of a new 30 x 30 challenge. I was able to prioritize genealogy research during the June 30 x 30 challenge, but in July, without the accountability of the challenge, I think I did genealogy fewer than half the days.

The COVID crisis is escalating here in Missouri and I’m staying in more than ever. So it seems to me that August is the perfect time for a new 30 x 30 challenge. In August, I hope to get rid of my backlog of unprocessed downloaded documents or at least make a huge dent in it. I’m going to try to be really focused on that. And I vow that if I do download new documents, I will process them the same session I download them.

Are you interested in joining me in committing to doing 30 minutes of genealogy research (or organizing or whatever else you want to do) for 30 days? If so, please post a comment!

New 30 x 30 challenge starts June 1!

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One thing I’ve learned from all the time I’ve spent at home during this pandemic is that it isn’t a lack of time that prevents me from doing regular genealogy research. Apparently it’s a lack of accountability. So I’m declaring a new 30 x 30 challenge for June.

Will join me in committing to 30 minutes of genealogy research for 30 days in a row? Of course you can modify the challenge any way you want. But I’m looking to get into a groove of daily research, which was woefully lacking this month. I’m actually going back to working with organizing clients on June 1, but I won’t be so busy that I can’t insert 30 minutes of research into my daily routine.

If you’re in, please let me know in the comments. Here’s to a great research month!

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When you first join the list, I’ll send you a few emails to help you organize your family history. After that you’ll hear from me at the end of every month when I send an email with links to that month’s posts. And every now and then, I’ll let you know when I have something special to promote.