It’s January 1. Happy new year!

There’s nothing like a new year to make me want to start up a new 30 x 30 challenge, in which I challenge myself to doing 30 minutes of genealogy research each day for 30 days. My last 30 x 30 challenge was in October 2018 and in the wrap-up post for that, I said I’d offer it up again in January. Do you care to join me?

I love this challenge because it’s not too difficult, but it is very beneficial. Doing a half hour of research a day is not a hardship (for me, anyway) most days. And the challenge makes me prioritize daily research. Otherwise, it can fall lower on my list of priorities and then it just doesn’t happen. In fact, my November and December were not great for my research, though I was able to pick it up again over the holidays.

I find daily research to be really beneficial. For me, 15 hours of research split over 30 days is much more valuable than a weekend of research where I work 7.5 hours a day. By researching this way, I stay in touch with my research and I stay focused. It also has helped me ingrain a habit of using my Evernote research log.

Please let me know in the comments if you’re up for joining me in this challenge. It’s a great way to start the new year!

The October 2018 30 x 30 challenge has come to an end and it’s time for those of us who were participating to fess up. How did it go for you?

For me, this challenge was not the best. Usually my 30 x 30 challenges are hugely motivating for me. More often than not, because of the challenge I’m able to stay on track and research for at least 30 minutes a day for 30 days in a row. This October, however, I was just not able to prioritize genealogy research. My schedule was such that I couldn’t fit in the research first thing in the morning and, as I’ve discovered, if I don’t first thing it usually doesn’t get done. The last week of the month, I didn’t do any research.

But I’m cutting myself a lot of slack. The genealogy research is waiting for me and I’m hopeful that I will be able to prioritize once again very soon. I have some challenges, including an upcoming five-day trip and a visit from my brother and niece (who live in Australia) followed by a trip with them to Washington state see our father. Sometimes during these family times regular work falls off the radar and genealogy becomes a priority. So I’m hopeful that I’ll get some great genealogy research in the rest of the year. But I don’t think I’ll start another challenge until January.

How about you? Did you fare better than me? Did the challenge help you get some research in? Would you be up for a January 2019 30 x 30 challenge?

We had a good turnout of folks who said they wanted to participate in this month’s 30 x 30 challenge, in which we committed to doing 30 minutes of some genealogy-related activity for 30 days in a row. How’s it going? Please report in!

For me, this month’s challenge has been harder than usual. I’ve had a busy month with early appointments with organizing clients and I gave a talk at the St. Louis Genealogy Conference, last Saturday, which was a bit time consuming to prepare. So I haven’t researched each and every day–according to my research log, I missed three days completely. I know that on some of the days I did research, I wasn’t able to put in a full 30 minutes. I’m confident it will average to 30 minutes a day (helped by the fact that I attended a six-hour genealogy conference). And I’m okay with that.

Because of the 30 x 30 challenge, I definitely did research that I wouldn’t have otherwise done. This is why I love these challenges!

Even though I fell off the wagon a little bit, I fully intend to keep going and try not to miss any days the rest of the month. That’s progress, because I have a tendency to abandon daily challenges (especially those that involve exercise) if I break the chain.

I’d love to hear how it’s going for you! Have you been able to keep up with daily research? If you missed a day, did you hop right back on the challenge?