It’s been a minute since I’ve hosted a 30 x 30 challenge, but the new year is always a great time (in my opinion) to challenge yourself with new habits and routines. So what do you say? Would you like to commit to doing 30 minutes of genealogy research (or genealogy organizing or really anything) for 30 days in a row? You’re welcome to modify the challenge so that it suits you.

I’ve been doing periodic 30 x 30 challenges for almost a decade now (here’s the first one) and I’ve found it to be really beneficial in putting my research top of mind. Back in 2017 I wrote this post about the value of daily research.

So if you’d like to take the challenge, let me know in the comments. I’ll do a mid-month check in and an end-of-the month wrap up post. I’m still working on digitizingmy paper genealogy files (I have less file space now that I’m an apartment dweller). I hope to make some real progress in January!

It’s the end of September! It feels like a long month, if I’m being honest. I’m curious to know how your 30 x 30 challenge went, if you chose to participate. Were you able to do 30 minutes of genealogy research (or organizing or whatever you committed to) every day?

My goal had been to go through my paper genealogy files and weed them out. I got off to a pretty good start but my efforts started to peter out as other priorities emerged. I really do want to get this project done by the end the year–I don’t have space for these files since we’ve moved! The good news is that I shifted my focus to getting caught up on my business’s Quickbooks entry and was able to give that daily attention. And that felt great. I’m almost caught up and I plan to stay caught up now that life is a little more back to normal.

How about you? Please let us know in the comments how your 30 x 30 challenge went and whether it was helpful!

We’re halfway through September. If you’re participating in this month’s 30 x 30 challenge, in which we’ve committed to doing 30 minutes of genealogy-related activity for 30 days in a row (or whatever variation of that you’d like), it’s time to check in. How is it going? Let us know in the comments.

I’ll start. I had committed to working through my paper genealogy files, making sure that I have scanned everything in them so I can let them go. I’ve moved to an apartment and I have a fraction of the file space I had when I lived in our big home. How’s it going? Not great, but horrible either. I worked on the project probably six of the 15 days. And I’m making slow progress. One thing I know is that if I hadn’t taken on the 30 x 30 challenge, I wouldn’t have done anything!

Please comment and let us know how it’s going and whether the challenge has been helpful!

Who is up for a last-minute 30 x 30 challenge! There’s something about the beginning of September that feels like such a fresh start. It seems like a great time for a 30 x 30 challenge. Who would like to join me for some daily research (or organizing or doing whatever you want to commit to)? We typically commit to 30 minutes for 30 days, though your goal can be whatever you want.

Because of all that’s going on in my life, I haven’t been doing much genealogy research. I can now share that we experienced a life changing event: my husband had a heart transplant on July 29. He came home from the hospital on August 27 and my role now is primarily that of caregiver. Actually, that just means I’m fetching stuff for him, reminding him to take his meds, accompanying him on walks and generally being encouraging. He’s doing quite well.

Now that Barry is out of the hospital, I have more time at home and I would like to focus my 30 x 30 challenge on my genealogy paper files. I don’t have a lot of them, but I did move all of them in June without going through them. So this month my goal is go through all the files (they fit in one file box) and scan those for which I don’t already have digital copies. I intend to keep very few, if any. I’ll do it 30 days in a row, unless I finish the project before then.

If you’d like to participate, just comment below. I’ll post a mid-month check in to see how it’s going for everyone and then we’ll wrap up at the end of the month.