Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

What is a perfectionist?

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I co-host a weekly podcast called Getting to Good Enough, all about letting go of perfectionism so you can do more of what you love. Each week, my co-host, Shannon Wilkinson, and I discuss getting past perfectionism in some aspect of life.

I’ve internalized a definition of perfectionism that I first learned from time-management guru Harold L. Taylor more than a dozen years ago. This definition rings true for me and informs a lot of what I do. I thought I’d share it with you because I think it applies to genealogy and, really, to everything we do.

A perfectionist is someone who spends more time on a task than it merits.

Next time you’re spending a lot of time trying to get something just right, ask yourself whether the task really merits that effort. It can be a great way to let good enough be good enough. And that can save you time, effort and angst.

Watch The Imperfect Genealogist on Zoom on May 14

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In what seems to be turning into an annual thing, I’ll be presenting my talk The Imperfect Genealogist again on Zoom. This time it’s for the Henderson County (Kentucky) Public Library. It’ll be at 9:30 to 10:30 am central time on Saturday, May 14. The talk is free and open to the public. You can register at the library’s website.

My talk kicks off a day of talks, the other three by eminent genealogist and speaker Mark Lowe, a specialist in Kentucky and Tennessee research. The latter two of Mark’s talks are Kentucky focused, but his first talk, Is Your Family Tree Broken? applies to all. It will be at 11 a.m. If you look at the library’s calendar, you’ll see links to each of his talks. It appears that separate registration is required for each.

I love talking about perfectionism. In this talk, I’ll be talking about ways perfectionism can get in the way of enjoyable and productive genealogy research, looking at some areas in genealogy where, in my opinion, good enough is (and isn’t) good enough. I’ll also be discussing some strategies for letting go of perfectionism. My co-host Shannon Wilkinson and I just published the 200th episode of our weekly podcast, Getting to Good Enough, which is all about letting go of perfectionism so you can do more of what you love. You can see that it’s a topic that we never have trouble finding new perspectives on!

I hope you’ll consider watching me on Zoom!

P.S. Don’t miss out! The special half-price offer from MyHeritage for Organize Your Family History readers expires tomorrow.

 

Quick Tip #19: Start where you are

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Here’s the next in my occasional series of bite-size Quick Tips. Click on the Quick Tips tag for my other Quick Tips. Because I tend to write longer posts, I wanted to provide a quick-to-read (and quick-to-write) post every couple of weeks on a small topic that pops into my head. I hope this one will help you treat yourself with kindness and get past overwhelm.

Start where you are

I hear from a lot of people who feel overwhelmed by the thought of transitioning from organizing their genealogy documents in paper form to digital form. The notion of having to scan everything gathered over years of research is truly daunting.

Here’s the advice I give: Just start where you are and from this point forward process new documents digitally. Then, slowly, you can make your way through the backlog, perhaps scanning a few documents each day and using a timer to keep you on task and keep you from burning out.

This advice can apply to doing other new things as well. Let go of any pressure to do everything at once or do everything perfectly. Start where you are at your current level of knowledge, and move forward. Perfectionism can be paralyzing (as my co-host and I discuss on our podcast, Getting to Good Enough, every week). Don’t let it stop you from pursuing a goal!

Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash

Reminder: I’m presenting The Imperfect Genealogist on April 3

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I posted about this a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to remind you that tomorrow (Saturday, April 3) at 1:30 Eastern time, I’ll be presenting a 45-minute talk (followed by 15 minutes of Q&A) for the Greene County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society. It’s the same talk, The Imperfect Genealogist, that I presented at last year’s RootsTech conference.

Saturday’s talk is free and open to the public. You don’t even have to register. Just click on this Zoom link at the appointed time and join us. The Zoom room will open at 1:00, there will be a short business meeting at 1:30 and my presentation will start around 1:50. (Again, all these times are Eastern Daylight Time.)

I’ll be talking about ways perfectionism can get in the way of enjoyable and productive genealogy research, along with some areas in genealogy where, in my opinion, good enough isn’t good enough. I’ll also be discussing some strategies for letting go of perfectionism. This is something my co-host, Shannon Wilkinson, and I discuss a lot on our podcast, Getting to Good Enough.

Speaking of my co-host, there’s also still time to sign up for Declutter Happy Hour, a four week class that Shannon and I are teaching on Zoom to help you let go of physical and emotional clutter in a fun and supportive atmosphere. It’s being held each Wednesday in April from 7 to 8:30 pm Eastern. Click here for more information and to buy a ticket.