Are you a goal setter? I sure am. Every year I set aside a day to work on my personal and business goals. This year, I did it on December 16. But I ran out of time to consider my personal genealogy goals, so I did that this morning.
I sat down with a pad of paper and I did a little brainstorming session with myself. I achieved some clarity really fast. The release of the 1950 census on April 1 creates a natural break in the year. I decided to focus the first quarter of the year on preparing for that day and cleaning up my existing research. The latter three quarters will be about new research and avoiding a backlog.
So here’s what I decided:
First quarter 2022:
- Eliminate backlog of downloaded files to process
- Continue checking my source documentation to make sure everything’s accurate and complete
- Prepare for the 1950 census
Rest of 2022:
- Glean as much information from the 1950 census as possible
- Shift my family focus to the Jeffries line (that’s my maternal grandmother’s line)
- Do a deep dive on my Civil War ancestor Richard Anderson Jeffries
One overarching intention for the year is to try harder to do daily research. For the last few years, I’ve found that in the absence of a 30 x 30 challenge, I ignore my research. Sometimes, I’m able to sustain daily research for months at a time, but that’s fallen by the wayside. In 2022, I’m going to try to do at least a little something every single day to keep my mind in the game. I know that, for me, that means researching in the early morning. Perhaps I’ll try to go to bed a little earlier so I can get up earlier to accomplish this. I plan a 30 x 30 challenge starting January 1, 2022, so I’ll have that support as I kick off the year.
I realize that I didn’t so much set goals this year as clarify my focus. And that’s good enough for me. It feels great. The plan for the year feels simple and attainable.
If you’ve set goals that you feel like sharing, please share in the comments. I’d love to hear them!
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
