Today’s the last day of my June 30 x 30 challenge, in which I challenged myself and my readers to do 30 minutes of genealogy research for 30 days in a row. I am delighted to report that I researched every day in June! Some days the 30 minutes flew by. Other days, that half hour felt very long. It was definitely a valuable exercise.

I don’t think I’ve had a challenge where I didn’t miss a single day. I think there were a few reasons for my success this month:

• I researched first thing in the morning. I found it to be a great way to start my day.
• If necessary, I got up a half hour early in order to fit in my research. I think it helps that it gets light so early this time of year!
• If I got up early, I went to bed early so I didn’t miss out on sleep.
• I had my transcription project to work on (see below), so I was able to make measurable progress in only 30 minutes.
• I logged each session, including “next steps” at the end of each entry so I was never at a loss for where to start.

I love keeping commitments. But successfully completing this 30 x 30 challenge made me especially happy because I found I really benefited from researching daily. This year I’m focusing on one family line (the Adams family, my paternal grandfather’s line). A couple of years ago, I sent for the huge Civil War pension file of my grandfather’s grandfather, George Washington Adams, 1845-1938. I didn’t start transcribing it until November of last year (during another 30 x 30 challenge). By the end of 2016, I had transcribed the first 55 of the 138 documents. I made some progress in the first months of this year. During this June challenge, I transcribed Documents 90 through 124. The light is shining bright at the end of the tunnel! I plan to finish transcribing before the end of July. A side note: G.W.’s death was reported in Document 110. There are 28 documents generated after his death. The Veterans Administration was all about paperwork!

Transcribing can be tedious work, but when you do it daily, you really can pick up on small details and catch inconsistencies. I had read these documents more than once. But in the process of transcribing, I picked up on things like changes of addresses, family members I’d never heard of before and discrepancies in a timeline. Because I was keeping a research log, I had a place to jot down my musings.

Another benefit to daily research is that it helped me create the habit of logging my research, something that’s been difficult for me to do in the past. I use Evernote and I keep it simple and remembered every day to do it. That kind of repetition really helps ingrain habits.

Not every session was spent transcribing. Some days I allowed myself to follow up on some of the discrepancies and research some of the new-to-me family members who popped up. Then I got to experience the joy of discovery. Thanks to this pension file, I learned about a second family that G.W. Adams had, a son and daughter born when G.W. was 62 and 68, respectively. Researching these new-to-me relatives has been fascinating.

I’m curious to see whether I’ll keep researching daily after the 30 x 30 challenge is over. Usually I revert to sporadic research at the end of the 30 days. But I’m really engaged with this family now, so I’m hopeful I’ll continue research frequently. I’m traveling to visit my father in an week. Travel often throws me way off my routine, but I think being around my father and his sister (Adamses!) will prompt me to research.

Those of you who participated in this month’s 30 x 30 challenge, please report in. Even you didn’t manage to research daily, did you find the challenge helpful?

For those of you who are participating in this month’s 30 x 30 challenge, in which we’re trying to do 30 minutes of genealogy research every day for 30 days, please report in! Are you able to research every day? Or most days anyway? Have you found it to be beneficial?

This has been an especially good challenge month for me. I’ve been to carve out time first thing in the morning most mornings. I think it helps that it gets light so early, so it’s easy to get extra early to make time for research. So far, I haven’t missed a day. My timer has been really helpful, so that I don’t get lost in the research.

In addition to researching for 30 minutes, I challenged myself to log my research daily and note next steps at the end of each session. That has been hugely helpful, because each morning I turn to the previous day’s entry and I know what to work on.

Primarily I’ve been transcribing my great great grandfather’s Civil War pension file this month, but I have taken a few forays into investigating his son and granddaughter (the brother and niece of my great grandfather) to fill in some blanks in my ancestor’s timeline. The light is shining at the end of the tunnel: So far I’ve transcribed 106 of the pension file’s 138 documents. I’d love to be able to finish the transcription project in June. (I’ve transcribed 16 documents in June so far.) We shall see if that’s possible.

I love starting the day with genealogy research. I’m growing to love my (very informal) research log. And I’m feeling really connected with the research, which makes it easier to get started.

I hope those of you who said you were up to the challenge are seeing similar benefits! Even if you’re not managing to research daily, I think keeping it top of mind with the challenge can be very helpful. I’d love to hear about your experiences!

Back in August 2015, I created a 30 x 30 challenge, to challenge myself and my readers to doing at least 30 minutes of genealogy research for 30 days in a row. It was a great success for me personally.

I did another one in January 2016, but it was a failure. I blame the fact that I had a ten-week-old puppy, which is pretty much the biggest distraction I can imagine. I waited until November 2016 for the next and then did one this year in March. Those last two were great.

Here it is only two months since the end of my last challenge and I’m declaring another one. Here’s why:

• I find when I don’t have a challenge going, it’s easy for me to put genealogy research on the back burner. A 30 x 30 challenge keeps genealogy front of mind.
• Having accountability is really helpful. I’m the type of person who likes to live up to my public commitments.
• Having an ending point helps keep me going–I think I’d give up if I declared I was going to do 30 minutes of genealogy research a day for the rest of my life.

In March, I added the commitment to log my research to the challenge. I’ll do that in June as well. And I’m going to up the commitment by trying to end each session with next steps, so I never have to spend time wondering what to work on. Having next steps is a habit I’d like to create and there’s no better way to create a habit than by doing that thing daily until it becomes automatic.

I’ll post updates a few times throughout the month. I’m excited to get started!

Will you join me? There are no rules except that for the month of June you make some kind of commitment to do something related to genealogy. Who’s in?