New Year, New Goals

In 2015 I started a “Do-Over” on my Genealogy Research, or at least that was my intention.

I read Thomas MacEntee’s posts, participated in discussions in the Genealogy Do-Over Facebook Group, did some of the “assignments,” but never made much progress in actually working on my research.

Some of that is I took on outside responsibilities to a couple of different organizations. Both organizations are good and worthwhile, but they took time and energy away from being able to do what I really wanted to be doing.

I allowed the needs and priorities of the organizations to set the priorities in my life (never a good thing when we allow outside things to sent our priorities!).

They took priority over hobbies, over my responsibilities in my home, and even over my health. As a result I lost touch with good friends, my home became disorganized, my finances suffered because I spent money I couldn’t afford to spend, and my health issues worsened. I have resigned from both organizations, have been trying to recover some level of my health back, and have tightened my financial belt so I can get my life back in balance.

So here I am in January 2021 ready to review the genealogy goals I set for 2015 so I can set some REALISTIC weekly and monthly goals to pursue this year. I shared my master list of goals in a December 2014 post, as well as a number of posts about my prep work for the do-over throughout 2015 and beyond if you are interested in reading through them. They do contain some good ideas and tips so going back and reading them may be helpful to you. In fact I am going to go back and read them myself to encourage and inspire me.

I think for a weekly goal I am going to say I want to spend 30 minutes three times a week working on something regarding my personal genealogy research.

Chances are if I start working on my research I will end up spending more than 30 minutes on it, but if I give myself a small goal I should be able to meet it. Setting a big goal means other things may interfere with achieving my goal and then I will get discouraged and give up. I know me.

I think for a monthly goal I am going to read at least one article in my Family Tree Magazine and watch one genealogy podcast. Again, small goals that I can actually do even when my health isn’t good.

I would like to say I will post on my blog weekly, but maybe I better start with committing to one blog post a month and then increase the frequency as I build habits.

What are your genealogy goals this coming year?