It is January 2 and time for my New Year’s Resolutions. Last year I published my resolutions/goals on a
quarterly basis and that worked okay (I got a little lazy the last few months) but
I need to be even more focused this year. I previously wrote that I planned to write up resolutions/goals on a
monthly basis during 2012.
I resolve to
use the Motivation Monday meme to publish my resolutions/goals on the first
Monday of each month during 2012 and then use the following three Mondays to keep
track of my progress.
I resolve to publish
my resolutions/goals in five specific areas Research, Organization, Blogging,
Writing & Education.
Since this
worked so well for me last year, I resolve to continue working smarter not
harder in 2012. Simply put this means
to think about and plan for the things I want to accomplish, to continue to
learn how best to use my genealogy database program, and to research, analyze and write up my findings.
Since today is the first Monday of January – here are my
goals:
Research
- Use my one remaining month of World Deluxe membership to Ancestry.com to go through my Shoebox and download and save all “international records” that I have found during the past few years. In 2012 I plan to focus on my USA and Canada research and dial back my Ancestry.com membership.
Organization
- Finish organizing my Norwegian and Swedish Notebooks (both paper and hard drive). I spent part of the summer last year researching my Norwegian and Swedish lines in Minnesota and Washington and need to go through everything I acquired that needs to be scanned, filed, entered in my Legacy database, and/or shredded or discarded.
- Finish organizing my USA Census Excel Workbook. I spent one month last year updating my census research for all individuals in my Legacy database. I downloaded the census images, abstracted the information for each family’s census fact/event, and updated the master sources and details for each census using the SourceWriter. I now have census entries through 1930 together with residence/location information for most individuals in my Legacy database and need to run a Search for missing census information – a continuing project to get ready for the 1940 US Census release in April.
Blogging
- Begin participating in a new weekly meme: 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy, written by Amy Coffin and hosted on Geneabloggers
- Blog at least two times each week – including Motivation Monday and Surname Saturday.
Writing
- Write a “guest blog post" about my family’s slide/photo scanning and organization project for Marian's Roots and Rambles, written by Marian Pierre-Louis.
- Read and comment on posts in my Genealogy Bloggers Circle at Google+.
Education
- Watch at least two genealogy webinars during January.
What are your goals for January? Why not join the rest of us and put your
goals out there on your blog. If you are
on Google+ perhaps you would interested in getting together once or twice a
month in a Hangout to discuss your goals and share your progress. Let’s make 2012 the year we move our
genealogy forward by leaps and bounds.
Cheers!
Great goals! I would love to learn how you use an excel doc for census tracking. I need to really get on the ball with prep for the 1940 release. I love census research so I have quite a bit done and entered into RootsMagic, but I feel like I'm missing something. I'm looking forward to your updates. There is a small group of us committed to supporting each other. Come link up over at my blog if you'd like! And, I'd love to hangout/keep up with goals together!
ReplyDeletehttp://cornandcottongenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/motivation-monday-january-2012-goals.html
Hi Tessa, great set of goals. I am also interested in hearing more about your census tracking with your Excel worksheet. I've tried that a couple of times, but nothing has ever really stuck. I've also just started adding census to families with my rootsmagic software but find it limiting because for the family members all it says is "so and so was on the xxxx census with such and such a person." and it doesn't give any more detail. I'd prefer all the detail to be copied to all the family members. Is that the case with legacy? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThese are great goals. I know you will do well with them. Thank you for the mention and best wishes for a great 2012.
ReplyDeleteTessa, congrats on some great goals for the year, and thanks for stopping by my blog, www.thefamilycurator.com to leave a note. Yes, a blogging buddy is a real asset in keeping motivated all year.
ReplyDeleteI use a USA Census Excel Workbook too, and find it a handy tool.
Hi Tessa, we share a lot of similar goals this month, and that's great! Like you I'm trying to milk everything I can out of the last month of my Amazon World Deluxe subscription. Good luck with your goals-hope it's a successful month for both of us!
ReplyDeleteGreat Goals! You are tackling a lot of different areas each month. Good luck! I didn't know about the GeneaBloggers Circle on Google+. Thanks!
ReplyDelete