Motivation Monday ~ February 2012 Goals

February is the shortest month so I'm going to do my best to be realistic about what I can get accomplished this month.  If you joined us last month, you know the drill.  For any newbies, this is a three part meme.

1. Publish a post on the first Monday of the month that includes your goals (mine are broken down in five areas ~ research, organization, blogging, writing and education).
2. Monitor your achievements and pitfalls during the month (you can be as transparent as you want to be).
3. Publish a post at month end discussing what got done, how it got done, what didn't get done (usually placed on the following month's list) and what you learned along the way.  This last part is the most important in my view because it is always helpful to get tips, tricks and ideas from my fellow goal setting Geneabloggers.  Thanks again to Stephanie at Corn & Cotton (check out her February Goals and the whole meme thing) for helping me stay focused in 2012.  Why not join in the fun and get some genealogy goals accomplished with the rest of us this year.  

Without further ado, here are my February Goals.

Research

• I need to continue to organize and analyze my Newfoundland research.  My research trip to Newfoundland was in August 2009.  I acquired so much information and it has been really helpful in putting together the various Plate Cove families and piecing together my Newfoundland family history.  However, I am still not finished incorporating the research into a fully searchable database.  The drop dead date for having all of the photographs, documents, and research organized is August 2012.  This month I am going through all the work I have already done, making a list of what still needs to be done, and making a schedule for actually getting the work done.  This project involves both research and organization. 

Organization

• The end is in sight so I need to continue working on the remaining census entries for my USA Census Excel Workbook.  April 2 is going to be here soon and I want to be ready to move on to the 1940 USA Census.

Blogging

• I am enjoying the prompts and plan to continue to blog each week using the 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy meme.  Why not join us?
• I am starting to work on a blog post about my grandfather Ernest William Lidman (so it will be finished in time for the anniversary of his birth).  I find that these types of posts are interesting to family members and they have even turned up some new-to-me relatives.

Writing

• I plan to spend some time on the Genealogy in the Classroom website and an education module (for a heritage fair) that is used in a local 6th grade class.  I would like to try to improve both the educational and family history/genealogy aspects while increasing the fun factor for the students.  Any thoughts out there on what turns 6th graders on to family history ~ please share!

Education

• I plan to watch the RootsTech 2012 presentations that will be made available for those of us not attending in person.  I downloaded the schedule, syllabi and handouts, put them in my OneNote Genealogy Notebook, and plan to follow along from home this year.
• February 2-4 was the genealogy and technology fun fest otherwise known as RootsTech 2012.  I made a point to watch much of the first day's presentations live (and even broke down and signed up for Twitter so I could keep up with all the comments and make a few of my own).  Luckily for all of us, the RootsTech organizers made each of the live streamed presentations available to watch (or watch again) at our convenience.  Thank you RootsTech ~ it was quite an education.
• I signed up to attend DearMyrtle's RootsTech Review webinar tonight to find out what others thought of RootsTech and to share my thoughts as a virtual attendee.