Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Motivation ... Wednesday? Second Month Goal Update


So, it's not a Monday, but it is the end of the second month, and I thought I'd do a quick update just to see where I am with my goals so far.

The moment of truth:

1.  Obtain the addresses, birth dates, and anniversary dates for all of my first cousins on both sides of my family … and names and birth dates of spouses and children. Oh and all my half siblings’ spouses and kids too.
Still working on this one. Awaiting responses on 2 facebook messages and one letter.  Received a response to one letter.  Mailed out one more.  Three to go.



2.  Attend at least five (5) Scanfests (or equivalent) this year - and actually scan stuff. 
I missed February's Scanfest too (I was recovering from a sinus infection and fell asleep ... don't judge).  Guess I'll try for March.

3.  Scan and label at least 15 photos and/or negatives each week, or until they are done, whichever happens first.
So far, so good.  58 photos/negatives scanned, labeled, and put in their appropriate folders  in January, and 103 in February.

4.  Attend at least two (2) genealogy conferences.
Hoping to attend FGS in Birmingham (which will depend on (1) a successful mediation of one of our cases, and (2) the federal trial calendar for the same case.  Keeping my fingers crossed nonetheless.  Also planning on attending the Family History Expo in Atlanta in November.

5.  Give at least two (2) presentations to my genealogical society.
One down, one to go.  I gave my "Online Genealogy Collaboration" presentation during our January 10th meeting.  Still trying to decide on my next topic.  I did also present two chapters from the Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy (Val Greenwood) to the Second Life Book Club on 2/28.

6.  Index at least 200 records per month at FamilySearch Indexing.
I had to make up 100 records from January.  Unfortunately, I didn't make it (thanks, scrapbooking).  I only managed to index about 100 this month too.  Guess I'll need to do 400 in March.  I'm pretty sure I'll make up for any deficiencies (probably for the year) on April 2. :)

7.  Add at least five (5) individual ancestor stories to my website.
Hmm ... I still haven't added any new ones.  I'll make this a priority goal for March.

8.  Blog at least twice per week.
I have a total of 10 blog posts for the month of February (including this one) ... barely squeaked by!

9.  Finish reading Greenwood's "The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy."
Presented chapters 13 and 14 this past Tuesday, and am currently reading chapter 15.  I'm over halfway!

10.  Add at least three (3) website links per week to my online toolbox.
I have officially added ALL of my links to my toolbox.  Now, I just have to keep up with that pesky "pending" folder.

Not a banner month, but I'm not complaining.  At least I'm making a dent in the box o' photos that was in the closet.



I had at least one week during this month that I simply could not focus on my genealogy at all.  After a thorough discussion with my Success Team, we realized that we were focusing more on the organizing and cleaning up process and less on the research, which was sort of leaching the fun out of it.  So for one entire week we did nothing that we didn't consider "fun."  I think it gave my motivation a little jump start, and now I think I'm back on track.  So, thanks again Laura, for talking me down off the ledge.


Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

2 comments:

Nancy said...

Jenny, I really like your idea of scanning and labeling a specific number of photos instead of what I set out to do, which was do them by batches, which includes between 15 and 50 at a time.

You say it wasn't a "banner month" but I think you accomplished a lot!

Elisse Newey said...

I wish I were as ambitious and organized as you to post all of your goals. It's inspiring!

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