Lately, I’ve been wallowing in self-pity over the lack of time that I have to work on my genealogy. If you read my last post, you know that I worked to get a big project completed so that I could have some research time over the 3 day week-end. So now, the big project is done (at least, this phase of it) and how much time have I spent working on genealogy this week? None. Why? Because “there isn’t enough time.”
What this really means is that I don’t have an entire day available to me to surround myself in genealogy. To spread out the charts and maps and forget about the housework and the schoolwork and just immerse myself in genealogy. But really, how often does THAT come along? What I really need is to get organized in such a way that I could grab something from my file and work on a specific task for 30 minutes or so.
I could easily spend 30 minutes just thumbing through my records for an ancestor and thinking of what I’d like to research next. I need to have a list handy of things to do so that I can jump right in and feel like I’ve accomplished something in that 30 minutes or so. I’ve been brainstorming ideas on this for the past couple of days and I’ve divided my list into 3 areas depending on how I’m feeling when that free time arrives.
I could use my hypothetical 30 minutes for personal RESEARCH – or preparing for research when those wonderful “surround myself in genealogy” days come along. I could spend my 30 minutes on genealogy EDUCATION to learn something that will help me break down a brick wall or learn about a new resource I’ve never used. Or I could spend my time on BUSY WORK to complete some of those not-so-fun tasks that always seem to be hanging over my head.
So I’ve decided to post my three lists and see if anyone has additional ideas to add. Right after I find a few minutes to make my list a little more coherent… Stay Tuned!
The Shy Genealogist 
Great idea! I have a similar list of books and journals I want to see that are in various libraries and archives. I’ve been able to make use of a spare hour several times by having that list available.
Great idea! If you don’t mind, I’ll be adding that to my list!
Lisa, timers work well for me – I’m retired and could sit here for hours (which isn’t good for my health!)… Try, 10 minutes on something you hate to do (file? scan? move files to another folder?). Then write out your PLAN for the week, so that you can take 10 or 20 minutes ot free time into something more fun. For me, a list of individuals in one state or county is the key for my quick research: then I can tick them off as I find a detail or source. Your plan is great – just make sure you have enough fun stuff to do! (this is supposed to be fun, right?!!)
Celia ~ that’s a great idea to split the time between something fun and something “less than fun”. There’s just something in my DNA that wants me to save the fun stuff for a time when I have a full day. Time to change that!
I have a little list. When I get a few minutes I try and find out the information that I want for this particular person. I use knotes on linux so it is always in front of me on the screen.
I also found it necessary to keep a log file of what I did and what I found (and where) so that I can properly document things when I get time.
Trouble is, the list keeps getting longer – I find one piece of information and it leads to multiple more items.