Tuesday, January 1, 2019

ORGANIZING - LET'S BEGIN THE NEW YEAR BY ACCOMPLISHING ONE ORGANIZATIONAL TASK

my desk with all the notes on it 1 Jan 2019

YIKES! Do you have notes on or around your desk?  I removed these from various notepads that I keep on my desk.  I’ve laid them on display for you to see.  I try to begin each year by doing various organization tasks in my office and around my home.
 
The plan……
  • Select a note
  • Look at each individual item on the note
  • Is this something I need to take action on (research? add to my Legacy database?)
  • If so, then take action and cross off the items as I complete them
  • THROW THE NOTE AWAY
I’m not a big “paper person.”  I store things digitally and rarely print anything.  I do keep originals of vital records I’ve sent for (after they’ve been scanned and entered in Legacy). I put them in a page protector and then into a binder.

But, honestly, I have to say I rarely order records any more.  Fifteen years ago I did a lot of ordering.  I know there are a couple I need to order this year and I will.

What I’m going to do now is stop writing this post.  I’ll work on these notes one at a time and then I’ll tell you how long it took me to go through them.  It’s currently 10:56 a.m.

Time of completion – 12:18 p.m.  I began with 11 pieces of paper with notes all over them and 8 post-it notes.

I’m done!  It took me 1 hour and 22 minutes.  Here’s what I accomplished and how.

1. I took action on and threw out 11 pieces of paper with notes all over them.
  • I either completed a task in Legacy or online. 
  • I also created a note in Evernote that was dated today and tagged with “notes from my desk.”  There were only a few things that went into that Evernote note – like Gedmatch numbers I’d written down or a possible DNA connection I need to remember.

2.  I took action on and threw out 8 post-it notes by doing the same thing stated above.

TIP:  There are 3 things that can be done with a piece of paper – act on it, file it or throw it away.
 
Here's my desk now. What a difference from the photo at the top.  

my clean desk

I know you’ve all seen me write about cleaning my desk or office before.  In fact, not long ago I wrote a post about going through the various piles sitting on my desk area.
 
The point is…..we have to continually keep at the task of organization so that it doesn’t get away from us and become an overwhelming task.

As most of you probably know, there's even a Facebook group devoted specifically to this subject The Organized Genealogist.  It's a wonderful group full of ideas and genealogists just like us who need help.
 
I encourage all of you to take that hour and accomplish a specific chore in your own work area.  When you do, please tell me what you did and how it feels to have accomplished the task.  Leave me a comment or send me an email via the contact me tab.

HERE ARE SOME OTHER POSTS I’VE WRITTEN – I hope they’ll inspire you



Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2019   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

2 comments:

I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.