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

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.  

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

Office Closet Clean Out - The Finished Product

Are You Getting Off Track?  Losing Your Focus?

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2019   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

TOO MUCH INFORMATION HAVE YOU OVERWHELMED? You’re not alone

When we begin our journey in researching our family, we might have a few items left by parents or grandparents.  Perhaps we have a box or two of photos or other items?  Maybe we don’t even have that much.

We go along, entering our ancestors in our database, as we find them.  We locate vital records, census records, military records, newspaper articles, immigration records and on and on.
 
Then there comes a time when we have connected with quite a few family members, think cousins.  And, we’ve joined a multitude of groups on Facebook specific to our areas of research.  We’ve joined societies and gone to seminars.  We’ve visited courthouses and libraries and maybe even the Family History Library in Utah.  We have a tree on Ancestry and those hints just never stop popping up….and I’m talking about the good hints.
 

We have now reached the point where we have SO MUCH information, we can’t focus on which family or person to research.  This is a good problem to have, but…..this is pretty much where I’m at right now.

  

What to do?

This is the exact question I asked myself as I was driving somewhere yesterday.  How in the world can I focus on just one person or one family when all these wonderful pieces of information are coming at me?

Well, I need to find a way, because what I’m doing right now isn’t working.  Yes, I’m getting some research done, but I don’t feel as if I’m doing that deep, thorough research that I really enjoy.

Apparently I’m not alone.

 

Amy Johnson Crow wrote a blog post about this very subject, just yesterday.  It’s titled “How to Avoid Genealogy Overwhelm” and you can find her article here.

Amy did a great job of explaining just what I was feeling and how we can go about “fixing” this problem.

I’ll follow up this post and let you know how I’m doing. 

Please tell me if you’ve felt the same way?  What you’ve done about it, if anything?  The more tips we can get the better for all of us.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

Digital Folder Organizing & Naming Made Easy

Office Closet Clean Out & Organization Project - Do You Have One of "Those" Spaces?

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

ARE YOU GETTING OFF TRACK? Losing your focus?

Do you feel like you go around in circles sometimes?  Are you just playing at staying on track and organized, or are you serious?  I had to ask myself these questions today and here's what got me started.


I was sorting things on my desk and saw the list of 33 Michigan Death Certificates I was able to locate when Seeking Michigan released new records in March of this year.  I even wrote two blog posts about how I made a list from my Legacy database before proceeding to the site to locate records.
 
Michigan Death Certificate Images Released - 1921-1939

And, then I wrote a second post about my procedure once I’ve located the death certificates.

Day Two of the Michigan Death Certificates Journey - Now What?

So, it’s not like I don’t know what to do. Right?  I added & cited a few of them.  But, then I stopped.  When I say few, I’m talking about 4 out of 33!

Why waste time locating records online, at libraries, at courthouses, from family members etc., if we don’t then record those records to our database?

Darn good question, I think.
 
Here are my examples of unfinished “business.”

• Multiple trips to Michigan for research and to visit family and bringing home all sorts of photos and documents, many of which still sit in folders.
• A trip to the Family History Library where myself and a friend spent 5 glorious days and I took hundreds of photographs of books & microfilm - still not all processed.
• A trip to the local Carlsbad Library where they have wonderful genealogy resources and I found many and photographed them - most are not processed.
• A trip to Ohio & West Virginia for one thing – genealogy research - still need to process some items.
• And, of course, downloading the much awaited death certificates, saving them in proper file format on my computer and then DOING NOTHING with them.

I’m sure I could go on.  Am I the only one?  Do you also have this “problem?”

Maybe we are in too big a hurry to “find absolutely everything.”  It’s sure fun to find things.  All that finding does us absolutely NO GOOD if we don’t process what we locate.

There is currently a project begun by Thomas MacEntee called the “Genealogy Do Over.  Many people are participating and finding it very useful. 

I think what I’m going to do, right here and now, is to begin a type of “Do Over.”

HERE IS MY PLAN:

1.  If I get an email or other contact from a cousin, new or otherwise, I will respond to them, but tell them I will get back to them.  Then make a reminder in Evernote to do so.

2.  I’m going to finish adding & sourcing the rest of those 33 death certificates I found.  In doing so I will stay focused and make notes (in Evernote) of items I want to go back & find out more about.  The goal is to enter and source the death certificates, first & foremost.

3.  I will go through the plastic tub I have that has neatly organized surname folders where I have filed miscellaneous papers I’ve intended to go back to.  I no longer file in paper files, but these are from several years ago.

4.  I will go through every digital file I have from all the library research I have done and process that information.  When I was at the FHL I took over 500 digital photos from books and microfilm.  They are organized by state & county, but I’ve never gone through all of them.

5.  Only conduct research that is directly from these items.    
I think that this process will not only make me feel more organized and productive, but I suspect it will lead to many finds.
 

CAN THIS PROCESS CAUSE ME TO GET HORRIBLY SIDETRACKED…OH MY YES!
BUT, I'M HOPING IT WON'T
  

How many of you have done something similar to this?
How many of you are participating in the Genealogy Do Over?  If so, has it helped?
Do you have other suggestions that we, as genealogists, can follow in order to avoid this sort of situation?

There is a wonderful group on Facebook called The Organized Genealogist.  With over 20,000 members there are lots of ideas presented about how to get and stay organized.

Wish me luck.  I sure hope that I’m successful and can get a lot of this work done.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
DIGITAL FOLDER ORGANIZING & NAMING MADE EASY
EVERNOTE - A VERY USEFUL AND FREE TOOL TO HELP YOU ORGANIZE GENEALOGY AND EVERYTHING ELSE

Happy hunting & organizing,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2015   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

OFFICE CLOSET CLEAN OUT–THE FINISHED PRODUCT

I’m doing my happy dance!  I’ve done it! 

THE CLOSET IS ALL REORGANIZED.  What a project and what a reward. 

 HERE IT IS!  MY NEW SPACE.

I’m still in a bit of shock that this project is finished.  Oh, I’m still making tweaks here and there, but for the most part I am done.















BONUS!
In cleaning out that closet space I have also completely cleaned up any stacks of junk & paper and reorganized the office too.  

WHAT IS LEFT FOR ME TO DO?

• Make a few more labels for the plastic containers
• Buy a new light fixture for the closet
• Complete the clean out of my grandmother’s secretary desk
• Hang some new items on the walls of the office 
• SCAN, SCAN, SCAN

I have a box of pictures and documents that need to be scanned.  My goal is to work on them each day.  Even if I only spend 15 minutes, at least I will be moving forward.

This project from start to finish took just over two weeks.  I worked on it nearly every day.  We’ve lived here for 19 years and that closet was the catch all for everything for all those years.  I don’t think two weeks was a very long time, all things considered.

In case you missed my first post with the pictures of that horrible space, please click on this link:  Office closet clean out & organization project

WHAT’S NEXT?
I think I’ll settle in for some good old genealogy research right now.  We are making a very important trip in April and I need to be ready.  

I hope this has inspired some of you to dig in and get started on those awful projects that you think you just can’t do.  That’s how I felt about this one. 

Speaking of organization....OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
Digital Folder Organizing & Naming Made Easy
Easy Document Editing

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall