30 x 30 Challenge: Week Two Recap - Success Is In Sight

Week two of my first 30 x 30 Challenge has come to a close and I feel great! I'm on task, on target, and at the point I should be.

Let me tell you, this was surprisingly difficult. You'd think staying on task for just 30 minutes a day would be easy, right?

WRONG!

Those BSO's were everywhere!

And, I have come to discover that doing something so simple as just making a list is really not that simple. I keep wanting to ACT on that list! During my 30 minute allotted time. Which was getting me seriously behind on my original goal.

So, I'd like to encourage anyone else who might be thinking of taking up their own 30 x 30 challenge - you can do it - but it may not be as simple or as easy as you first thought.

We are researchers at heart, and we want to research. Not make lists. (Or organize, or label, or sort or whatever your particular challenge might be) We want to get out "in the field" and get our hands dirty!

However, this list, this very comprehensive list will be my jumping off point for doing good, thorough, correct research in the future. And give my research direction and purpose.

I am starting to like this methodology so much that I am thinking of doing a file sorting challenge next.......

...................stay tuned

tip: I began this challenge using 4 notebooks, but have found a great editable task list template through Apache OpenOffice - when I get it set up I'll give you a peek.

30 x 30 Challenge: Progress Not Perfection

I realized this morning that there will be much more I want to search for or that I am missing the "younger" my ancestor is. For example, my grandfather. Not only did he attend grammar school, he went to high school, college and trade school. He took continuing education classes. I had completely forgotten to include Education on my punch list!

This is a good exercise for me. I have been so focused on my "older" ancestors for so long that my "younger" ancestors, the one's I actually knew, got neglected.

What did I actually know of my grandparents?

Ha! When I sat down to start on my first 30 minute ancestor, my father's father, I realized I don't even have a date or location of his marriage! This poses somewhat of a challenge as my father, an only child, passed away in 2007. Add it to the list of "to locate/order", and move on.

My grandmother, my father's mother, died at the age of 48. The story was that she was "sickly" but no, I don't know what she died from! Add "locate/order death cert" to to-do list.

On my mother's side, my grandmother was the Genealogy Queen, and she did leave some good info on herself, but I have almost nothing on my mother's father, who also died young, at the age of 51. I know that he left the family when my mom was just 5 years old, and for many years she thought her much older brother was her father.

Started a "questions for mom" list.

I am realizing that although I have a good outline of facts, I am missing quite a bit of documentation and more interesting facts that round out a life.

So far the urge to go running off in search of the missing information/proof has been hard to resist, but I am making progress with my "to locate/order" list .......

                       ......... and trying not to get too overwhelmed!

to be continued