New Year's Resolutions for Family History and Genealogy

I have been thinking about a lot of things over the last couple of months that we have been traveling and out of our normal routines.  I have been pondering what I want to do, how I plan to do it and why I want to keep my passion alive for the things that matter most.  Like Family History.  The New Year always brings about some kind of self evaluations about things I want to change.  As most of us, I want to eliminate some bad habits and instigation some great new ones.  I like new beginnings whether it be a new year or a fresh start in the morning of a new day. 

I have learned that I like to write down some changes I want to see in my life.  I have also learned that progression is far better for me then perfectionism.  Perfectionism often leads to failure. Sometimes I don't like the word Goals because it implies a destination or finish line that must be attained. Perhaps what it could be instead is create new habits that lead to an outcome I'm desiring.  

The key to permanent change is to change what we do daily.  Big or small it doesn't really matter.  It is an open-ended destination.  Even when it becomes a habit you need to keep at it all the time.  Even after an extended time it is so easy to slip back into that old familiar comfort zone. There really is no finish line on most things.

So with that I'd like to challenge each of us to make just a few habit changes in our genealogy habits that can be accomplished.  One should be very easy to attain and maintain.  Here are my five.

1.  Seek to learn something new each day about Genealogy/ Family History.  I am purposely making this broad-based and easy to accomplish.

2.  Seek to get my Family Tree entries into AQ by the end of the year.  More specific but with a flexible daily target.  I know this is not something I will do everyday.

3.   Do more teaching and helping others.  Seek inspiration as to what those classes will be after attending Rootstech.

4.    Learn more about the partner sights, Apps and Memories on Family Search.

5.    Do more of my own genealogy. Add more sourcing, more memories and stories about individuals in my tree. Especially the ones I have known personally that are gone now.

It doesn't matter so much what you pick it is more about moving forward with a pace that you can handle and that is doable.  Let 2017 be that year you improve and progress in the ways that are most important to you.