Question of the Week: Do you set weekly genealogical goals? [closed]

Question

Do you set weekly goals for your genealogical research? 

Please tell us with an answer below. You can also answer on Facebook or use the question image to share your answer on social media. 

Answer 1

I do not. My main goal when I started was to figure out my maternal line (mom was estranged from her family). Many of those lines have scant information, so I've never been able to connect with living family (my original goal).

Now my work is very sporadic. Somedays/weeks I do a lot; others, I don't even open the site.

Answer 2

My main goal is to get all the profiles in my little corner of the world categorized into their proper cemetery categories.  I also try to make sure I have reviewed and added sources to a couple of my profiles from my Anniversary List each week and I add sources to any other profile that strikes my fancy if I have time left.  Unfortunately for genealogy I have a bit of a life outside of genealogy.  Oh wait, some of that life is spent in cemeteries making photos.

Answer 3

Surprised I don't, didn't see my answer here already.
Guessing I have almost 6,000 profiles under management, and Wikitree gives me a birthday list every wednesday, automatically.
So, I use this opertunity to review every profile on that list to see what I can do to make it better, and mostly try to find one more source to add.  If I can't find a source, maybe I can add a photo.  If I can't do that i try to add to the story.
So, even the least reconizable profile, and many I have a hard time knowing where they came from are visited at least 1 time every year.

Answer 4

Yes. I try to perform other tasks so I won't spend all my time researching genealogy and working on WikiTree! Seriously, each week I try to answer some question or solve some family mystery. Some are easier than others.

Answer 5

I didn't until recently (in the last 6 months or so). I think it helps me keep a rounded approach, making sure I visit some of my anniversary list but also visit each of my projects. Otherwise it is too easy to camp out in rabbit holes and accomplish not much. I think eventually I will go to a daily model, Mondays for Disasters, Tuesdays for Anniversary, Wednesdays for Italy, etc. It helps to keep me engaged and give me some structure.

Answer 6

Oh! I set them, write them down ; and start on the with focus and gusto. Then I completely enjoy falling down a "rabbit hole" which has an unexpected lead;  which "has to" go on the goal for the next week.  My "goals this week" is always growing. I think my goal for next week will be to remove more than I add.

Answer 7

Since I hadn't done one of these in a while this ones for you [[Gaulden-7|Mags Gaulden]]  [[Clarke-11007|Greg Clarke]] [[Callis-74|Sarah Callis]] & [[Ko-31|Betsy Ko]]  

This Question Answered

Answer 8

About 2-3 years ago around mid-December one time, I saw Eowyn's post here asking if anyone has any genealogical goals for the new year. I thought that was an interesting idea. Taking the end of the year to reflect on what I had done, and what questions I still had that I was trying to answer, mysteries that I was trying to solve, and things I wanted to do. I set out to mark down some goals for me. I found out that it certainly helps to have them down somewhere to refer back to after pursuing the inevitable rabbit holes that we all fall down.

Since then, I review them at the end of the year, of course. But then I find myself reviewing them throughout the year. I add new ones. Categorize my goals. Some goals have a clear end point (like any proper goal should). Some are just always ongoing activity (which, technically, is not a goal), but always part of some larger work, like work for a One Name Study.

Technically I don't break down these goals by month, or by week; I prefer the freedom of being fluid in what I do, but always with an eye towards the larger work, if you will.

Answer 9

I don't set weekly goals as I live on a farm and never know when I will have time to research. I do set project goals. For instance I am adding all of the great-grandchildren of my 3x great-grandparents William and Matilda (Boyles) Murphy. They had 21 children with 16 living to have children. 146 grandchildren and I am working on the great-grandchildren now.

Answer 10

In the sense that many people think of goals, I'd have to say No. But I always have something in progress.

It might be a certain profile to create or add to, especially some I've adopted. It might be how to do a certain task, like fix a certain kind of error, or find a certain kind of record "from scratch" that no one has linked to a profile on Family Search, yet mentioned it in a clue.

I feel more satisfied when I work on creating or adding to a certain level of reasonable research instead of number standards. Personal taste, I guess.

I'm balancing a lot of present-day family obligations, so my time is not always my own, to do as I might otherwise. Genealogy ought be enjoyable, so if I have a goal, it is to approach it that way and to remember it's never done.

Answer 11

No, I set small daily goals to make sure I keep coming back every day to check in and do some edits or additions. (I do make a small checklist.) For me building a small routine is more helpful. Most of the time I am working on extended family or my favorite regions. About once or twice a year I will spend some time researching something totally out of the ordinary for me. Like one summer I worked on a specific family in Maine and I found Maine records to be a complete joy to work with.

Answer 12

Yes.   In order to achieve my monthly goals of earning a "1000 Contributions" badge,  I have to pace my weekly effort to around 200 to 250 a week.  These may be creating new connected profiles, adding an image to each profile, and adding a category for Veterans.

Answer 13

No. I'll work on my genealogy for a few days, not work on it for a few days or weeks, and then go back to it again for a few days.

Can't set a weekly goal if I'm not doing it all them time. 

Answer 14

On my mother's side of my family I come from several large, Walton large, families in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. So large, in fact, that I would suspect I must be connected to most people in said county. This being the case, daily, I look at the obituaries from that county, and add the recently departed to my growing FamilyTreeMaker database. If I run out of new obituaries, I look to surrounding counties as it all kind of runs together.

My father's famiily, being a part of the westward migration, is more difficult to figure, and otherwise, extending my lineage outward is rather like coming upon a change in the universe, discovering a supernova, say, or a comet, not such a common phenomenon, but certainly a thrill when it happens.

Answer 15

Yes, I do set weekly goals.  I have many names in my tree. I try to make each week a different family name that I work on. Then after doing at least 5 family names I may go back and work a little further on one of the previous names.

Answer 16

No. I spent two and a half years adding sources to an abandoned
family named gedcom soon after I joined wikitree.  I was affronted to let it stand.  Now I am only using this time of my life to add sources to unsourced New  York State profiles.  Most of the rest of wikitree stuff is getting beyond my comprehension.  I just add sources as I have time every day.  So no number goal per se.

Answer 17

How about daily? If I don't do something every day, I fall behind