Some people see spring cleaning as a way to get a fresh start. Others talk about the need for fall cleaning. When it comes to my never-ending piles of genealogy papers, it's the year-end review that gives me a new lease on an overwhelming situation. And I'm looking forward to that end of the year process.
Lately, I've run across some additional folders which I had set aside for review. You know the type: something discovered that needs attention...as soon as I can get to it. There has been the surprise photo discovery on my mother's McClellan line last month that reminded me that there is more work to be done on that family. And a file folder with the name "Lee" written on the tab makes me wince, every time I see it. I think of how long it has been since I last reviewed that puzzling connection. If I don't schedule in some time to tackle loose ends like that, they'll never connect with a reasonable answer.
Setting specific times to work on such loose ends has been the whole point of my year-end review, as well as the year-long project I've dubbed my Twelve Most Wanted: one ancestral line to focus on for an entire month of research. Sure, I'll start that review process soon, taking the Twelve Days of Christmas as my theme and my set schedule for that review process. But it certainly doesn't hurt to give this issue a thought ahead of time, as I do some year-end cleaning. Perhaps those prompts, as I see folders and wince, are timely reminders, after all.
I started my process a few days ago! I first made my To Do or Goal List for 2023 and then after much consideration decided to incorporate the list into my fairly unused Research Log/To Do List which I've been aiming for for years. It feels so good to have made that decision as I'm such a huge list-maker. I still have a list IN the log but at least now I can just put one sticky note on the desk at a time and when done with that project I can record it in the log and make a new sticky note for the next priority. Crazy maybe but I'm pretty excited! So thanks for reassuring me that I'm not the only one needing a year-end review and feeling bad about those loose ends!
ReplyDeleteI like your "sticky note" idea, as well, CJ. For those of us who have been at this research thing for years, the projects do pile up. Sounds like your plan will help rescue some of those languishing good intentions (AKA loose ends).
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