Monday, February 27, 2012

Motivation Monday - March Goals

Well, first the confession. I didn't post my February goals. That doesn't mean I didn't accomplish anything. Just that "the plan" didn't get posted.
So here is what I did during February:
The first week of February I was in Salt Lake City with about 2000 of my closest friends attending RootsTech. (This meets some of my educational goals for the year.)
During the second week of February I attended a local society meeting, gave a presentation at the Second Life chapter of the Association for Professional Genealogists, and met with a client.
The third week of February I had a couple of doctors appointments and left on Thursday for a retreat so not much got done that week.
The last week (plus a few days) left in February I recovered from some bug I picked up (probably due to being overly tired) and tweaked my presentations that I presented the last weekend in Feb. (Out of 29 days in February I was gone 13 of them.)
I wrote and posted six blogs (when the month is all said and done.)
Not great. But not bad either.

So on to March:
I am having surgery on my shoulder in late March so I need to get extra done before I am out of commission.
Business Goals:

  1. Finish paper work for new Biz License 
  2. Work on new web site (be ready for the big reveal in April)
  3. I speak once (One presentation) in March on the 21st. 
  4. Send out letter to genealogy societies advertising my presentations (mailing 3 times a year for two years)
  5. Develop topics for 8 more presentations
  6. Complete development of 2 presentations (make the Power Point Presentations and write up notes and handouts)

Education Goals:
  1. I ordered and received some new books: Acadian-Cajun Genealogy by Timothy Hebert; The Canary Islands Migration to Louisiana 1778-1783 by Sidney Louis Villere; and The Canary Islanders of Louisiana by Gilbert C. Din. So I hope to get through these books during March. I may save them for the first week of recovery. 
  2. Also in March I will be attending the all day seminar produced by my local genealogy society "Root Cellar." They are hosting George Morgan.
  3. Work on my NGS Home Study Course
  4. Work on the four classes I'm taking from National Institute for Genealogical Studies

Writing Goals: 
  1. I took on the challenge of writing a letter, note, postcard or some other written type of correspondence every day for the month of March. So all my sisters, brothers, cousins, and friends will be getting a note of some kind. 
  2. Write and post 6 or more blog posts
  3. Write a first draft of a magazine article
  4. Do an interview for my blog
     
Organization Goals:
  1. Update to Roots Magic 5
  2. Clean Office (again) and sort files
  3. Participate in a scan fest
  4. Bring my "resume" up to date

Research Goals:
  1. Work on the Parker family line (specifically determine the wife of Peter Becker)
  2. Work on my CG work (Theaux line) (Specifically: order two or more succession records (whatever the budget will allow)
  3. Develop Time lines for all family lines
  4. Research work for my clients
  5. Finish transcription on the succession record of Irma Domingues
Other:
  1. Check and double check that all the speakers that are booked for the rest of the year for the Second Life Chapter of APG are confirmed.
  2. Gather photos for my personal genealogy
  3. Order table cards for NGS Ohio for SL APG
So that's it for March, I think. I've probably forgotten something...if you think of what it is let me know. 

That Old Get Up and Go, Got Up and Went - Motivation Monday

"I don't know what happened to my get up and go. Have you seen it? It seems to have abandoned me right after Roots Tech. I've been trying to catch up and work on projects that needed my attention but I seem to be running on my reserves. I've let the blog slide and I've not worked on my web site or new biz brand at all. My clients are clammering about their jobs and I'm not giving the time to my presentations that they deserve." 


So started my e-mail to my friend Caroline. Being the good friend that she is, she pointed out that I don't have to do everything at once. That I should pick one project and chip away at it and in doing so my "goal Goddess" status would be returned to me. Then she cracked the whip and said, "get to it." 


It worked. I decided I would use this example as my Motivation Monday post. 


Sometimes it is the excitement of a new project that gets my energy up. Sometimes it is a looming deadline, and I trudge through the work and "get it done." But every once in a while you just need a pep talk from a friend who has been there and can be the extra person at your pity party. 


Thank you Caroline for being my inspiration. 


What gets your engine running? Do you have days where you just don't want to deal with the laundry, dishes, blog, work, kids, pets, deadlines, commitments and responsibilities? What do you do to get out of the ditch? What gets you back on track? Does a break (vacation, day off, etc.) make you lose your groove? Did you have trouble getting back into the swing of the day to day after SLIG/RootsTech? Let's compare notes.