\\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
:
\z
{
\
rO
Have you everwondered how much dme )otr wste in your
working day?Do you find youselfwishing for a clone or
dreaning up other creativesolutions for getting aerything done?
Ar genealosyprcfssionals, we haveour set tas[s, someof
rhem set by othem,someofthem rt by ourselves.Factor in the
normal daily obli$dons to our fami\. voLunreerwork, or other
activitie, ud it is easyto fed stresed or a"xiou about all *e have
to do in a given day or wek. In fac, feeling ovewhetmeo seems
ro havebecomethe ns normal. Our ability to conplere the rdkr
"to-do'
lisa can be aF€aed by '11maner ofinrcruptions,
on our
so there is a real needto be awue of rhe limisrions on our time,
and the besrwap to moage rhis €luable re$ura. Tlh &tide
will coverhow to dealwith lifet distractionsmd mxmt
your time and eourcs od ind6e your personalefficienq,
profesionalproducriviryard self-esreem.
I
I
Productivity
Time-Management
Tipstor rhe
Protessional
Genealogisr
BYLISAA. ALZO
Set Realistic Goals
The first stepis to serrealisricgoals.Wriie down wharyou wani
ro accomplishand be s specificasyou can.For example,insread
"r
ofju$ saying wanr ro earna living fron sene.logy,"nake ihe
"For
goll more rangible
2012, I wanr ro ircreaseny earniogsby
25 perceni' (or wharner percenrase
yo! set).Nexr, do $e marh.
Look a! your incomeliom the previousyearand figureour how
much )'ou will needto earnio get ro the increased
amounrand
"ln
rhei wrire rhar 6guredown ai a sraremenr:
orderro increase
my business
incomeby 25 percentlhis year I nee.lto makean
exrra$4.000."]}en, crearean acrionplan ro reachyour goal.
Howwillyou earnthar extraincohe?\Villyou rakeon extra
clients?\X/ritemoremagaine anicles?Teach?Seekort new
"I
speakingengagenenrs?
Again,w.ire ir our
will earn94,000
bywriring four aniclesat $600 each,securingarlesr four
addidonalspe.l<inge.gagemenrs
ar $ 150 each,and obtaining
25 morc clienrhou6 at $40 per hour" Follow rhisexample,dd
rdjusi your staremenrs
basedon your own situarion.Wridng
d o w ny o u rg o a l ,h e l p .1 o u r o v i s u r l i z reh e m .J n d y o u rr , r i o n
plan will makeyou moreaccountable.
ChangeYourApproach and YourAttitude
Ifyou arelike me. you may 6nd rhat you arealwaysupdating
your to-do lisr by crossingoFcompleredtul<sand adding
new ones,and rbat one deadlinejusr replaces
anorher.I have
sroppedrryirg io fighr this neverendingio-dolnr baitle.IfI
havedeadlineslhen ir meansI am working.and workins means
eening a living. Once I leali,erhis. I cm go into acrionmode.
"Im
Accepring$at
nder going to ger ir alldone," tar<es
the
presureoFsomewba!and changeshow I approachwhat is on
September 2012
A',ociarcn
ot Prcps*onat
Cm"anq,s8Aualle4 129
my ro'do list. Also, I am mv orvoworst ctitic. I rend to over
think thingsand I am a self-.dnriftedPerfectiorisrI Ealize
$n olien hinder my productivity.Recerdy,l leadsofte good
advicein a blog posr: Sropbehg scaredto rnakea misrake.
D o i n g . o l , e 'l i n g " n d B e , u n gr r r , n g i . r , l e J r r L r .t r m e 'm o r e
hasa ftailof
productivethan doing nothing.Everysuccess
hilures bchind ir and ererv ftilute is leadingrorvdrdssuccess
You end up rcgrc$ingthe thingsyou did NOT do far morethan
is
rhe rhingsyou did. LIn addirion,one of my 20 12 resolLrtions
and
activities
thar
ro chninaG any negariverhoughts,energies,
or block me from achievhgmy goals.'
sene asobsrecles
Organize,Purge,and Unsubscribe
Ir is inportanr ro organizeboth your dav and your*<,rkpece.
Scheduleyour dry, your week,yoft nonth. Keepingarime log
shouldgivc you a good ider ofyour productivetime and your
squmdercdtime.Technolog,oftlr us a numberoftooh to help
keepus o" tack. So many ofus rely on our electronicdevices
todav I fairhfullyusethe calendarfearureon my Blackbery
rnd serup alensor remindere.I alsolike to useiGoogle
<w*rgoogle .com/ig>-a pesonalizedCooglepagethat n free
to uservirh a Gmril accourn.I uselhis dsmy homepaseand on
ir I ha\r a cal€ndar,ro do lisr, inrpoiran!noriccs,and more.h is
asktant. lfvou prefetto
likc luving mr own personalresearch
that you cin carry
pape.
o€anizer
lorv-tech,
buy
vourselfa
go
his
Day
Runncr planner
rvirh you. I hav€a friend who prefers
he likesrhe
<wudayLunnercom> to bis Smarrphonebecaose
wirh crossingiten$ our. Somefolkslike
vhralcues associared
ro usePos it Nores,eitherlhe paperkind or rhe digital lersioD
<wnpow-it.com>. It doesnor matierwhich syslen you usr
need.I rcnd to scanrarherthan phorocopy.ThomasMacEnree,
o u r e r o H i s r D c n r r r r r o n C e n e " o g yh . t P :/ l ' i d e f g .r ' c o m'
olTe.ssomcgrea!rips for utilizingonline toolsin his B,tAr,g
z Raench Toolborwebinr ($ 12.9 5) avrilable fio nr Legecy
f amilyTreea\,W.legac)-faftilytecstore.cod/ProduclDerails.
rsp?ProductCode=WTOOLBOX>
Vhenever I get an rsignment, speakingengagement.
or projecridea,I jmmediarelycrearea folden for it on my
conputer and in hardcopy.The conputer foldereinclude
one folder in Draplor .*ndropbox.con> rvhereI storemy
cont'acr,outline,dralis,and so foLth,and one nr fzrrzotr for
iftages.dicrared
websiresI s€n o relerence,
e mail messages,
noresI create,and so on. I ctearea Physicalfolde.with a labcl
(I user Dymo labelmaket<w.dyno..om>) lrirh the name
ofprojecr/eventand the dareor deadline(for example,4PGQ
Ti'ne Maiegemenr/Due0l/l5112), whereI slorea PriDroutof
I
theoLig;nalconcspondenceandotherpeninentdocuments.
in
on
my
desk
in
a
sandins
file
orglnizcr
keepphysicalfolders
orderofdeadlineor evenr.Althougb I .m trying to cut down
on the amount o[paper and cLuiierin mI life. I like rhe concePt
ofbeing ableto seerhe physicalfolder to remind ne of the
deadlinesI h.ve in anygivenweek.
Ifyou havein;nreresr in going paperles,readDick
Easrman\arricle DigilizeYour Life" in thk isNe of,4PGQ or
his posrson this $rbiecr.'
Vacillationand Procrastination
Ir's human ranre ro put ol{urrilrnother day thosethingsthat
that
we lind unpleasanr
or complicared.ft is undererandable
Ies
than$ere
are
many
live
an
easy
life,
but
everyonewantsto
thtugsin ourworkins lnes and Pesonalliveslhat
pleasurable
lind one and sricklvidr ii.
needto be takencareot The nufi is we cannotigrore a raskor
The proces of organizingyour workspacccan be a bit nore
ir is diHiculror lessrppealiDgrhanothersor
dury iusr because
produciiviry.I havewdted
chall€nging.Bu! clu$er d€creases
nt householdtasksI do nor parri.llrdy
list.
For
exanple,
many hour searchingfor n issingdocumenrsor olher itemsaDd the
havero work hard to keepmy work areaclurrerftee.lfyou orvn Iike arecleaningthe badrLoomand groceryshopping.I cauot
"outgoilg
"incoming,
to do thesctasksfor ne. ard they nust
affordro paysonreone
pending,"
d fihrg cabinelor
rypetavs,
I
need
to
build
time fot thernilto my schedulc lhe
get
done,
so
vou hrve a readymadeorgrnizerthat hopefullvyoucan use
whcdreri! is a client repolt
sameprincipleapplicsin business,
efecrivcly.If a 61€cabineris out ofrhe quesion. tnvcsttn some
r h r e e . , i r E o n d e . . o l J p p . p , , r e ' i I/ h
e c. b i a d e '.' E " r i t Pm o r vou nrst 6nish,rhe looning ariicleo. book dc.dliDe,or liling
rhat fanily hisrorypaperwork.
pipenvorkjust aseasiryandoften allow for grearerfreedomof
that 1ou might hearyourselfgiving are: I
Tvpicalexcuses
applications,like
than 6le cabinen.Usingsprcadsheet
access
"I
dont havedre time and haveodrerthingsto do." Regarding
Microsoli Iirel or the freespreadshectemphrcsavailableat
you may neverhavea suliciendy largcblock of
rhe 6rt excuse.
can alsoptoveuserut.
GoogleDocs<htrpr//docs.google.com>
to
! diliculi raskin irs eniirery
tine
to
atrend
old
files
time
to
pcriodically
purge
Renemberro schedule
'iunk." I havelnsubsc.ibed
As
far
as
the
second
excuseis concern€d.this is pcrhaPs
and other paperor electronic
i
r
s
i
m
p
l
i
c a t i o DY
s .o uc a nf o o l y o u r e l f i n t o
m o r es u b d ei n
prpcr subscriplionsfor nagazines,and online
frorr catalogs.
'
|
i r r \ i n gL f" r y o ' r , r eo . . u P ' e dL y i ' r e n d i F gr o 1 . " i m p o r G r l
e - n ( $J e , , c . ' 5 " , I r a e l y e " d . l e r h " o .- n e . e nb e , ' e ro P r i o n
jobs,
so that thc unsavorytask is avoided lfyou do recognize
like
oPring
You may waDtro srarrslowly
is !o go paperless.
!his propcnsiryin yoursell rry ro put things inro a prioriry lisi.
for online bill pay ra er thsn receivirgpaPersiaremen$for
Are all the lirtle iobs Leallyso imporrant that they rakep.iority
bank or creditcardaccounts,and utiliry bills.I usetoolslike
ove. the more di6culr? Do you build up sucha senseofdread
now
to
save
.rticles,
rcsear.h
<rw.evernote.com>
t/./rrr.
that wbar you haveto do scemsinsurmounnble?Avoiding r
I
absolutely
marerial,andsinilir rhiing5and print out onlywhat
l30
Genealosiss
Auanenyseptember2012
Assuiatian
ofPrcressional
i : ! , , r d i d i . u [ p r o j e c o! n t ya d d s, o r o u r s r r e $i n d f e e l i n co f
I n n e v eg
r o i n gr o g c t t h i sd o n e . '
\ ( i ' r n i r p i c c eo f r h c p r o i e c t s o n r e d r i Ds sh l l l ! n d
frroigiibk. For cxdmple.prep.r€ar oudinc tur !our aiti.lr
.r rrre\enttn,n.grrhcr r'orr reserrchmarcrirk.or tirnrat your
.ti:.€n.es. Once)ou bdv€r..omplishcd sonredringsm.ll ind
mrnrgeable,morc on to rhc nexrrask.You mav rcalizcrhe trsk
n nor.s dil$cuh rs originrlly rought.And, asiou conrplereeach
ticce ind cros it oFrcu.lisr, you crn hopefirllychrnnelthar
m o m . n r u mu n r i l r l r ep L o i c ci L
sl l n i s h € d
Divideand Conquer
. \ u ( o n i o b i lien d N r i l l i s r I l e n t F o r do n c es a i d , N o $ i o g i s
p i ( i . u l i v h . r d i f ] ' o u d n i d e i r i D t o s n u l lj o b s . , - n r i s h o l d s
!uc $,hcdrcrrou r.e !t ing ro linish r pe6onrlor pnrfessional
trsk. Spendingpcrhrps30 ninurcs per dry on a spccificrpecr
o l t h e r s k s i l l e r c n r u a l l l e l d r o i r sc o D d e r i o nE
. v € nj u s t 5
|'rIr. rlFI
L r r r r o .rl r ' _r l l . n r n l . o . I i p p r v . u . . 1
.,ci.h fuskrs r *one nr.son$,ouldr block ofnone. Hopefully
rh.r Bill tie tr desreeofnoftenrum ascomplekd $,b-rasks
be{ln b iccrue lake ont stepar a rime end doni rvory about
,cachiDgdre uhiftare goal.Ifrerrlv goahrrc roo ovenvhelming,
oy bLcakhed:eh dorvninro quirrerlrso.ls. Anorherrrick I use
ro is ro cirrv srnrll piecesofwork \virh me ivher€rerI go: A dnfr
ofrn .rti.le, ourlinc for a course,or prcscn ti<,n.Then,rvhile
w.lring rt the docror'somce,or tor a depaningltight, I crn rvorh
on sotrcthins.Somepcoplereturn phonc callsshile rvairinglbr
orher.rppoinoner6.I prefernor ro mrke calh in publi. phces,
but I crn sendqnick responses
ro c nnils. Tikjng advantrgeoi
xnr urerpecr€dsmrll chunksofrimc crn be a rearoonus.
TameYourTimeWasters
rigure our Nhar dkrh.ts vou. k c.n bc exremrlr helpti,lro
dkcen ex!.dr ivharir k dut ftts in the rvayofyour lbcus.Is it
dre relcrisioD?
l1re consranrdnreofe mrili poppineup in Iour
mrilbo{? Socialmedia:Oiher people(family,friends,.olleagues)
w h o w r ' j u s r r n r i N r e ' o f y o u r r i m e ?l d e r t i l yr v h a rn
b l o c k i n s! o u r . b i l i t r t ( ,g i E r l l o f v o u r a r e n t i o nr o r v h a tv o u
r e e dt o a c c o m p l i s h .
O n c c v o u h i v e t h i s i n v c n r o r vb, e e i nr o m a k e b r l e
l " n u e .r i h . g o . ' o ' r . r ' : n o r e d o r c .r r l
higher levelofqurli$r In lis l,oak Yau BrltJ,st Gar Bett.t:
Vhtk S,,r o, thi ? Biiga, Mrh Morc,lason \V Vomack
p o i n r so u r r h a r" d r e r er r e o r l ) ' 3 6 0 1 5 n i n u r e b l o c k so f
ManageYour Time, ManageYour Life
lerrlLtakTir5
I
Set Jeaist c goas
2
Schedue yourday.
3. Pr oritizeand set reminders
for iTnportant
tasks
4
B ock o!t I rne lor the Llnexpectlad
5. Break arge tasksinto sTnaer more manageabe
p eces.
6
Learnto use technoogy mofe efficiently.
7
ldent ly your b ggesr tirne wasters
I
mplementa buddysystemfor accountabty
9. Avoidnegativity
and keepyour iocus.
l0 RewardyouEeI for a lob well donel
Prioritize
Dod' jur crtarcx to do In!. hsrcdd,look t lonr diy d.d nriar€
ourwhcrcrou hrveblocksoarine Lorcall),6cusoo whrr nceds
o bedone,prclcnblvii I t ro l0 miNtre.hur ks. I benpriortri?e
cachircm.Anorherkeyis ro identill,hoN iid \!henllu dolour
bsr $ork. rnd rakeifto rccounryouf cner$ lenls."\bu mrv be
r nrorn'ngp€rson,louDav bern everingpeBon.No ma(ftvour
p.efeEncc,l,ou
ue.rirerdr'ierrc rlur the.e:reccein tihes durnrg
thedry rvhcnyou:ur nore prcducrile,$ ivell$ who vou r.e
noL,'\wircsJasonYlvont
k, authotof Y.b B6tJ$tG.t Bdto.:
\tbtk S,ttdt llnk LtiKo. LIdr. /V,r. Onc otirhe nosr eftcri\r
drnrg.s
lou crn do issudl tl,c rinresof dredry and rhcphvsicrl
lo.Iions ),ouwork in ro ide,niF,whcnrnd s,heEyou h.!e rhe
nron ener$/b givero lour inpo.ranr p.ojccrs.
Mfcbing)ou'
, . " 1 . i o , . . .r d . n , . r r . , l ' \ . . v . o r ,r,l e , , o n . . r e . ' . $ , ) .
ro srvednres,hilcyor xe working.iln mr.lf, I loro$,drarrs I
moning peaonI inr ar mv c.erii\t besrc&l! in ihe d.y. Mos ddvs
Ivake up carll'.pur on a pot ofcoliiernd stanrvririog.On the
o er hhd,I usrallyhir anid-afte.noonshmp a.ound2:00p.^r.,
so lsr( otherl€s..eari!c tsks lbr tbI rimcofdarl T,is g.eady
helpsmy producrni.lrnd efllcicn$l
tim€in i singed.y,rnd rberea.ejusr168hoursin a *eek.jusrhos,limited
Reading
rhisud re.lizing
h) rimerrul)'
is ponpredmc ro rethinkho$,1lras
usingmy rimeand
inspircd
metu do berrer
Trainyourselftobeconrr goodrimem.Ddger:
a person
sio
comftrnds r€specrionr rhoservhoa.€ aivareofrhe valuerbar
Iou plice on your rime. Do nor be rf,iid ro ler your crlk go !o
voicem.il, or urilizerhe CallerlD ttarure.Ofcoune you risk
lrissine inpornnr calls.but ),ou can decidcrvheo.nd how ofien
you chcckfor neseces.
So.ial mediais .norher time,consunringacrivitv Cc.iainly,ir
is r g.earmarl{eringrool rnd s,ry ro connecr\vidr fri€nds.flnri\,,
and colleasues
lll ove. rheworld, bur ke€pingup wirh blogs.
Tivirie\ lraccbook,GoogleI'lus, rnd so on crn rlisracr vou fron
more imporranrrasks.Most diys r !n rbte ro ccesfu y limir
horvDru.h iide I spendoD socirl nedia.
F.-m.ilcan xlsofill up i lirge pan ofanl rvorkdal I
g.n.rrll) l,lo.k ou hrccchunksof tine (onceir rrrcnld
monring,or.c in the ht€ afremoon,aDdonceir rheea,tv
evening),ro rerd cinril messrces
ard derorcsome01th!! rime
September 2012
Ass1ctation
ofPrcfessional
Genealag66
Auanerl,/ 131
ro prioridzeand respondro then. I alsofind it helptul ro use
Notes
"30
subjectlinesro catesofize
and organizemesages.
I Marc andAnsel,
Things!o Siop Doing ro Yousell"
book suggesr
keeping
Many curenr dme-management
Huh Life Praoicrl I'ip Jbt ?roductitt Li'iry, blog, online ar
iPad,iPhone,and
elecrronicdevices(Android, Blackberry,
<w.marcandangel.com/2O11/l 2/l 1/30-thingsro sroporhere)turned oFor in silenrnode in the bedroom.Adrnittedly,
I i lanuary20 12.
doing-to-yourselB,
accessed
"Twelve
for me, this n a hardhabir to break,but I reallytry nor to turn
2 Lisa A. Alrc
fot 12," Ihe Add."tal Gordlogi't Blog,
on my BlackberryimnediareryafterI wakeup in the morning.
I 1/ I 2/rwelve-for12.
<w-rheaccidentalgenealogist.con/20
One trick lhar helpsis rharI do not keepit within easyreach.
hrml>. accessed
l5 January2012.
"why
Orher acdviriesI avoidareonline games(includingrhose
I went Papetlesr,"Edttnd"i onltue
3 Dick Eastman,
'pds
ir on type e-nail
on Facebook)and fovarding dose
GenealogNewslner,3 December2011 <hftp://blog.eogn.
I politelylet tne senners
mesages.Vlen I ger thse requests,
11/ l2lwhy-i-wentcom/eastmansonline-genealogy/20
know rhat I do not participate.By doingso,I prt esmp ro
paperles.html>,accesedI5 Janu^ty20t2.
tuture requests.
This is nor meanrasa criticisn or judgment
4 Henry Ford, Ihe Qaotation' Paga online
rhose
who
do pafticiparerI jusr preturto usethe rine
upon
<w.quotrtionspage.com/quotes/Henry-Ford,
I would spendon suchactivitiesto do somerhingelse.Each
accesed15lanuary 2012.
penon nust makehis or her own call ai what can be considered 5 Jason\? \/omack, l/oar Bet J*t Got Bexet: \Vot* Snarter
Thinh Bigget,Mahc More (Wiley,20t2). 42'43.
6 \Vom ck, Yort B&Jun Gat Better,43.
Accountability
I Won ck, Yow B$Jun Gat Bette. 4j.
"BloggingBuddiesand Genealog/
we cannotrely on only ourselves
ro get thirgs
Somerimes
8 DeniseLevenick,
acconplished.Most peoplecannotalford a life coach,but there
Resolutions,
Reportfrom the\rest CoasiParirer,' Trs
are other ways ro make yourelf rccountable eachday. One is
Fanifi Caranr 27 Decenber2010, <w.lhefanilycuraror
to find a buddy.Someoneyou trust whom you can checkin
with periodicallyto provideupdateson your productivityand
goalanainmentandwho can pushFu when you needir. Many
in the genealog/comnunity havefollowedthe leadofAmy
and
Cofin, who wrires\Ile rrzr <lllw.werree.blogspor.con>,
Denise Levenick of th, -Fzniq Culator <w.thehmilycutatot.
writing, and
com> to usea buddy systemto work on reseatcb,
orgeniatioral goals.3lnth;s issueof,4?GQ Any Arner and
Caihi D€snaraisdescribeiheir buddy sysremiD the arricle
'A
G@l Buddy,a System,and a CoupleofAppsr HowTwo
D o " e s i o n r JC, e r T l r n g . D o n e . -P r r \ " p ' v o u ' o o - n p r i r p
rvirh a fellowAPG member.
GiveYourselfA Break
\re all needto decompresatsomepoint. Do no! forgei
to includein your plansallowablefreetime to rel* or do
som€thingfun. Rewrrdyourelffor a job rvelldone.\(hen
you accomplisha major goal,siveyou$elfa reward-a nice
dinner.a day at the spa,a weekenda*ay, orwbateveryou deem
appropriateand atro.dable.
com/home/2010/ I 2/27lblogging-buddievand'gene?logr'
I 5 lanury
rhe-whrml>,accessed
resohrrions-repori-from
20t2.
Bibliographyand FurtherReading
Covey,SrephenR. 7le 7 -flzbrs ofHishb Efecnw PeoPtt.
Revised
Ed.FreePres,2004.
Womack, Jason\fl Yab Bst J"st Got Better \thrh Sndrtet, mi,k
Birg.r, Mdhe M. ft . Wiley, 20 | 2.
Hyarr, Michael. 7hel"te
ioMl Letule\hiq Bbg. <h,ttp:ll
'12".
"Twelve
Alzo, Lise A.
for
ne Anide"tal Ge"edlagi$blog.
<hnp://w.theaccidenelgenealogisr.con/20I I / I 2/rwelve'
for-12.html>.
''30
Thingsro SIop Doing ro Youaelf" Marc andtugel,ryarl
Lift ltacti.al Tip' fil Ptod".ri,e Lii,sblos.
< w.marcandangel.com/201 1/12lI I /30-rhingero-stop-
Summary
As much asrvewould like to indeaserhe rmounr ofrime we
have eachday, the ruth is we Jl get the sane anount-nvenry'
four hours.It is wharyou chooseto do with rhoserwenryin your personarand
four bour thatwill makethe difiaerence
wisely,
have
a
plan,
and executerr.
profesionallife.Choose
Whar itemsareyou going to crossoffyour to-do list today?I
havejust crosed one oFofmine this ardcle.Now' oD ro the
132
Auattey
Associatian
afPrcfessianal
Geneatagis$
seprember 2012
Li'a A. Alu * a feehre witer |ecnn:
and;wnctor. Shei: the author afnine boohs
ard hndreA qfnagaz;ne afticles. Vhit her
wekne <aua. Iisaalzo.con>.