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5/11/2000
Get It Together
- by Liz Kelley Kerstens,
CGRS
This columns is posted
on the Clooz.com Web site with permission of
MyFamily.com.
The column was
originally posted on the
Ancestry.com Web site.
The To-Do List
Am I the only one out there that has a to-do list
longer than I can finish in my lifetime? I don’t think so.
As genealogists, we have a habit of committing to projects
in the interest of our fellow researchers. But the person
we forget to take in to account when we say "yes" to a
project is ourself.
When the tasks start mounting up, the well-meaning
genealogist starts a list, with every intention of getting
to each of the items on the list at some point in the near
future. Our problem, though, is life itself. Stuff gets in
the way. Family members get sick, get married, graduate,
move away, retire, or something else that impacts our time
dramatically. Those items don’t make the to-do list
because they’re usually unplanned, but they tend to take
precedence over other items when it’s their time. The
problem with to-do lists that contain more items than we
can possibly manage is that they create stress and can
even lead to procrastination. So what do you do?
Marshall Cook, in his book Time Management: Get More
Done with Less Stress by Efficiently Managing Your Time
(Holbrook, Mass.: Adams Media Corporation, 1999), suggests
"Ten Ways to Create a Healthy To-Do List" (the comments
added are mine):
1. Don’t put too much on it. Give yourself a break.
Just make a small list of big items and get to them as you
can, without setting unreasonable deadlines.
2. Put some air in it. If you have to put times on
your list items, give yourself a lot of breathing room. I
remember when I lived in the Washington, DC, area I always
allowed 30 minutes to get anywhere. Where I came up with
that number, I don’t know. But the reality was that unless
I was going to the mall within 5 miles, everything else
always took longer than 30 minutes. I built stress into my
schedule. Who needs that?
3. List possibilities, not imperatives. We’ve all
got the same 24 hours to deal with. Does everything really
need to be done right now? What will happen if an item on
your list is not accomplished today? Sometimes there are
consequences, but many times there are not. Again, give
yourself a break.
4. Don’t carve the list on stone tablets. Many
people try to make their lives fit into the readily
available day planners. But if this style doesn’t work for
you, find one that does and adjust it to fit your needs.
Make your list comfortable and flexible for you.
5. Order creatively. How do you decide what order
to place your tasks in? I like to tackle items that have
to be accomplished that day first thing in the morning, so
I make sure they get my attention, they’re not overlooked,
and my mind is fresh to tackle these projects. Figure out
how you need to order your tasks so the important things
get done.
6. Break the boulders into pebbles. This is rather
obvious. Break up your big projects into bite-sized
chunks. Doing this helps in two ways: 1) you see progress;
and 2) you are working toward accomplishing the entire
project in a manageable manner.
7. Schedule breaks, goofs, time-out time, and little
rewards. Are you like me, the kind of person that has
to actually write "rest" on the list or it won’t happen?
If so, then add rest and relaxation, fun, or personal
research time to your list if you will never get to it
otherwise. We need to have fun in our lives or all the
work isn’t worth it.
8. Schedule for long-range as well as short-range
goals. If your long-range goals are just in your head,
how are you ever going to make time to work toward them?
You need to spend time on these goals so they can actually
materialize at some point in your life. Write them down if
you need to.
9. Be ready to abandon the list. As I mentioned
earlier, life happens. Sometimes we don’t need to follow a
list to get where we need to go. Remain flexible and don’t
overtax yourself. Life’s too short to live it constantly
stressed.
10. You don’t have to make a list at all. For years
I didn’t make physical lists, keeping mental lists
instead. That worked for me. I’m finding that as I get
older, however, sometimes I have to make lists if items on
the list are ever to be accomplished. If lists aren’t your
style, don’t force it. If lists are your style but you
don’t accomplish items on them, try not keeping a list and
see what happens.
If you’re finding yourself over stressed and not
accomplishing your tasks or goals, try some suggestions in
this list. The best suggestion overall, however, might be
for you to say "no" to requests for assistance so you can
accomplish your own goals.
Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, CGRS, is the
managing editor of Genealogical Computing, editor
of the Board for Certification of Genealogists’ newsletter
OnBoard, the creator of Clooz—the electronic
filing cabinet for genealogical records, and a frequent
contributor to Ancestry. She can be reached via
e-mail at
liz@ancestordetective.com.
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