Lists - My Favorite Research List

Last week I did a series on feeling overwhelmed in your research.  In that series I talked about my research lists and promised to share how I do them in Legacy.  Warning this post is heavy in the images department so it might be slow to load if you are on a dial up connection.

First of all let me start by saying I don't like the report feature.  I've never liked it, not even when I used other software.  So I set out to find a way to get what I want in the easiest way possible.  That's when I figured out that I could make the "search" feature work for me.  I've used this for years, I love it and today I'm going to show you how I do it.

When you open Legacy you see the top of your screen which has your tool bar and the tabs across the top.  We aren't going to deal with the tabs.  Today's blog is about the tool bar.  You will want MY TOOLBAR highlighted.  Under that if you look to YOUR left of that you will see SEARCH.

Click on SEARCH and it will open the window you see below.  Its not a complicated window so you should be able to see there are THREE conditions available to search by.  You set the conditions based on what you are working on.  You may or may not need all three conditions.  Your choice.  When I am going to an archive to work I usually use all three.   You should take some time before you get into this to decide what you want to use this for and exactly what it is you are after.  This is my favorite for archive & locality work.  Helps me see where the holes are in that area. 

 Once you figure out where you want to research then you can focus on the people that are there. You do this by filling in the "conditions.  As you can see below there are three "conditions" available to use.   I use "individual" and then continue on with birth place, Marriage place, death place or whatever conditions you want.  After that you decide on where you are going to research.  For this example I chose Montgomery County, Ohio.  You type in what you want.  Make sure that you fill this in exactly as you have it in your program or you get no where.  It has to match.   Once you've made your choices you will see at the bottom CREATE LIST.  Click it.

 The program is going to take a few seconds/minutes depending on how many people in the area you have.  This Montgomery County list that I created has abt 280 pages.  My family (maternal) has been in Montgomery County since the very early 1800's.  When it has done its thing it will give you a screen much like the one below.  It has your list on the left.  On it is everyone who fit the "conditions" that you put in above.  A very nice little list indeed!  And so simple to get!

 One little thing that greatly affects the length of your list is shown below.  If you look directly below your list, you will see a small button, OPTIONS.  The pull down window will open.  Make sure that you unclick "include married names".  It gives you many duplicates that I personally find totally uncalled for.  To the right of that button is one that says print.  Click on it.

 When you click on that PRINT button the screen below comes up.  This is where you define how your report will be spaced.  I keep it pretty simple, spread it across one page, one row.  Very seldom do I see a need for two rows.  If you look under the OPTIONS tab on the screen below this text you can see the options for headers and the name you want on the report. 

 Down in the far right corner you see the REPORT settings.  I like using the PDF option as I can save it and have a copy just in case.  Once you decide if you want pdf or whatever, you go back to the top right and click CREATE.  You won't see the CREATE button unless you mark the pdf button.  Once you hit create it will ask you what to name your file and where you want it saved to. Your choice on that one.

 The list will appear on your screen and a box will pop up asking if you want to view your pdf. If you say yes, then something like this will appear!  My search list looks like this....  As you can see it gives me the persons name, id number, birth, death, spouse and marriage information.  With this I can walk into any Archive and I know exactly what I am in need of.  You can change those settings to reflect more or less information,  depending on what it is you are in need of.  As in any piece of software its only as good as you make it. 

 So now you have it. My favorite list to use when I'm researching at an Archive or library.  I've shown you how to do this in Legacy, but I'm sure that other pieces of software are capable of doing the same thing, it just take you a few tries to get it the way you want it.  Although this post seems long and the process difficult, I can generate & print one of these in under four minutes (yes, I timed it!).  Leaves me plenty of time to dress, grab my keys and be out the door and on my way to a great day of reseaching ANYWHERE very quickly.   Hope it works for you!

Karen

Overwhelmed? Just Say NO!

You made it!  You've gotten thru all the previous steps I posted on how to stop feeling overwhelmed both in your genealogy & in your personal life.  I think I've saved the hardest one for last. 

I'm not sure why saying "NO" is so difficult but for me, Its one of the hardest things to do.  Don't know if its the not wanting to disappoint anyone or if I just hate letting people down.  It's just difficult!

If there's an easy way to do this I don't know what it is.  I can't give you a magic equation so my advice is to just do it.  Just say it. 

We are trained from childhood that "doing good" is important.  We are "programmed" so to speak, to to be nice, help each other.  And having to disappoint someone by saying no is hard.  BUT, in order to keep us on even keel,  to make sure we keep our priorities in line sometimes saying "no" is just something we have to do.  There's that priority thing again.  Figuring out what matters, what we want to focus on. 

Some thoughts to help -

• Be Selective!  You don't have to say "yes" to everything that comes along. Seriously, if we spend all our time focusing on things that don't matter to us, we get burned out and have no time for the things that do matter.  Step back and figure out exactly what really matters then focus there.  
• Do The Math!  Seriously,  take a good hard look at your life.  THEN make the choices based on what you know.  If you want to spend (INSERT YOUR NUMBER HERE) hours a week on genealogy,  and you need (INSERT YOUR NUMBER HERE) hours a week for cleaning, transporting children, and (INSERT YOUR NUMBER HERE) on other "family" things, can you really afford to donate 20 hours a week to volunteer at the animal shelter?  Before you say yes, organize your priorities, the things that matter and see what you have available.  Then prioritize how you want to spend it.  I volunteer for an organization at Ford.  When the call comes out each month for workers, I stop, look at what I have going on,  what my other commitments are and what time I have available and then (AND ONLY THEN) do I commit. 
• Don't be Compulsive!  Don't rush in.  Just because they ask now doesn't mean you have to answer now.  Be honest - "Gee, I'd love to help, but can I get back to you after I check my schedule?".  If they truly want your help they will understand.  Take the time and step back, check your priority schedule and then make your decision.  Be especially wary of making decisions when you are tired or stressed.  I've found when I just cave in and commit because I'm tired or because everyone else around me said yes, I always regret it. 
• Be Honest!   It's always better to be honest up front.  It's not always the easiest way to go, BUT in the long run it's better for your relationships if you just say it right up front.  "I just don't have the time to commit to anything else right now.", is far better than committing then finding out the next morning that this really wasn't something you wanted to do and have to cancel.  In the long run (hopefully) it will be better for both parties that you were honest and upfront about it.
• Be Flexible!  Sometimes no matter how hard we try things come up and BAM! our little list making, prioritized life has to bend.  Whether it's grandkids, kids or just a neighbor in need,  we are a persons last hope for that hour of assistance that they desperately need.  Emergencies happen, cars break down, power goes out, or someone needs a ride.  Yes, those things do happen, its called life.  It's important to step back and understand that we don't have total control.  Things happen its called life.  Be flexible enough that if you get a call and someone needs you to stop and help for an hour its not the end of the world.  You will recover and move on.  Remember,  one day it might be you on the "needy" end of that phone call.

In the long run, all of this stuff,  every single bit of what I've said in this series on relieving the feeling of overwhelmed boils down to PRIORITIES.   Call it what you want,  read it anyway you want, its all about PRIORITIZING what really matters to each of us.  I can't tell you what your priorities are.  They are different for each of us.  And that's okay.  I encourage you to sit down, take a long hard look at your life and decide what really matters to you.  Not what matters just for today, but what matters to you the person.  And then base your daily stuff, your genealogy and the other things you want to do on those priorities.  I'm sure if you do, you'll see that in the long run, if you take care of the priorities in your life, the rest will fall right into place.

Hope this helps someone.  I'm not a shrink or anything but this whole process helped me tremendously.  Hope it does the same for you!  

Happy Researching! 

Overwhelmed? Make Lists!

Step #4 of my five steps to help ease the feeling of overwhelmed was Make Lists!  I'm a list maker.  Always have been and I'm sure I always will be.  Mr. Brown Eyes (my spouse) tells me that I have a ticker tape list running across my forehead the minute my feet hit the floor in the morning.

I'm not sure its quite that bad, but he is correct.  When I hit the shower in the morning I pretty much know what my day is going to be like.  I know what needs to be done, I know what I want to do and most of the time, baring any emergencies or such I pretty much get  'er done. 

As I said before alot of this boils down to priorities.  Its really pretty simple.  What is important to you and how badly do you want to take care of those things?

My first list of the day is what do I need to get done as far as our home goes?  Do I need to toss in laundry?  Take out something for dinner?  Put something in the crockpot?   Do the bird feeders need filling?   Are there any projects that I need to take care of?   I have a pretty standard routine that takes place for cleaning, it's primarily a Monday morning thing.  There's a list - Laundry gets started, dinner goes in the crockpot, dusting is done,  usually the house cleaning is complete on Monday's by noon.  There are several good sites with lists that can help with that.  One that is very popular is the FlyLady site.  She has lots of helpful ideas on getting your house in order & organized.  Another is the Martha Stewart website.  The link I provided links to her "lists", cleaning, organizing and more.  Worth taking a look at if you are challenged in that area. 

Once that is done then we look at genealogy.  I've always got one major project going on in my office.  I've currently got two major lists I'm working on.  One is my "Michigan Research" list and the other is my "Medina County Ohio Research" list.  Both of these are generated by my software.  Another list that I like to generate from my software are "database" search lists.  Not difficult to do, but oh so helpful.  I will be doing a follow up post on generating those lists shortly.   Those lists show me where my "holes" are and what I need to be looking for.  We all have those holes in our research. 

I also keep to do lists for ALL my favorite genie haunts.  Those include Library of Michigan, Allen County (Ft Wayne), Indiana,  Montgomery County Record Center & Archives (Dayton, Ohio), Medina County, Ohio public Library.   Each repository that I have plans to visit has a to do list - some are obit search lists, some are vital record wants, some are major lists with books, microfilms and more on them.  The lists include call numbers, newspaper names and details of what I want and why.  Easily customized for all needs.  I keep those in Evernote.  Always accessible and available for spur of the minute "honey want to run off & research weekends?".   Prepared?  You better believe it!

Lists are just so important.  Both in our genealogy and our personal lives.  I've got my Christmas lists going already. Not what I want, but what do I have for each of my grandsons and kids.  Can't really go into detail here because I do know my kids read this.  I've got a little notebook sorta thingy that has a space for each person I shop for.  I have written down the "gee, I could use that" stuff that I hear during the year, then as I find it it gets taken of that list and gets added to the BOUGHT list.  So far no one has ever found that list.  Comes in handy when you go out shopping and come back as to what goes to what grandson.  I use my iPad for my grocery lists.  Its great, it shows up on all devices so there's never a chance I don't have my list with me. 

I try really hard not to make lots of paper lists but sometimes hard as I try I end up with post its on my desk for genealogy stuff I want to remember,  for reminders, for blog topics that I want to write about (I've got one going right here next to my laptop now). 

In short,  you need to find a way to make lists that work for you.  If its paper, if its electronic that works too.  The main thing is that using lists helps keep you focused.  Keeps you on track.  I'm a visual person.  Seeing it in front of me, whether on paper or on the iPad or in Evernote keeps me on track.  With my list I can see my goals and where I stand.  If I have a list of 12 things to do and my goal is done by noon, there's still four to go and its 11:15- I better get off the phone and finish that list.  Yep, keeps me on track. 

Are you a list maker?  If not, maybe you should try it!  Sure helps me! 

Overwhelmed? Let's Simplify!

I'm constantly amazed at how some people can take something that is basically a simple task and make it difficult.  Granted there are some things that you really need to do in a certain way, and changing that way could change the outcome of the whole project.  There are exceptions to every rule BUT....  99% of the time things can be simplified for the best. 

Sometimes you have to step back and think about how you want to go about it, but once you get it life suddenly gets much better.

Some ways to simplify your life....

• Plan your meals in advance, write them down on a calendar so there's no last minute dash to the land of frozen blobs called a freezer.  It really does help relieve the "Oh my goodness its 5pm and I've done nothing about dinner" panic that you get when you've been sitting doing genealogy all day.  
• Use your crockpot.  Its not rocket science (if you need recipes contact me, I've got several thousand crockpot recipes I can share), use your imagination, you'd be surprised how much you can research knowing that dinner is almost made with very little effort on your part. 
• Believe it or not, you do not have to be "connected" to the phone every waking, breathing moment of your life.  Put it on vibrate.  Trust me, the FB posts will wait.  You've got voice mail.  You don't have to take every call.  
• Turn off the TV.  Goodness,  ever hear garbage in garbage out?  When was the last time the tv did your dishes or washed your clothes.  Save your tv time for something you REALLY want to watch - like maybe Who Do You Think You Are or something like that.  Do you really care who's view they are talking about on The View?  Seriously?
• Taking time to get up out of your chair is good for you,  it also allows you to get things done.  Seriously.  Toss in a load of laundry. Set a timer.  Go upstairs and work.  Timer goes off. Move clothes to dryer. Set timer.  Go upstairs and research.  Timer goes off.  Fold Clothes & put away.  How is that hard?  Certainly manageable by anyone reading this blog I'm sure.
• I know this one isn't for everyone BUT,  I have to toss it here because it truly simplifies things for me.  I asked for and received from my son, a robot vacuum.  I know that people are skeptics but it works for me.  Lets face it, how many people vacuum under the bed, the couch and other hard to get to places every week?  My vacuum is programmed for every Monday morning and it works.  Maybe savings? Maybe a group gift from all your kids?  Either way it simplifies things for me.  
• Organize all your errands on ONE day a week. I do all my errands on Tuesday's.  Its also MY DAY.  I do no housework other than making our bed.  I do what makes me happy that one day a week.  If there are no errands to run I know I can sit here in my office and do this FOR ME.  Usually I run my errands, go to lunch with friends or family, and then work on my computer (I take my laptop with me) while I wait for my Tuesday night hang out with friends to begin. 

In the long run, we can all find ways to simplify our lives, to make things easier for us.  These are just a few things I've done to simplify my life.  Simplifying makes more time for me to do the things I have to do, but still allows me time to do the things I want to do, whether its genealogy, sewing, reading or working in my flowers. 

How do YOU simplify?