So, confession: I haven’t started my genealogy do-over. However, I haven’t really done much on genealogy in general since deciding to do-over. I’m going to justify that by saying that I’ve decided that the first stage of my do-over was some time to detach, to take a step back and intentionally decide how I’m going to move forward.
That said, I’m in Salt Lake City for the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference (FGS2015 ), which is being held in conjunction with RootsTech 2015, the largest genealogical conference in the world. This year they are expecting 14,000 people in the Salt Palace Convention Center with thousands more joining via remote locations around the world. Quite something!
But like I said, I’m in Salt Lake City. And no trip to Salt Lake is complete without a trip to the Family History Library. I had a list of things I wanted to look up already in place when I discovered the do-over. So, confession again, I violated the do-over in that I continued my research. HOWEVER, I’ve decided that in the spirit of the do-over I’ll put all that I find this week aside with the rest of my research as I begin (ahem, continue) the do-over.
My first session yesterday was the obligatory Evernote class with Lisa Louise Cook. I sat in on some of her sessions last summer in San Antonio, and came away an Evernote convert. Then I got home and started trying it myself. Not as easy as she made it seem, just sayin’! Yesterday, though, I was quickly sucked back into that space of “I HAVE TO DO THIS!”
Then she said something that cemented it for me. She initially was reticent to use Evernote herself, even after singing its praises and interviewing the VP of the company. Then she committed herself to seven days using only Evernote. After about four days, she was ready to tear her hair out! But, she said, around day 5 it suddenly started to click, and now she uses it for everything.
I realized that Lent starts this coming Wednesday, and there’s no better time to commit to a new good habit. So, I hereby declare that I will be learning to use Evernote this Lent, and integrating it into my genealogy do-over.
I was also planning to give up alcohol during Lent, so the two may just result in a disastrous collision of cosmic proportions for me. Fortunately, Sundays during Lent are considered Feast Days and don’t count. 🙂
Dreams of our Ancestors 