Episode 239: Genealogy Redux

Getting to Good Enough

In honor of next week's big in-person and virtual genealogy conference, RootsTech, we are re-running a 2018 episode about applying a good-enough mentality to genealogy research. Enjoy!

Shannon and Janine are among the millions of people who enjoy doing genealogy research. In fact, as a genealogy blogger, Janine devotes a significant amount of time to it. In this episode, we discuss Shannon's challenges with her genealogy research (which involve an enviable literal treasure trove of original documents given to her by her mother) and discuss some strategies to help her get past the perfectionism that's stopping her from proceeding with her research.

Discussion topics include:

• How a lot of people get hung up on perfectionism in genealogy

• How genealogical standards can feel intimidating

• How the discovery of Shannon's treasure trove was both wonderful and stress-inducing

• The responsibility Shannon feels to the rest of her family to care for these documents correctly and share them

• The importance of knowing why genealogy research (and anything else) is important to you

• Some practical advice for dealing with these precious documents (keyword: checklist)

• Creating a "good enough" standard to make source citations easier

• Getting past the overwhelm of genealogy research

• Janine’s “good enough” research log

Bonus! We get an update on Shannon's morning routine at the end of the episode. She shares how her good enough attitude and the minimum standards she has set have helped her establish and stick with a great morning routine.