13 Aug 2009
Posted in Personal
I can’t remember what number I’m up to, so I’m going by date.
I’ve also decided that I don’t have to do this every night – just when I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything much today.
I spent a lot of today out at the State Records NSW Reading Room at Kingswood searching for Conditional Purchase correspondence. I found two sets and started on a third.
Conditional Purchases were a method in the early years of the Colony to get settlers out into the country. They could choose to buy land, before it was surveyed, and pay it off on the condition that they lived on the land and improved it. Once they’d paid for it and inspections showed they met the conditions, the title deed was issued.
The correspondence covers the initial application form, requests for survey, declarations of the purchaser, transfers, and all manner of other documents. Earlier documents were pulled from where they had been filed and filed with later correspondence, and you have to find the register to know whether this happened, so finding where the correspondence is actually stored involves a chain of links from one register to the next. It takes time, patience, and accuracy.
So I can be pleased with what I achieved today!
Tomorrow I’m going to start writing my Diploma essay. I’m also going to finish editing the article for Descent (the journal of the Society of Australian Genealogists) and process what I found today.
10 Aug 2009
Posted in Personal
Bad day today, recovering from a relapse of the flu or something.
I did manage to:
- Catalogue the books I bought on the weekend, and reorganise my catalogue in general
- Start a new method of collecting information about places and history in TMG
- Do the washing
- Have a play with the SAG website by instaling Joomla on my website (this one) and copying the template into it. I still don’t know how to export the content and import it into the new one, so I have something to play with.
Tomorrow, I’m going to:
- Process the research I did last week
- Prepare the next steps for that research
- Do some client research
See, it does work. I don’t feel so much that this day was a complete waste of a day as I did before, and I can be less hard on myself.
9 Aug 2009
Posted in Personal
I’ve been away for a few days, so there’s been no productivity update because there’s been no productivity!
It was a social and educational weekend devoted to the history of the Irish in Australia, so it was productive in a way, but everything is still waiting for me now that I’m back.
Tomorrow I’ll get back into it.
5 Aug 2009
Posted in Personal
Today I took the dog out to her holiday resort, researched for 3 clients at State Records, and tonight I will pack and get a CD for a client ready to post.
Tomorrow I will go to a meeting with a representative from World Vital Records at the Society of Australian Genealogists, post the CD, and drive to Galong for the Shamrock in the Bush, a celebration of our Irish ancestry.
Woohoo!
4 Aug 2009
Posted in Personal
Tired and headachey after a day on the microfilm readers.
- Lands research for one client
- Electoral roll research at the State Library for two clients
- Immigration records for two other clients
- went to the gym!
Tomorrow:
- Take the dog to the kennel so we can go away the next day
- State Archives for some client research
- pack to go away
3 Aug 2009
Posted in Personal
Well, so much for my grand resolution yesterday – I got caught up doing my taxes and went to bed late. And lay in bed thinking about what I achieved, so at least I can remember them now:
- I wrote the email about the new opportunity
- I finished the client report and packed it up to post
- I got stuck into calculating my taxes when I realised it wasn’t just a question of firing up the accounting software and running a report
So I didn’t finish the assignment, but that’s OK.
Today I managed to:
- Finish working out my taxes and made it reconcile (woohoo!)
- write some overdue emails to clients
- sorted out what I need to do in the State Library and Lands Office tomorrow
- reorganised my Genealogy notes on Ireland, so I can find what I’m looking for!
And I took the vacuum cleaner in for a service. So I feel very virtuous. Again, I didn’t do the assignment, but the tax is more important – a High Priority Task. Prioritising is important, but it’s also important to make time for the not-so-high priority items, otherwise they’ll never get done!
The Irish notes wasn’t on the list but I’m going away for an Irish long weekend, the annual Shamrock in the Bush at Galong, so it was proactive.
2 Aug 2009
Posted in Personal
Have you even got to the end of the day and wondered where all the time went? I often do; I think of all the things I haven’t done and feel bad that I haven’t achieved anything. Yet I don’t seem to count up all the things that I have achieved.
It’s important to realise what still needs to be done and to plan for it, and if you do this at the end of the day you can take the rest of the night off. It’s also important to congratulate yourself for what you have done. It’s much better to have a satisfied feeling that comes from achievement than a disappointed feeling that comes from concentrating on the negative. Look at what’s in the glass, not what isn’t!
I have recognised this for some time and I try to do this at the end of every day, usually when I’m in bed trying to get to sleep. I think it helps me get to sleep but I usually forget, and I lie awake thinking about what I didn’t do and what I have to do tomorrow.
I’m going to try to formalise the process and bring it forward so that it’s all done and sorted before I go to bed. I’m going to put my list in writing, on this blog, every night, so everyone can see it. Theory suggests that making your achievements, and your goals, public makes you feel more accountable, and more likely to make them happen. Let’s see if that’s true.
From tonight, I’m going to list the 3 best things I achieved today, and the 3 things I expect to achieve tomorrow. I’m going to limit the number at 3 so it doesn’t seem too daunting. When I lie in bed trying to think of 3 things I achieved I nearly always manage it, but if I try for 5 it’s demoralising when I can’t. Demoralising is not the effect I am going for, so I’ll stick to 3, although if I can get to 5 that’s a bonus!
My 3 goals for today are:
- answer an email about an opportunity
- finish my ProGen assignment 15
- finish a client report and get it ready for posting
Not really Sunday-kind of activities, but I took yesterday off and spent it in the garden in the sun, where I achieved:
- repotting of 2 or 3 overgrown bromeliads
- cleaning up and reorganising the bromeliad arrangement against the front of the house
- moved 5 or 6 plants to better positions around the garden and in the house
And last night I did some work:
- sent in my ProGen assignment 14
- started on assignment 15
- (one more……) I can’t think of another one
You see, it’s best to do this on the day, while it’s still fresh in your mind. If you leave it until the next day and you can’t remember all the things you did you get demoralised again.
Oh, I know:
3. Filed my Riley Research Plan in my Riley Research folder and considered future possibilities
OK, it’s not much, but I feel better having found a 3rd one.
So that’s the plan, and I invite you to join me. I already feel better about myself!
See what a difference it makes to your life!
