It is easy to lose track of time when you are doing genealogy research. You open a record to check one fact, follow an unexpected clue, and discover that the afternoon has disappeared. That curiosity is part of the pleasure of family history, but a little planning helps you leave time for the other people and responsibilities in your life.
These five genealogy research time management tips can help you make steady progress and finish each session with a clear place to begin next time.
1. Set a Timer
This is probably the best and most effective time management research technique when it comes to genealogy. Decide how much time you will spend on research that day. Tell anyone whose plans may be affected. Make this declaration before you start research for the day. It can be any amount of time you deem reasonable, or that you and your spouse or other loved one agree upon.
Then, use either an egg timer or the alarm clock feature on your smartphone to set an alarm for that amount of time. Don’t set it until you actually start researching, and make sure it is clear that transportation time to and from research facilities doesn’t count. Then, no matter how hard it may be, make yourself stop and get back to the other things and people in your life when the alarm goes off. You can always do more research another day.
2. Have a Clear Research Plan for Each Day
It’s easy to get led down different paths during a day of research. You start out intending to look up only one branch of your family, or even just one person, and you end up finding so much more. It’s interesting, so you follow the clues to see where they lead you. Before you know it, you are researching a different branch or person entirely.
Start out each research day with a clear plan of what you will be working on and stick to it. Keep notes of interesting information you find along the way. Include where you found it so you can return to it on another research day. But stick with what you set out to look up that day and don’t deviate from it. It takes discipline, but it will also keep your research time to a more reasonable amount for you and your loved ones.
Write one answerable question before you open a database. For example: “Where was Mary living in 1880?” List the records most likely to answer it and record the searches you have already tried. A promising clue about another relative belongs on a separate list for a future session.
3. Only Go Where You Planned to Go
Plan your in-the-field research day before you leave home. Your stops might include cemeteries, libraries, archives, town historians, town clerks, churches, and courthouses. Each visit may turn up unexpected leads. These leads may cause you to want to go to places not on your list for the day. You’ll probably think that “just one more stop” won’t hurt, and may help you find exciting new information on your family.
One extra stop may reveal useful information. It can also lead to a much longer day than you planned, especially if someone is expecting you home. Stick to your planned list of places to go that day, and return to any new potential places to visit you discovered during your trip on another research expedition.
For a repository visit, check opening hours, appointment rules, identification requirements, and document-ordering deadlines before you leave. Include travel, breaks, and time to photograph or copy records in your plan. If you make an unexpected discovery, write down the next destination rather than rushing there without checking access.
4. Use Screen-Time Limits on Your Device
A daily app limit can remind you when it is time to finish. On an iPad, use Screen Time and App Limits. On a supported Android device, look for Digital Wellbeing and app timers. Names and available controls vary by device and software version.
These settings limit selected apps; they do not necessarily turn off the whole tablet or prevent you from changing your own limits. Choose a realistic allowance and treat the reminder as your cue to save your notes and stop. A simple kitchen timer works just as well if you prefer to keep things uncomplicated.
5. Ask for a Phone Call
Tell your spouse, friend, or anyone else with whom you live that you will stop researching for the day at a certain time. Then, ask them to call you at that time and remind you of your promise to stop and come home. Hearing from someone who expects you home can be a good reason to stop. Leave the remaining research for another day.
It is hard to stop researching once you get started. Once you’ve been doing genealogy for a while, you will realize this. While it’s okay to get lost in it once in a while, don’t make it a habit if you have other people depending on you. Use these time management techniques, and you will always stay on your loved ones’ good sides.
Leave Yourself a Clear Starting Point
Reserve the last five minutes for a research log. Record the collection or record title, its location or link, the names and dates searched, and what you found. Include searches that produced no useful match, so you do not repeat them by accident. Save a source citation with each document and separate what the record says from your own conclusions.
Finish with one specific next step: “Check the 1880 census for Mary in the neighboring county” is easier to resume than “Keep researching Mary.” A brief note about an unresolved question can make tomorrow’s session more productive without keeping you at the computer tonight.
For a practical example, see this FamilySearch research-log handout. You can also explore more genealogy research tips on Ancestral Findings.
