Your Genealogy Goal for 2026

Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega gives advice on choosing – and sticking to – your New Year’s genealogy resolution. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

Happy New Year! The year 2026 promises to be a year of new exciting technologies (AI, I’m looking at you), places to research, and new collections. It’s truly a great time to be a genealogist.

Photo credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

A new year brings up the inevitable question: What is your genealogy resolution for 2026? According to a Pew Research report in 2024, of the people they surveyed, 3 in 10 Americans report they made at least one resolution. However, 13% will give up on their resolution within a month (I was surprised it wasn’t higher). And they found that New Year’s resolutions are more popular with young people (18-29 years) than older adults (30+).*

So, where does that leave you? Were you like me and made a 2025 resolution but the follow-up and actual working on it was less than stellar? Maybe you are a go-getter and your 2025 meant a new family history book, a brick wall conquered, or all photos digitized and shared. What should you do about 2026? How can 2026 be the year that you accomplish that genealogy goal?

2026: Here We Come!

“New Year’s resolutions are meant to be broken…”

–Me

Let’s face it. Life gets in the way. Between family obligations, health issues, work, etc., you may have a hard time accomplishing what you want with your genealogy. You know what you need to do. You don’t need me to tell you, but I would encourage you to at least focus on what needs to be done to share your genealogy with others in case/when something happens to you. (If you haven’t read my recent post, Your Photographs Will Be Thrown Away, take a look at it to help motivate you to at least tackle your photographs.)

My goal has been to digitize photographs and documents so that I get my genealogy to a point that it can be passed down to other family members via online trees and sharing files. It’s a lot of work. It’s not something I can accomplish in a year. I am working on it little by little, but I could do better.

I was recently reading an article on goals, and it mentioned that part of successfully accomplishing a goal is to establish a new routine. To do this, choose a time each day/week/month when you dedicate time to this task. Once you decide which day/time works best for you (and this will change depending on what comes up in life), add it to your calendar and/or set a reminder on your phone. If every Sunday at 10 a.m. is your scanning time, you’re more likely to get in the habit of doing it.

You might think, “I have no time.” Most likely you do. Think about how you waste time (we all do) with television or scrolling on our phones. When I started my genealogy journey there was a book that provided tips on what family history tasks could be done in less than 30 minutes of time. The idea was that even a small amount of time gets you to the end goal. So even 10 minutes is something, and my bet is that you can find 10 minutes in your schedule to work on what you love and care about.

What Will You Accomplish?

This year consider what you want to accomplish and how that goal can be broken down into a new routine. Our time on earth is short and now’s the time to accomplish that genealogy goal you need to focus on.

I want to be inspired by your resolutions. Please share them in the comments.

You can do this! 2026 will be the year when you move your research forward.

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Note on the header image: photos of a young woman with camera and clock. Credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html [120825]

* “New Year’s Resolutions: Who Makes Them and Why,” Pew Research Center (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/01/29/new-years-resolutions-who-makes-them-and-why/)