Then the world makes its New Year's resolutions. We vow to eat less, exercise more, get organized and keep a host of other promises. Maybe you don't like the word resolution and prefer instead to “set goals.” Is one of those goals to be a more-efficient genealogist?

Perhaps, looking at the blanks in your family tree, boxes of unidentified photographs and mountains of photocopied records on your desk, you've said aloud, “This is the year I'll finally break through those brick walls!” Yet even with the best of intentions, you can get off track. After all, life happens. Other things—family, work, chores—take priority, sapping your focus and motivation.