Document your own life first by gathering records and information about your birth, marriage, graduation, military service and so forth. Look around the house for photographs, documents, old letters, diaries, newspaper clippings, and family Bibles. Ask your parents and grandparents about such items also. Use a Family and Home Information Sources Checklist as a guide to sources of information you might find in your home or the home of a relative. Armed with what you do know, then start asking questions.
Genealogists can put reporters to shame.
After all, we want to know everything. Talk to your parents and your grandparents. Write to them or call them. Write to and call your cousins, aunts, and uncles. Interview those people who lived near your family, and don't forget old family friends.