Best Laid Plans
Welcome to Best Laid Plans -- a podcast all about planning and the planning tools we love. From planning techniques and organizing philosophies to planners and notebooks, we cover it all. Host Sarah Hart-Unger is a mother of 3, physician, podcasting pro, and a lover of lists and all things paper! Listen in weekly for conversations about planning and productivity as well as product reviews and interviews with planning experts!
Episodes
August 4, 2025 • 27 mins
Sarah reviews two planners specifically designed to help those with different planning needs.
First, she discusses the Order Out of Chaos Planner, designed by ADHD parent and ADDItude Magazine columnist Leslie Josel. This planner is designed for students and might be particularly helpful for those with ADHD, though it could definitely serve other students well, too!
Link to the planners: https://ooocplanner.com/collections/academ...
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July 28, 2025 • 39 mins
It's not QUITE back to school season, but depending on where you live, it may be closer than you think! In today's episode, Sarah interviews Sarah McConnell, a professor of anatomy and histology for undergrads, graduate students and med students. Professor Sarah McConnell shares own current planner peace lineup and functional system, and then provides some fantastic tips for others in academic, from using templates to leaving helpf...
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In today's episode, sociology professor Allison Daminger joins Sarah for a fascinating discussion about mental load, division of labor, and the role of planning! She answers three great questions from listeners, tackling challenging questions about a partner not interested in long-range planning, a partner with little predictability to his job, and a partner with ADHD.
Find more from Allison and her book, The Mental Workload of Fa...
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July 14, 2025 • 27 mins
In today's episode, Sarah shares some real behind-the-scenes podcast talk with listeners. She chats about how Best Laid Plans came to be, how she chooses guests, how she tracks podcast logistics, what she outsources, how she handles listener emails, and much more!
Visit her website, theshubox.com, if you haven't been for links to all of her prior episodes.
Newsletter: theshubox.com/newsletterCourses: theshubox.com/coursesBooks Re...
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July 7, 2025 • 23 mins
In today's episode, Sarah answers accumulated questions for July!
Topics include:
Laurel Denise + Full Focus is too much -- what do use instead?
Task management (2 questions on various angles of this common challenge!) and how not to lose all of those great ideas that come to you that you want to see at the right time
Discussion of the Alistair Method for the listener struggling to fit tasks into an unpredictable schedul...
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June 30, 2025 • 31 mins
In today's episode, Sarah shares rationale and ideas for completing your own mid-year check in session, where you take stock of where things are, look at annual goals, and decide how you'd like to move forward. She provides ideas for the setting/scope of this session, and then shares her very own mid-year check in - processing her own progress on the air!
If you are interested in a guided mid-year check in video that takes you thr...
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It's a Q&A podcast! Topics include:
- Ways to plan/manage tasks when your time is unpredictably chopped up (gig worker)?- How to move into a new planner midyear?- How to talk with a partner who feels your planning systems are over the top (and you feel like they are absolutely necessary for a functional family life)?- How to handle a close friend or relative who refuses to make firm plans?- Planner recs for a child with ADHD enter...
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June 16, 2025 • 27 mins
Today's episode centers around strategies for travel planning, from super-long range (5-10+ years) to daily planning while on vacation! Sarah shares her favorite strategies at each time horizon to craft travel plans that reflect your values and highest priorities, while meeting your actual real-life needs (budget, kids' ages, etc!).
Mentioned:Kelsey's "The Years Are Short" sheet:https://www.risingshining.com/2022/10/the-years-are-...
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June 9, 2025 • 31 mins
Lizzie Post is the great-great-grandaughter of famed etiquette expert Emily Post and serves as co-president at the Emily Post Institute along with her cousin Daniel Post Senning. In today's episode Sarah interviews her on all things planning AND etiquette adjacent! First, Sarah inquires about Lizzie's current favorite planning tools and rituals, and then she asks questions that get at some of the stickier parts of planning: how to ...
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June 2, 2025 • 31 mins
In today's episode, Sarah welcomes listeners into summer (and southern hemisphere listeners into winter!). Then, she shares 10 less common (possibly quirky!) planning habits that work for her, from her tracking methods to her use of "defaults" and strategic use of break times, and more. She also shares a listener follow up to the new mom wondering how to deal with tasks that come to mind when she isn't with her planner!
EPISODE ...
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May 26, 2025 • 31 mins
Today's episode is dedicated to monthly planning rhythms! Sarah discusses why the monthly planning level can be a challenging one, but then provides reasons to try giving it some attention!
Elements Discussed:
- Ways to add to the "fresh start" energy - screen backgrounds + monthly tracking- Monthly work plan (new element for Sarah!)- Monthly goal setting (middle piece of the Nested Goals method - great way to break up big season...
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In today's episode, Sarah shares a detailed Planner Peace submission (from a listener who listened to all 250 episodes of the BLP back catalog!) and provides a mini-review of Kendra Adachi's The Playbook, designed to be planner companions for each season, rather than planners themselves!
Find The Playbook here: https://www.thelazygeniuscollective.com/merch/p/the-playbooks-bundle or here for a page by page overview: https://otterpi...
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In today's episode, Sarah share the strategies that got her feeling much less "in the weeds", including airtight task capture and inbox cleaning, plus monthly work planning!
Then, she shares a Planner Peace segment from Ross in NZ, who uses mostly digital tools plus a paper daily and has an incredibly well-thought-out and organized overall ecosystem!
Topics for the Q&A:
- Finding planners with affordable shipping to AUS and NZ- ...
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May 5, 2025 • 26 mins
In today's episode, Sarah gets real: she shares her current feelings of being "in the weeds", how she got there, and the strategies she hopes to employ to climb out.
Additional Notes:Best Laid Plans LIVE in Florida: Planning 2026 has very few remaining slots - grab yours now at theshubox.com/blplive
Sign up for the newsletter at theshubox.com/newsletter
Share your own tactics for getting out of the weeks - send Sarah an email or...
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April 28, 2025 • 33 mins
Allison Schaaf is the creator and owner of PrepDish (longtime BLP sponsor!) and her business is based on planning, specifically around meals! But she also has plenty of wisdom to share around planning the rest of life, from long term goals to handling emails and managing a team. She is also highly interested in streamlining tasks as she is a mother of 4 (including a baby!).
Shared by Allison:
- Clever Fox planner
- Superhuman ema...
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April 21, 2025 • 30 mins
In today's episode, Sarah reflects on routines, noting that her recent episode on morning routines is already obsolete (as it applies to her own morning routine, anyway!). She shares thoughts about being flexible as you set your routines, and the need to continually re-evaluate, as well as her new morning routine.
Then, she pivots to all things weekend planning, as inspired by her friend noting that weekends were feeling . . . uns...
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April 14, 2025 • 26 mins
In today's episode, Sarah reflects on where we are in the year and offers encouragement and ideas to help you start thinking through summer.
She also provides an overview of some fun planner releases for spring, including new editions from Erin Condren, Simplified, and Laurel Denise.
Episode of Amanda's Favorites where she describes designing a planner with Laurel Denise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZnWjf0qdWM
Episode Spons...
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April 7, 2025 • 24 mins
Sometimes there is vast space (and struggle) between planning and executing on our plans. In this episode, Sarah delves into why that might be an offers some solutions.
She also mentions Lisa Woodruff's Medical Binder and Carolyn Cohen's Wellness While Walking podcast.
Episode where Carolyn was a guest: https://theshubox.com/2025/01/blp-ep-232-planning-and-goal-setting-for-health-with-carolyn-cohen.html
Episode Sponsors:
PrepDi...
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March 31, 2025 • 24 mins
Some might think the purpose of planning is to get more done. That may be true in some cases, but there is so much more to the story than that. In this episode, Sarah shares 10 benefits of planning that have nothing to do from productivity, from stress reduction to anticipation to creativity to having more fun.
Other news:
BLP Live is open for registration!! Join Sarah and Laura Vanderkam in South Florida this November for 3 days ...
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March 24, 2025 • 25 mins
In today's episode, Sarah shares an update on how her recovery is going in addition to some great wisdom on the idea of a "recovery routine" from a listener. Then, she shares a planner mini-review and new additions to her 2025 Stack:
- Full Focus Spiral-Bound
- Excello Essential Weekly + Monthly (https://excellobrands.com/calendar-year/essential-monthly-weekly-planner-7-x-9-cy-2025-frosted/ or via Amazon (search for ESSENTIAL 2025...
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