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
April 29, 2024 • 31 mins
Today's episode is a planning-adjacent topic! Sarah opens with a bit about her own decorating and organizing challenges and then interviews author Myquillyn Smith, an expert on decorating and creating functional spaces within the home.
They chat about many planning-related aspects of big home projects, including how to get started when it all seems daunting, tools for tracking home projects, and an incredibly useful framework for o...
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April 22, 2024 • 28 mins
In today's episode, Sarah provides a more in-depth review of two NOLTY April-start monthly planners, and then provides updates on the latest releases from Erin Condren (some excited changes to their Daily Duo!) and Simplified (so pretty).
She then shares her own planner switchup for Spring!
Episode Sponsors:
Jenni Kayne: Find perfect transitional spring pieces at at jennikayne.com. Use code PLANS at checkout to get 15% off your fi...
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April 15, 2024 • 29 mins
Today's episode features a planner peace submission that was so intriguing that it warranted an entire episode! Our listener Erin has a lot on her plate (full time job, 2 kids, volunteer work, caring for relatives, and more!) -- and she has put together and incredibly comprehensive system that brings her to a current state of Planner Peace! Rather than a stack, she's combined digital and physical elements from her favorite tools to...
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Welcome to April's Q&A/Tips episode!
Sarah shares a brief recap of her family vacation (and getting back into life!) and then brings April's Q&A + Tips.
Topics:
1) Quarters in the Southern Hemisphere - an Australian listener reports back!
2) Cool idea for repurposing an unused planner into a paper Second Brain/Collections Notebook/Master Planner
3) App rec for routine building for those with ADHD/time blindness: Brili https://brili...
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April 1, 2024 • 23 mins
Happy new quarter or quintile!!
Today's episode is travel-inspired because Sarah will be returning from a family trip just before it airs. In today's episode, she shares her current travel planning strategies as a parent of kids who are now at ages that are pretty easy to travel with (6, 10, and about-to-be 12!).
She covers her use of Apple Notes as a useful second brain for travel and shares her appreciation for down time and rese...
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March 25, 2024 • 30 mins
In today's episode, Sarah reviews 3 planners from small business - one of them so small it hasn't been released yet!
The planners are:
1) The Halo Planner by Rebecca Brosnan, thehaloplanner.com (shop not open yet, but will be soon) - quarterly gridded planner with a ton of features and both daily + weekly layouts
2) Biz Mom Planner by Tiffani - she describes her business as "woman, minority, and mama-owned"! Hand made small batch d...
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March 18, 2024 • 23 mins
Today's episode is devoted to the Ideal Week exercise, a practice where you put your ideal week onto paper (or screen) using an hourly format. This can be done on paper using a template or an old vertical weekly planner, or on screen via an electronic calendar or even by writing on a pdf using an app.
Sarah discusses nuances of this exercise, components she includes, and variations on the idea (Ideal Month, anyone?).
A free ideal w...
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March 11, 2024 • 24 mins
Sarah opens with a discussion of the idea of planner page as "outside observer" and how seeing her day laid out in physical form can help alleviate stress and provide some helpful objectivity. (She is curious if this is a familiar feeing for anyone else!).
In the main portion of the show, she provides a step by step planning guide for your Quintile 2, or spring season (fall for our Southern Hemisphere listeners!). From end-of-the-a...
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Welcome to the March Q&A Episode! Topics discussed:
- Recommendations for planning and visioning during a job transition phase?
- Organizing the many layers of tasks around a big international move
- Follow up: Organizing kids' clothes - some tips from listener Sarah K!
- Quintiles - do you divide the year evenly?
- Details on morning planning sessions
- Listener suggestion: Sunday Basket system (Organize 365) for corralling tasks
...
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February 26, 2024 • 65 mins
Today is a departure from the typical BLP format - in today's special edition episode, Sarah joins Amanda of Amanda's Favorites both via audio and on YouTube (view the video version on Amanda's channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEd0U-Hl3ZI ).
The two hosts interview each other about a wide array of topics, from daily life to designing their dream planner!
Link to Amanda's prior interview on BLP: https://theshubox.com/20...
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February 19, 2024 • 28 mins
Today's deep dive episode was inspired by a listener question below:
"I’m so curious how you handle all the minutia and small to-dos of daily life. I have 3 kids, a full-time in-office job, and also have a side hustle crafting-based business. It seems like there are constantly people to coordinate with for kids, teacher emails that should be read, game schedules to add to the calendar, meals to plan, groceries to order, other items...
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February 12, 2024 • 22 mins
We all need rest. How can you ensure that you give yourself the gift of rest when you need it?
Sarah suggests planning for it can help, among other things! Today's episode is dedicated to all things rest as Sarah discusses her need for a 'down month' and discusses ways to truly rest well even with the challenges of work, kids, and more.
Books Mentioned:
Real Self Care by Pooja Lakshmin
Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
Wintering by Katheri...
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February 5, 2024 • 30 mins
It's a Q&A episode! Sarah tackles listener questions sent in over the previous month. Topics include:
1) Update on formalizing the task management of household (vs work) projects
2) Thoughts on Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto
3) "Can you talk about busyness?"
4) 100 Dream List - what is it, and where to keep?
5) Planning-adjacent ideas for managing kids' clothes
6) Inbox Zero methodology
7) Planning/task and data management ...
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January 29, 2024 • 32 mins
Sarah loves paper planners but there are so many people out there planning effectively with digital tools - and it was time to interview one of them! In this episode, Sarah interviews her friend Kaelyn Lopez (Kae, an RN working in transplant coordination and mother of 2 who blogs at gratefulkae.com ) for this episode because Kae has gradually shifted to an entirely digital planning system that is both functional and fun. She shares...
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January 22, 2024 • 28 mins
In today's episode, Sarah shares how her year is shaping up so far, including a report on her planner choices for the year. Then, the episode is devoted to a deep dive into Nested Goal Setting - her method for setting goals and identifying tasks based on time horizon from daily to yearly. She reviews her methodology in detail and answers common questions from "wait, isn't that a LOT of time spent planning?" to those about which too...
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In today's episode, Sarah shares some listener suggestions/feedback and then delves into January's listener questions -- many around goal setting and task management (it is January, after all)!
References:
Julie Morganstern's Time to Parent: https://www.juliemorgenstern.com/time-to-parent
The Eisenhower Matrix (James Clear's take): https://jamesclear.com/eisenhower-box
Cal Newport episode: From Chaos to Calm in One Day - https://ww...
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January 8, 2024 • 21 mins
Today's episode is all about media consumption and ways to really get the most out of the content we choose to immerse ourselves in! Sarah provides several tips for enjoying and curating media, from recording to increase awareness to partnering up to taking notes.
REQUEST: Please send guest and topic ideas! Sarah wants to make 2024's Best Laid Plans episodes the most fun and useful yet!
Contact Info:
Email: sarah.hart.unger@gmail....
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January 1, 2024 • 21 mins
This episode airs on 1/1/24 - a new day, week, month, quintile, and year!! On this special day, Sarah discusses her own annual goal-setting processes this year, and then shares her own list of goals for 2024!
These include goals in her 5 chosen domains: PERSONAL / RELATIONSHIPS / HOUSEHOLD / CLINICAL WORK / CREATIVE WORK.
Please send your ideas for 2024 guests and topics -- hoping for a great year on the podcast!
NOTE: Planning By ...
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December 25, 2023 • 22 mins
In today's episode, Sarah shares her 2023 favorites (book / movie / music / planning tools!) and then share which goals came to fruition and which did not. She also discusses the merits of setting goals without expecting that every single one of them will be reached.
Contact Info:
Email: sarah.hart.unger@gmail.com
Voice questions: https://www.speakpipe.com/bestlaidplans
Info on Best Laid Plans at Home: theshubox.com/courses
Send m...
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December 18, 2023 • 25 mins
In today's episode, Sarah provides an overview of why annual goals make sense and why she doesn't love the word "resolutions". She delves into the different types of goals one might consider setting, and shares some of the most common goals set in 2023. Finally, she details when and how you might hold your own annual goal setting session.
Episode Sponsors:
Jenni Kayne: Find your forever pieces at jennikayne.com. Listeners get 15% o...
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