The Reframe Ep. 80 - Joyful Planning with Sarah Hart Unger, author of Best Laid Plans
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Dec 8, 2025 
Join Dr. Sarah Hart Unger, a pediatric endocrinologist and productivity guru, as she dives into the importance of joyfully planning our lives. She shares her journey from medicine to planning, and explains how effective systems can enhance both calm and chaos. Discover her three essential pillars for task management, and learn about nested goals to connect daily tasks to bigger dreams. Sarah also offers insights on coping with disappointment, creating meaningful planning rituals, and the value of community in achieving your goals.
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Small Planning Time, Big Life Impact
- Planning 1–2% of your waking hours yields outsized control over the other 98% of your life.
- Small recurring planning investments prevent chaos and make major decisions easier.
Build Three Core Systems
- Use three core systems: a single reliable calendar, an airtight task manager, and nested goals across time horizons.
- Make each part tool-neutral so you can use paper or digital tools that you actually maintain.
Process Every Inbox Deliberately
- Map every inbox (email, texts, apps, paper) and set a cadence to process each one reliably.
- Capture any task you find immediately into your system so important items can't fall through.
