

Best Laid Plans
Sarah Hart-Unger
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
Mentioned books

Sep 5, 2022 • 24min
How Sarah Organizes Her Life EP 110
Inspired by a podcast episode of similar title (Cal Newport's Deep Questions Ep #211), Sarah decides to offer a 10,000 foot view of how she organizes . . . pretty much everything!This episode is more about principles than tools (though of course those get a mention as well!). Sarah talks through her various horizons of planning, from daily to yearly, and her methods for keeping inputs under control.Episode Sponsors:Gusto: Gusto is offering our listeners three months free at gusto.com/sarah. Get easy payroll, benefits, HR, and a happier team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 29, 2022 • 24min
2023 Hobonchi Deep Dive EP 109
It's Hobonichi season, and Sarah is excited! She opens with a Planner Peace submission from Hobonichi user, and then goes into a detailed exploration of the current Hobonichi offerings, from planners to covers and more.Learn about the ordering process, the website (it's in English!) and their new offerings for 2023, as well as what Sarah is thinking of ordering herself.Episode Sponsors:Yipes: Face & hand wipes for kids! Go to yipes.com/PLANS for 20% off. Growing up is messy. Yipes! wipes to the rescue.Gusto: Gusto is offering our listeners three months free at gusto.com/sarah. Get easy payroll, benefits, HR, and a happier team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 22, 2022 • 26min
Back to School Energy, Q&A: Scrolling Habits, Planner Matchups, and Apple Notes EP 108
In this episode, Sarah opens with a discussion of back to school energy, with a shout out to the Hobonichi 2023 releases + the new Full Focus designs. Then, she shares some listener tips related to reading journals and book tracking.In the Q&A, she answers questions in themes: 2 related to scrolling habits, 2 planner matchmaking requests, and 1 on Apple Notes.As always, detailed links/notes up can be found at theshubox.com!Episode Sponsors:Yipes: Face & hand wipes for kids! Go to yipes.com/PLANS for 20% off. Growing up is messy. Yipes! wipes to the rescue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 15, 2022 • 33min
Digital Time Management with Kelly Nolan EP 107
In today's episode, Kelly Nolan joins Sarah to talk all things digital planning and calendar management. Kelly is a lawyer, previously working as a litigator. She became passionate about helping women manage their time and thrive in busy jobs, and now teaches time management for her main career. She loves helping women to truly understand where time is going and helping them integrate work and life though her digital calendar management techniques. She and Sarah have a great discussion on common challenges women with big careers face.Find Kelly and learn more about the Bright Method at http://kellynolan.com, or connect with her on Instagram @_kellynolan_Episode Sponsors:Organize 365: To learn more about Lisa Woodruff’s work and her amazing offerings, check out organize365.com, or go to organize365.com/minicourse for a free 7 days minicourse on getting yourself organized!Yipes: Face & hand wipes for kids! Go to yipes.com/PLANS for 20% off. Growing up is messy. Yipes! wipes to the rescue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 8, 2022 • 33min
Reading Habits & Reading Journals EP 106
This episode is dedicated to all things reading! In the first half, Sarah discusses her reading habits through the years, including a few habits she has embraced recently to help her read more.Then, she provides mini-reviews of 4 reading journals: My Reading Life: A Book Journal by Ann Bogel, Bibliophile Reader's Journal by Jane Mount, My Reading Adventures: A Book Journal for Kids by Ann Bogel, and The Cultivated Reading Journal from Cultivate What Matters.Episode Sponsors:PrepDish: Check out PrepDish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE.Yipes: Face & hand wipes for kids! Go to yipes.com/PLANS for 20% off. Growing up is messy. Yipes! wipes to the rescue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 1, 2022 • 28min
Planner Chat with Bloom Cofounder Michelle Askin EP 105
Today's episode is a deep dive into the world of a planner founder and company leader! Michelle Askin cofounded Bloom when she was just 20 years old (!), and 12 years later their products are widely available, addressing planning needs for many different stages of life.Michelle chats about the products she's using now, Bloom's mission to give back, ways she combines digital + paper, and finally some speculation on future ideas and trends in the planning world.Episode Sponsors:Green Chef: Healthy, delicious, and CCOF-certified meal kits! Go to greenchef.com/plans135 use code plans135 to get $135 off across five boxes—and your first box ships free!Yipes: Face & hand wipes for kids! Go to yipes.com/PLANS for 20% off. Growing up is messy. Yipes! wipes to the rescue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 25, 2022 • 23min
Getting Though Tough Times: COVID Edition ReAir EP 104
Today's episode is a ReAir, in part because Sarah's voice is a bit out of commission due to COVID. She records a brief intro (and promises to be back when she sounds better), and this is followed by a replay of February's episode below, inspired by a tough week on call Sarah had. She outlines 5 things she wished she had done to make life easier on herself -- things that might apply to anyone going into a finite difficult period.1. Evaluating which habits might temporarily not be serving you2. Pay attention to basic body maintenance - foundation habts3. Ask others for help4. Don’t be afraid to say no if someone is asking for favors5. Create an "after the storm" listEpisode Sponsor:Gusto: Gusto is offering our listeners three months free at gusto.com/sarah. Get easy payroll, benefits, HR, and a happier team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 18, 2022 • 25min
Listener Tips, A Planner Hub, and a Deep Dive into Current Planning Practices EP 103
In today's episode, Sarah opens with a listener tips about daily theme dressing by color, and shares some info on The Planner Wire, an online hub (created by another planner aficionados) for all things planning related.Then, she takes a deep dive into how she is using her current lineup, including some different uses for some of the pages in EC's Daily Duo and some more details about her low-key entries in the Hobonichi 5 year.Episode Sponsors:Organize 365: To learn more about Lisa Woodruff’s work and her amazing offerings, check out organize365.com, or go to organize365.com/minicourse for a free 7 days minicourse on getting yourself organized! Gusto: Gusto is offering our listeners three months free at gusto.com/sarah. Get easy payroll, benefits, HR, and a happier team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 11, 2022 • 26min
Mid-Year Goals Check In & Triage, Plus an In-Depth Digital Planner Peace EP 102
In this episode, a listener Beth opens with a fantastic Planner Peace submission, all about her transition to digital planning with Artful Agenda. Then, Sarah discusses her process for checking into goals midway through the year. She shares questions to think about as well as the specific products and tools she uses to capture her goals and lists.Finally, she shares her own triaged goals list for mid-year!Episode Sponsors:PrepDish! Check out PrepDish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 4, 2022 • 29min
Listener Tips + Mini-Review: The Plan by Lauren Truslow EP 101
In this episode, Sarah shares a few listener tips! Amanda discusses her own self-care strategy for busy times, Jen shares a cautionary tale about Frixion pens, and Xoke provides some fantastic email tips. Sarah then discusses the upcoming Cultivate What Matters reading journal, and then dives into her mini-review of The Plan by Lauren Truslow. This planner is BIG but packs a lot of punch, including some great meal planning and health tracking options as well as a lovely daily layout.Episode Sponsors:TopCashBack: Try TopCashback for yourself by visiting topcashback.com, creating an account with your email and password, and entering the promo code PLANS. All new customers who sign up now will get a $10 sign-up bonus when they spend their first $25 on topcashback.com after entering the promo code!Green Chef: The number one meal kit for eating well. Go to greenchef.com/plans130 use code plans130 to get $130 off, plus free shipping! This is a great deal and excellent way to give their meals a try. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices