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!
201
Midyear Goals Check-in (with my own goals as an...
In this episode, Sarah discusses the merit of performing a mid-year goals check in. She recommends setting aside some time and going carefully through all of the goals you identified at the beginning of the year. And then - the audit can begin! Some...
22 min
202
Planner Matchmaking with Laura Vanderkam EP 46
In this episode, Sarah provides a planner matchmaking service for Laura Vanderkam! Laura is a time management expert who also happens to be Sarah's good friend and podcast cohost on Best of Both Worlds. For years, she's used a plain spiral notebook to...
25 min
203
Planning Your Summer! EP 45
This episode is all about planning your summer, with an in-depth discussion of the various things Sarah has spent time dreaming about for Summer 2021. Topics include childcare/camp, personal projects, summer reading & entertainment, travel,...
24 min
204
The Get to Work Book and Much More with Planner...
So many listeners recommended Elise Cripe a guest, and Sarah was thrilled to chat with her about her beautiful, professional, and functional planner: the Get to Work Book! This planner has goal-setting functionality, weekly spreads, and made a unique...
26 min
205
Simplified Planner Review EP 43
In this episode, Sarah provides an honest and candid review and walk-through the Simplified Daily Planner by Emily Ley. The Simplified line of planners contains both a daily and weekly option, and all feature beautiful colors and thoughtful design...
24 min
206
Q&A - Long-range planning, less feminine planne...
It's another all Q&A episode, featuring your submitted write-in and audio questions! Question 1 opens with a question on "manly" planners for a 25 year old who has just received a promotion. Q2 is from a soon-to-be medicine resident wondering if...
25 min
207
From Essentialism to Effortless with Author Gre...
This episode features author Greg McKeown, known for his work Essentialism and now introducing some powerful newer ideas in his latest release Effortless. In the conversation, Sarah and Greg take a deeper dive into the why around planning and what...
32 min
208
Routines and More with Ashley Brown of Routine ...
In this fun conversational episode, Sarah welcomes Ashley Brown to the show. Ashley is a mother, nurse educator, podcaster, and routines expert! She has her own suite of products designed to help people (especially women) optimize their routines, and...
22 min
209
Midyear Planner Switchup and Review of the Erin...
If you have felt the pull to switch planners 3 or 4 months into 2021 -- well, just know that you are not alone! Due to a few factors, Sarah jumped out of the (lovely!) Wonderland 222 and into a larger more colorful Erin Condren softbound weekly, with...
24 min
210
Q&A Episode: Filing miscellaneous information, ...
In this Q&A episode, Sarah answers 4 listener questions. The first asks about how to handle bits of information that you might need later-- but are unsure exactly when. Then, a listener asks about the Eisenhower matrix, and relates it specifically...
23 min
211
Digital Planning Hacks from Gmail to Tasks to G...
In this fun interview episode, Sarah interviews Kelsey Wharton, a mother of 3 (ages 1-8!) and fellow podcaster -- she cohosts The Girl Next Door Podcast, which happens to be one of Sarah's favorites! Kelsey has always impressed Sarah with her...
29 min
212
Quintiles or Quarters: How to Consider Your Yea...
In this episode, Sarah does a deep dive into planning larger chunks of the year, whether are quarters or quintiles. She details the feelings and rituals that generally occur in each Quintile, as well as the use of breaking up the year in this way. ...
17 min
213
Spring Reviews: Day Designer, Villa Beautiful P...
Today's episode includes a deep dive review of the Day Designer, a monthly and daily planner with beautiful patterned covers and a distinctive layout. Then, Sarah discusses her recent purchase of two Villa Beautiful crystal gel pens and (finally) a...
22 min
214
Q&A Question: Your Voices & More! EP 34
This episode features 3 listener audio questions, plus a couple of extra bonus questions at the end! Topics covered include creating organized systems to share mental load with a partner, using budgeting tools to plan ahead for bigger less frequent...
21 min
215
Organizing Your Home, Your Paper, and Your Life...
Long-time listeners will know Sarah has been a long term admirer of Organize 365 founder and CEO Lisa Woodruff for quite some time. In today's episode, Sarah has Lisa share some of her greatest ideas (and there are many!) that pertain to organizing...
31 min
216
Organizing Your Financial Life EP 32
This episode is all about ways to organize your finances. Sarah discusses 4 essential parts of being intentional with finances, including tracking your earnings & expenses, learning about investing, following and monitoring your long-term...
21 min
217
Goal Setting, Handwriting, and More with Laken ...
Laken is a longtime member of the online planning community known for her openness, her positive encouragement, and her gorgeous and unique handwriting! In this episode, she gives an overview of her personal planning methods and her goal setting...
24 min
218
Mini Q&A and MakseLife Quarterly Goal Setting N...
It's a hybrid episode! In the first portion, Sarah answers listener questions on tasks vs to-dos, managing small recurrent tasks that threaten to take over our actions lists, and ways to organize multiple in-progress projects that involve a lot...
23 min
219
Planning & Anticipation in Pandemic Times EP 29
In this episode, Sarah takes a deep dives into the concept of planning and anticipation. This is much harder to come by in 2021, but still worth doing! Then, she discusses current planning success & failures. Finally, she answers a fascinating...
22 min
220
Daily Planning, Routines, and Crowding Out Bad ...
In this Deep Dive episodes, Sarah shares details about her morning routine and how she goes about daily planning. She also muses on the idea of essentially crowding out bad or mindless habits by intentionally spending time on things you want to,...
19 min
221
Layered Living Planner: Self-care, Goal setting...
In this episode, Sarah takes a deep dive into the Layered Living Planner by HerSpace. Sarah shares her thoughts and excitement about this unique planner, and then talks a bit about goal setting planners in general.
17 min
222
Q&A: Meal planning, Post-baby planning, Quarter...
In this Q&A episode, Sarah answers questions about meal planning, tracking multiple active cases at work, planning in the post-newborn period, how she fits in podcasting with her busy work and family life, and more! Show Sponsor: Wear Your Power...
26 min
223
Planner Chat with Meg & Myra from Planners & Wi...
In this very fun guest episode, Sarah interviews Meg and Myra, the cohosts of Planners & Wine -- yes, another podcast about planners! Their podcast is a ton of fun, as they share very real and important opinions (some planner related, and some...
28 min
224
2021 Systems Overview EP: 24
It's a new year (AND a new quintile!), so welcome to a brand new season of Best Laid Plans! In this episode, Sarah gives an overview of all of the systems and products she plans on using in 2021 to stay organized, from the digital to the physical.
21 min
225
Year End Q&A EP: 23
It's an all Q&A episode for the end of the year! Sarah answers your questions on goal setting, creating trackers for illnesses, managing big projects, messy planner pages, planners for kids, and more! Keep the questions coming - feel free to...
22 min