Where To START, and Planning to Revolutionize Your Social Life EP 295

Best Laid Plans

Sarah Hart-Unger

Education, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Self-improvement

4.9 • 853 Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today's episode, Sarah answers a question from Nate (who heard Sarah on Cal Newport's Deep Questions Podcast), who asked where it makes sense to START in terms of implementing all of the planning systems she talks about on this podcast (and in her book!). How does one begin to build a system - all at once, or piece by piece?Useful references mentioned:Airtight Task Management Episode: https://theshubox.com/2026/02/blp-ep-288-your-guide-to-airtight-task-management.htmlAnnual Planning Episode: https://theshubox.com/2024/11/ep-226-your-mini-guide-to-2025-annual-planning.htmlSeasonal Planning Episode: https://theshubox.com/2024/03/blp-episode-189-diving-into-quintile-2.htmlMonthly Planning Episode: https://theshubox.com/2025/05/blp-ep-252-monthly-planning-rhythms-completist-mini-review.htmlWeekly Planning Episode: https://theshubox.com/2020/08/day-140-blp-ep-2-weekly-review.html (note: this is the SECOND EVER ep of BLP, so stay tuned for a renewed weekly planning episode coming soon!)Daily Planning Episode: https://theshubox.com/2021/02/blp-ep-28-daily-planning-routines-and-crowding-out-bad-habits.htmlThen, Sarah interviews September Gerety, an CEO in her empty nest phase who has found herself with a thriving community and social life -- and it all started with some planned. She shares her story (as well as a bit about her current systems!). If you have questions for September, you can find her via this episode's show notes at theshubox.com. Episode Sponsors IXL: Make an impact on your child’s learning, get IXL now. Best Laid Plans listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ⁠⁠⁠https://www.ixl.com/plans⁠⁠⁠. Green Chef: Healthy meals that fit your nutrition goals (and are delicious too!). Head to Greenchef dot com/50bestlaid and use code 50bestlaid to get fifty percent off your first month, then twenty percent off for two months with free shipping. Mint Mobile: Save money by changing your wireless plan to Mint Mobile! Shop plans at ⁠⁠⁠mintmobile.com/BLP⁠⁠⁠. PrepDish: Healthy meal plans straight to your inbox (and now with easy Instacart ordering!). Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠prepdish.com/plans⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠for a free 2-week trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Best Laid Plans.
0:10.9	This is your host, Sarah Hart Unger, and this is a podcast where we talk all things planning
0:15.0	and planning adjacent.
0:16.7	Today I have a fun two-part episode for you.
0:20.0	The second half on the episode is a conversation
0:22.2	between myself and September Garrity, who was a member of Best Lay Plans at Home and a lover of
0:28.9	all things planning and planning adjacent. And she is going to talk about how some small
0:33.8	steps in her planning have gone to really revolutionize her social life. And when she
0:39.9	described this to me, it really resonated. And I think you will really enjoy her take on how
0:45.7	planning has changed things for her. Before we get to that, though, I want to welcome any new listeners.
0:51.6	I was on Cal Newport's podcast a couple of weeks ago, which was an honor. I love his
0:57.1	work, and he's definitely been one of the many inspirations that has helped me craft the methods
1:02.5	that I teach. And we talked all things analog planning. I know I was on his YouTube and that
1:07.9	episode got lots of views. So I have acquired some new readers and
1:11.8	listeners. So if that is you, hello, there is tons of planning content to be found here, both
1:16.8	analog and otherwise. And I thought it would be fun to answer a listener question that I received
1:23.4	from that kind of new audience, because I think this does pertain to others as well. So Nate wrote in
1:30.2	and said, I'm working through the book and I really like it. Yay, thank you, Nate. But I find myself
1:35.5	torn between going page by page versus trying to implement some things that will bring some sanity
1:40.7	to life and planning. Like should I focus on airtight task management before to get into some of the yearly
1:46.1	planning stuff?
1:47.5	Do you have any suggestions on where to begin?
	...

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