Best Laid Plans by Sarah Hart-Unger

BEST LAID PLANS by Sarah Hart-Unger offers “A Simple Planning System for Living a Life That You Love.” Hart-Unger is a pediatric endocrinologist and podcaster (Best Laid Plans) and seems to be a very high energy person with tons of enthusiasm, particularly regarding time management (“more proactivity means less reactivity”). She begins by suggesting three fundamental tools: an accurate and complete calendar system, nested goal-making, and airtight task management. Those comments (developed in subsequent chapters) are all very helpful and rather inspiring. I would like to see a print copy of this book to get a sense of whether there are diagrams, charts, and/or bullet point summaries, all of which I think could be beneficial. I also wonder to what extent follow-through could be an issue as this process definitely seemed like something to share with a friend (Hart-Unger encourages planning with others) so that you could try to hold each other accountable. One advantage which the author has - and may not fully appreciate in the planning context - is that she works three days a week as a doctor and has two other weekdays to pursue her business and creative interests. Having control over one’s schedule, along with big blocks of time to devote to specific tasks, would lead to a sense of accomplishment, further reinforcing the planning habit. Hart-Unger is wise enough to realize that we can all feel overwhelmed and devotes a chapter to feeling stuck, “Burnout, Overload, Big Project Intimidation, and Procrastination;” another chapter focuses on challenges (e.g., learning curve, perfectionism, and time sucks). These are followed by a final chapter filled with examples of the specifics used by a variety of “peaceful planners.” BEST LAID PLANS has ideas for everyone from truly disorganized to the frequent list-maker. I hope she sets a goal to adapt (further simplify) her text for high school and/or college students – they could benefit from practicing and establishing these habits early in life.