It’s all well and good to have a professional panic list for your day, but how do you get used to putting it to work? I’ll admit that it took a bit of learning to get used to mastering the tasks that I set for myself. So, here are some helpful tips to get you used to how you will work with your panic list!

How to master your panic list

There’s nothing worse than getting to the end of the day and seeing that you only accomplished some of the tasks on your panic list. Maybe it’s your lack of productivity, and maybe it’s not. Either way, it’s never a good feeling to feel like you’ve already failed for tomorrow. Honestly, it’ll happen to every professional freelancer out there at least a few times. But the goal is to learn about what went wrong and adjust your panic lists in the future! Here are some tips that I still use.

• Assume you’re going to fail: Sorry, but this is necessary for beginners! We all tend to be optimistic about our energy for the day or the next day. Unfortunately, we overload our panic list and set ourselves up for failure. Assume that you’ll have 100 distractions and move at sloth speed. If you get everything done and still have time, then CELEBRATE! And then adapt your list based on understanding how you actually work.

• Break down your list items into details and reminders: There’s no rule that a panic list has to be a short list with tasks. If certain line items need more detail, pointers, and so on, put them in! It’ll help you feel on-task when you see all of those reminders, and it also means that you’ll have more things to check off rather than that large list item that takes HOURS to check off. More validation for you!

• Have a few panic lists going at once to organize larger tasks: This may be challenging for a true panic list beginner, but you’ll want to have a few lists going. One is for the week, one is for the day, and one is for each of the tasks. This refers to those who use panic lists for large and complex projects that require planning and organizing to get them done on time. Having so many panic lists at first can be confusing, but it also allows you to juggle tasks from one to the next as you see how you’re working through the items. It proves that nothing is set in stone.

A productive learning process like no other

As you can guess, I really love panic lists. They make me feel productive, successful, and professional. Panic lists are personalized to the user, and what works for me may not work for you. Do you have any questions or contradictions to my advice above? Do you have other, more effective ways to organize your projects and tasks? If so, please consider sharing these with others below!

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