Those tasks that make you wanna run tf away 🏃‍♀️💨

You know the ones I'm talking about, Reader.

Those "oh shit... I gotta do that" moments of sinking realization.

(Probably some kind of reporting. 🙃)

You know it takes hours. You know it kinda sucks. And you know you're gonna avoid it as long as possible.

I was working 1-on-1 with a freelancer this week on her Focus Framework, and she shared her screen to show me her biggest client's setup.

One task in particular caught my eye:

"Quarterly Review - schedule before EOM" with a subtask underneath: "Create deck"

I asked her, "How long does it take you to create the deck?"

"Ugh, I HATE making these. At least 3 hours. Maybe more?"

"Okay, so what are the actual steps? Do you outline it first, or...?"

"Oh yeah, I always start with an outline. Then I pull the data, then..."

Then, she went to create a subtask... on the subtask.

A third level of tasks. 😬

Here's one of the *many* leaf-covered holes freelancers fall into with ClickUp

In my world, if a task has subtasks, it's not a task anymore... it's a project. Two levels max, end of story.

Here's what I said that made this a *lightbulb moment* for her:

"If this review is quarterly, that means you're doing it ongoing, right? So maybe it lives in it's own list and the deck creation is it's own project, along with all the other tasks you do to facilitate the review"

TLDR: it should be a list.

So we restructured it together:

List: Quarterly Review (recurring work)

Task/Project: Create Deck (with all the actual steps)

Subtask: Draft outline

Subtask: Pull Q3 data from analytics

Subtask: Design slides

Subtask: Add commentary and insights

Subtask: Final review

As we mapped out each step and estimated time, it rolled up to exactly 3 hours. She was BANG ON about how long it took... she just couldn't see it before. 🙈

Plus we added those "reminder" tasks she needed.

Task: Confirm next review (recurring every 3 months)

Task: Review meeting (once it's booked)

Now that "Create Deck" is a proper project with a list home?

✅ She can turn it into a template that auto-generates each quarter

✅ She can chip away at it over several days instead of one cringey marathon

✅ She can add recurring reminders to book the next meeting

✅ The cycle just... repeats itself without her having to hold it all in her head

Before: One great big DREADED TASK living in her giant client to-do list, making her anxious every time she scrolled past it.

After: Just going through the motions of a well-worn track. Nothing living in her head. No more dread. (Try reading that without hearing it as a rap)

This is one of those ClickUp lessons that might just change everything, so listen up...

💡 You might be creating tasks that could work better as lists.

If something repeats (quarterly reviews, campaign launches), it may warrant being in its own list. Not buried as a task somewhere. Not hiding as a subtask under something else.

In my experience, how much you dread the work has everything to do with how it's structured. Read that again.

When "quarterly review" is just one giant blob on your to-do list, your brain sees this giant hill to climb.

When it's broken into bite-sized steps you can see and track? Suddenly it's just... work. Maybe you aren't hype on it, but it's specific, doesn't take very long, and very doable.

So give me the deets:

What's on your list right now that could be a list of its own?

Reply back and let me know.

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Your "it's a list, not a task" friend,

Robyn

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Robyn Henke

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P.S. Focus Framework isn't about me telling you where to put your tasks. It's about teaching you the thought process behind structural decisions like this one—so you can look at your own work and go "oh shit, this should be a list." The whole point is learning how to build ClickUp strategically to actually support you, not add to the chaos. [Learn the thinking →]