Different people approach this activity with different objectives. Depending on what you try to do, you will be constrained to a greater or lesser degree in picking your passes for a particular viewing session. Before you begin your planning, you should consider the following questions:
If you are trying to spot a specific satellite, such as the ISS, you are the most constrained because you can only see it on a few passes a certain day. Depending on the orbit's orientation, you may not be able to see a particular satellite for several months. You will have to wait until the orbit plane arrives again to where you get good morning or evening passes. To see the satellite, you must take what you get regarding passes.
You are less constrained if you are trying to see members of a certain class of satellites, such as the mega-constellations or weather satellites. You may be able to see one or more of the individual birds in a given viewing session.
This is the least constrained and, to me, the most rewarding type of viewing. It does not matter which satellites you are trying to see in a given session; you can choose the best passes from the numerous available ones.
If you know that the satellite you are looking for is bright, you should look toward the landmark star or constellation using only your naked eye. Focus your eyes on the background stars and wait for the satellite to appear. If you do not see the satellite at the exact time, do not give up; satellites sometimes appear a little late (or early). Pro tip: if it has blinking lights, maybe red and green, you cannot make a wish on it.
Looking for a dim satellite is the same as looking for a bright one, except you will need to use binoculars to see it. In addition, since the field of view of a pair of binoculars is less than that of your eyes, you may need to scan around the landmark location to find the satellite.
You will not always find all of your targeted satellites. If you have not found your satellite within a minute or so of its predicted appearance time, you will probably not see it on this pass. At that point, it is best to give up on this pass and move on to the next. There are so many of them these days that there is no issue with spotting something. The challenge is to know what you see. A plane, a bird or a satellite, and which satellite.