You're absolutely right that you have to sacrifice some productivity to get it done. I was lucky enough to have been working a graveyard NOC job for a few month

You're absolutely right that you have to sacrifice some productivity to get it done. I was lucky enough to have been working a graveyard NOC job for a few months and had nothing but time (when fires weren't burning). This gave me the opportunity to just immerse myself in VIM. It's easily been one of the best things I've ever done for my productivity.