>A common failure mode (and I did this more than once, before I got the hang of it) is to use Anki for two weeks, then drop it, and pick it back up six months l

>A common failure mode (and I did this more than once, before I got the hang of it) is to use Anki for two weeks, then drop it, and pick it back up six months later only to find you have 600 cards due for review. This is not encouraging, and it defeats the point of spaced repetition, which is to review the cards on the intervals the algorithm chooses. For successful long-term use of a spaced repetition program, I believe that this model of thinking is unsustainable for most. I used to have this relationship but had to grow past it as my life circumstances changed and prevented me from having that consistent amount of time every single day. Now, I look at Anki as a way to prioritize my learning time. When I get to it, I have it present me the things that are the most-overdue first. This has meant that I've gone from a typical backlog of ~0 reviews at the end of the day to flexing between ~500-2500 backlogged reviews. Just because I'm not reviewing the piece of information at the exact right time doesn't mean that I'm "defeating the point" of the piece of software. Spaced repetition, even if done imperfectly, is still many times more efficient than traditional study methods.