Reflections on the First Thousand Kanji

I finished the first thousand kanji recently, and I can honestly say that in addition to learning a slew of new characters, I learned a lot about my study habits as well. I wanted to share some of the knowledge I obtained along the way:

• Goals are good, deadlines are bad: When approaching the Heisig method, it's a great idea to have goals or at least a general idea of how many kanji per day you want to learn and how long it's going to take you to get through all 2200 kanji for common use. I decided that I wanted to finish the first 1000 characters by the first of January, and I made the mistake of turning a goal into a deadline. During finals time, I shirked my kanji studies in order to study for my classes, which was obviously the smart choice. However, after finals were over, I attempted to compensate for time lost, which did not go as well as planned. On one particular day, I added 100 characters, a mistake that I'm still paying for. I'm convinced that there's a magic number of kanji per day for everyone that works. It's good in theory to make up for lost ground, but if you have to spend a great deal of time afterwards reviewing and relearning what you've already covered, then you're really not saving any time.
• Always review before adding new kanji: There are going to be some days where you are too busy or simply need a break from learning kanji. I often found myself choosing between adding new characters or reviewing old ones in time crunches. I would say that for the most part, it is absolutely better to review than add during these times. When you're just starting out, reviewing all of the kanji that you've learned is easy, and it seems easy enough to remember them all. When you start having a lot of kanji to review, constantly refreshing your memory is crucial and equally time-consuming.
• If you are not in a studious mood, do not bother studying: I often found myself trying to force myself to study new kanji at 2am after a long night of homework. This is a horrible idea, and those are the characters that you're not going to remember. For me, there is an optimal time to study kanji, which is a couple of hours after I wake up. I want to make sure I'm (for lack of a better word) "in the zone" before I get started. Give it a shot, and you may find that there is a time that works best for you to study. If you're dead tired or simply not in the mood to deal with it, then don't. It's that simple.
• Go easy on yourself: Recently, I found myself getting really frustrated when I mixed up or forgot some kanji characters. It's highly unlikely by the time you finish the Heisig method that you'll remember every character perfectly. Remember that what you're attempting to learn is what Japanese people spend years learning in school. You will forget some, and that's absolutely fine. At the same time, it is important to hone in on these characters that you miss the most, and eventually, you will get them down.
• Keep it fun: This is always a difficult one for me. As a busy college student, I know that your free time is precious. I encourage you to make the most of it. Japanese is not all kanji, but it is crucial. Make sure that you're enjoying what you're doing, and reward yourself for trudging through the kanji for common use.

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