As I'm sure everyone else has their limits, I am no exception. There is only so much I can stuff into my head every day, if I want to remember those things later. For me, cramming only serves me for short term purposes. For example, when I was in high school, and genuinely had no interest in remembering the things in class (I may regret it now) I would cram before every test/exam/final for hours. I would successfully remember everything, and even ace tests left and right. However, give me that same test now and I would surely fail.
Because I was a pro at cramming for short term purposes, I am always at danger of getting back in the habit of over-studying a certain subject. The last thing I want to do is over-study Japanese, learn a lot of things, move on, and realize when it's too late that I don't remember anything I learned. This has actually happened a few times, but I quickly catch myself, back-tracking until I am sure that I fully understand everything I learned.
What is considered over-studying? Like I said earlier, everyone has their limits. For me, I can't get away with studying over two hours in one sitting. At that point I start slowly losing the stuff from the beginning of my studies, like one of those VCR tapes that erases itself as you watch it (know what I'm talking about?). I am also a big fan of taking breaks. Honestly even a half an hour can significantly improve your memorization and ability to understand what you are reading without overwhelming yourself.
If you think your in my learning range (which is far from genius quality), here is a few golden rules I always try to follow.
★ Do NOT study Japanese for more than 2 hours in one sitting
★ Do NOT study textbook (in my case, Genki Integrated) for more than 1.5 hours in one sitting
★ Do NOT study late at night, even if you feel "wide awake." You'll realize the next day you weren't
★ DO take a break if what you're learning gets jumbled and confusing in your head
★ DO study vocabulary thoroughly before partaking in a textbook chapter, otherwise the lack of knowledge will be a crutch when trying to learn grammar, etc.
★ Do NOT attempt to learn new kanji every day if you do not completely remember everything you've learned. Instead maybe spend every other day or so purely on review.
★ Do NOT go a day without learning something new. If you don't have time to sit down and study, DO try to watch at least one YouTube video that teaches you something you didn't know.
I'm sure there's more, but that is the main points I try to follow. But again, everyone is different, and I bet there are people that can go 3 or 4 hours flawlessly. I cannot, because I have what you call, a "short attention span." ^_~
And purely for records sake:
Kanji count: 194
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