Here’s a story that another dedicated Skritterer sent me following the conclusion of the challenge. His learning skyrocketed with the additional time, but his sleep schedule suffered.
“I didn’t plan to participate in the challenge, as it was way beyond my usual 10 to 20 minutes per day. It just sounded ridiculous. Then of course, this time a slip one day didn’t matter, as I could catch up the next day – even skrittering 25 hours on the last day was (almost) possible. So maybe I could do it after all. And of course there was my trip to Beijing in June. Nothing wrong with some extra sessions before that, it even sounded like perfect timing. Finally the writing tablet convinced me to at least give it a try. There was nothing to lose, my Chinese would in any case profit.
So what kept me motivated? Of course once started, I didn’t want to step back. What was important was to always be slightly above 60 minutes in average, so that even with a day of business travelling only achieving 10 minutes before breakfast, I still was on track. Another motivating factor after the initial days was of course the backlog. It still keeps me way above my daily 20 minutes and I hope that I’ll have a good internet connection in Beijing or I’ll be drowned after returning. The biggest motivation was the number of new words added by Skritter, especially in the beginning. I’m just half way through the new HSK 4 and I think that’s where I would have been still at the end of the summer. So it was fun to see the progress. Nevertheless, I think that there’s a limit to what the brain can absorb and 60 minutes, for my brain, is beyond that limit. That means, that I think the efficiency was already going down and I needed many reviews more than usually for a new word.
What have I gained? A writing tablet, 200 new words, 125 new characters, a lot of fun, some sleepless nights – ok, not sleepless, only late to bed and early to rise – and the good feeling that I achieved the (almost) impossible.”