Making this for public accountability and will provide weekly updates on Sundays from 10/26/25 - 10/26/26 
So far I have been learning Japanese on and off for ~2 years, and want to get into a more consistent cadence. I am level 7 on WaniKani with the following progress markers as my baseline. Thank you for following me on my journey and keeping me accountable 
11/5/25: Past week has been fairly productive. I am most in the groove when I do WaniKani upon waking and right before bed (i.e. time I am least likely to get interrupted). Halloween ended up interrupting my studying because I went on a road trip, so definitely will want to plan my study cadence around travel going forward.
11/11/25: This has been an interesting week where I diligently did my my review on workdays, and then did 無(nothing) on my days off. I think I’ve successfully connected WaniKani practice with starting my workday, so I need to find a behavioral cue that can get me into WaniKani on weekends now. I am also pleased to report that my accuracy rate is climbing and is close to being back in the “learning zone” according to my dashboard. For this upcoming week I want to begin doing more lessons again to feel like I’m progressing to the next level. If anybody has any reading recc’s for a Level 7 lmk! I think the more I can translate my practice into real-world progress, the more motivated I will stay.
11/17/25: Not my most productive week…I make up that I draw from the same “reservoir” of time/energy studying Japanese as I do when coding or CAD designing my 3D prints. I think I need to set a lower hurdle to clear (e.g. 10min instead of 30min) for the next week so it feels less intimidating/unsustainable during my busy schedule over the next few weeks. I got this!
11/23/25: good progress this past week. I found a cadence right where I wanted to, at the start/end of every day. I have a hectic week of traveling so will try to keep it fundamental and worry less about the volume or throughput next week compared to maintaining the discipline and behavior. I can get caught up on hitting a hundred flashcards in each session and when family’s involved it can be hard to do it without getting roped into something. So maybe I will hide away in some random dedicated “WaniKani” room it will probably help
12/1/25: I am very happy with the amount of studying I was able to do while doing coding challenges and holiday events. There is differently strong overlap between the regions of my brain that do coding stuff and japanese so it’s harder to study on days that I code heavily. That being said, I want to pour more energy into my Japanese studies because I’m in a really irritating finger-snapping phase where I can’t quite recall the word (e.g. to get fired being to become neck) in conversation. Maybe I need to start sounding out the words as I do them, that’s what worked for me for Spanish
12/10/25: Was doing great until Sunday, I got into a video game and fell off the map Sunday and Monday. I definitely feel less “behind” if that makes sense. The flashcards I get wrong either look similar or I pick up on the meaning almost immediately after the mistake. I am feeling excitement about learning words that will probably come up on my wife’s side of the family (e.g. natsu yasumi). I deleted Steam (the video game app) off my laptop and will finish this week strong!
12/22/25: Disappointing few weeks study-wise, I had some stressful work interactions and a negative health outcome for a loved one. That combined with Christmas shopping for relatives made me really demotivated as I sacrificed the “important” for the “urgent”. I want to highlight that it wasn’t the actual events that soaked up all my time, it was the emotional fallout. And it’s really interesting that the more I do WaniKani, the more I look forward to it as a way to unwind. I would like to start reframing it as a form of self care in my life, that as things look up or worsen I can show up to this everyday
12/29/25: Back on track! I really enjoyed studying this week and the self care talk is really working for me! I envision my future children being able to speak Japanese to both my wife (native speaker) and me, and that coupled with the joy it brings me to study makes it much less intimidating to sit down and study for 20-30 minutes. At this point that is where the whole battle is won or lost. Once I sit down, I am able to get lost in the review for 30 minutes easy. So I got to continue guarding the spaces and activities that make it easy for me to do that あけましておめでとう to anybody reading this 
1/5/26: A lotttt of socializing and multitasking over this past week. I was able to pay homage to the Wanikani gods and maintain my streak, but wasn’t able to do the volume I’m usually able to do. It was invigorating to be around Japanese family members following along their conversations and recognizing some words
1/20/26: Very slow few weeks. I deep dove into a career-related certification and although I was able to maintain my streak I was doing the bare minimum daily. Instead of beating myself up I reframed it as excitement to get back into the swing of things. Lo and behold, I’m back doing more kanji and loving it
2/9/26
Missed a few weeks of updates due to my loved one having major surgery, but I’m back! I kept my streak alive but had pretty minimal daily card counts. I’m keeping it fun and playful, not trying to give into shaming or frustration at my progression. This is a lifelong journey
