Have a rest!

Have a day off every week! If you're anything like me, you'll go through phases where you're not only getting a buzz from all the new stuff you're learning, but it's becoming compulsive and habit forming. But this is also stressful, as you try to squeeze some Spanish into every spare moment, and can ultimately become counter-productive. Don't forget that you've got plenty of time. Give your brain a rest and take a full 24 hours away from Spanish every week. Seriously. You'll come back refreshed and suddenly understanding things that didn't somehow quite click into place while you were putting yourself under all that pressure.

Heck, I took a whole year off when I was learning Spanish. Did I forget stuff? Sure! But I remembered most of it after only two weeks in Spain and another two weeks brought me to further than I'd ever been with the language. Fluency and general competence with a language cannot be rushed, so you might as well relax about it - getting obsessed could actually slow down your learning and cause frustration. I just don't want to hear anyone saying, "Well, I worked really really hard but wasn't getting anywhere, so I just gave up!" Try working less hard and not giving up!!